History
In recent decades, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have significantly modified social relationships in all aspects and redefined the way people interact with the environment.
Being part of this new society, and not be excluded, involves more and more being able to participate actively through new technologies.
In a society with great inequality it is understood that the school is the preferred means for access to knowledge to be democratized. This situation gives the State a new responsibility, to prepare the educational system to train students in the comprehensive and critical use of new technologies.
ICT education is not only the instrumental use of new technologies but also involves the learning of information management skills, communication, sharing with others in a global world, innovation and continuous updating.
These goals go beyond but include computer skills.
ICT education must therefore include a set of didactic proposals for projects such as learning by projects, problem solving, joint work, building skills, which aim to train students for a scenario in which the volume and dynamism of the information is transformed in a continuous and accelerated way.
As an example of this kind of projects we can see what has been done in countries like Chile through the so-called Education and Technology Center, Link, established in 2005 which has reached 95% of students in schools equipped with computers, 75% of which have broadband connection.
These are the results of more than 16 years of a global policy that includes school equipment, teacher training, technical assistance to schools and the extension of digital literacy throughout the community.
You can also take the example of Uruguay the so-called CEIBAL plan (designated by some as one of the best examples of regional incorporation of technology in the classroom). CEIBAL is a socio-educational project which has received strong impetus from the presidency. The main target users are students from 1 st to 6 th year of public primary schools, who have been granted an EXO laptop designed by the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) project promoted by Nicholas Negroponte. The program also allowed the extension of the network connectivity, which has been done by giving priority to the wireless mode, especially in rural areas.
With these precedents and the necessity of the National Government to provide an effective response to address the use and knowledge of ICT it is created the program Conectar Igualdad, which aims to provide a computer to students and teachers from public high schools, special education and teacher training institutes across the country, to train teachers in the use of this tool and develop educational proposals in order to promote their inclusion in the teaching and learning processes. In this way we seek to reduce the existing digital gap by introducing new technologies as well as methods to implement at schools, creating the possibility of inclusion of both the students and the community in the knowledge of the ICT promoting values such as integration and social inclusion.
To accomplish this it has been arranged for the creation of an Executive Committee of the program which will be chaired by the Executive Director of the National Social Security Administration (ANSES) and integrated by a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers, a representative of the Ministry of Education, a representative of the Ministries of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services and a representative of ANSES. This committee will have to determine the conditions for implementing the Program, proposing actions in order to achieve all objectives.
Download the Conectar Igualdad Program´s Creation Decree
Objectives
Promote equal opportunities for the young people all over the country providing an instrument that will narrow the digital gap, as well as include and engage families to participate actively.
Train responsible individuals, able to use knowledge as a tool to understand and constructively transform their social, economic, environmental, and cultural environmment and position themselves as active participants in a permanent changing world.
Develop skills for handling new languages produced by information and communication technologies.
• Retrieve and enhance public school.
• Reduce digital, educational and social gaps, helping to improve development indicators of our country.
• Build a universal policy of digital inclusion at federal range, incorporating technological equipment and connectivity.
• Ensure social inclusion and access to all of the best technological resources and information.
• Make an impact on family’s lives
• Improve teaching and learning processes through the modification of ways of working in classroom and school.
• Make an approach to the interests, needs and demands of students.
• Improve the educational quality of high school education, encouraging institutional, pedagogical and cultural transformation processes necessaries for the better use of ICT in schools.
• Improve educational trajectories of students.
• Give students greater chances of job placement.
• Change the ways of understanding and interacting with the world.
• Promote the strengthening of teacher training for the better use of ICT in the classroom.
