Name and Title: Alfonso Sintjago, IT Fellow, PhD Student
School Name: University of Minnesota (USA)
Co-Presenter Name(s): Winston Goico, Supervisor CTC (Centros Tecnológicos Comunitarios)
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Minneapolis, USA and Santo Domingo, RD
Language in Which You Will Present: English Presentation. Preguntas (Q&A) - Español or English
Target Audience(s): Practitioners working in ICT4D, ICT4E, Mobile Learning, Personalized Learning Environment, Open Education, and Andragogy.
Short Session Description: The Use of Mobile Devices For The Development of Personalized Learning Environments (PLE) In The Dominican Republic (Case Study)
Full Session Description:
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Use of Mobile Learning For The Development of Personalized Learning Environments (PLE) In The Dominican Republic
Mobile technologies, open educational resources (OER), and greater connectivity are transforming education allowing individuals to share and learn from anyone anywhere (Bonk, 2011). Modern technologies can help connect even the most remote villages to the Internet and an ever growing quantity of information (Cobo and Moravec, 2011; Friedman, 2005). To reduce the digital divide, many governments invested in the development of telecenters to help provide access to information and communication technologies(ICT) to the poorest of society. In 2001, the Dominican Republic adopted the LINCOS (Little Intelligent Communities) model with the support of the MIT Media Lab. Since then, the Dominican government has modified these telecenters, currently known as Community Technologies Centers (CTCs) continuing to invest in increasing ICT access and providing digital literacy courses to all (Prado, 2009).
Through an in-depth analysis of the results of two pilot projects, this presentation shares various lessons learned during the first few months of a mobile learning initiative where students developed Personalized Learning Environments (PLE) while learning through their smart phones. Participants were also asked about the importance of these new technologies in their daily activities. Rapid technological changes require a constant reassessment of what literacies should be emphasized moving forward at CTCs (Belshaw, 2011;Moravec, 2013).
These pilots projects are part of an attempt to improve CTCs and reassess its services moving forward. Over the past 12 years, CTCs have extended their programs to provide a large number of community services. CTCs are often the most visited sites in the community. Many include a radio station, kindergarten, English courses, basic literacy courses, and digital and media literacy courses. To explore the potential of mobile learning in the Dominican Republic, low end smart phones were distributed to CTC administrative personnel to promote the development of Personalized Learning Environments (PLEs). These smart phones contained 12 gigabytes of carefully selected educational materials, including dozens of applications, thousands of open books, TED talks, and other OER. These mobile devices were distributed on August 2013 during the first phase of the project. Moodle, An Open Source (OSS) Learning Management Systems (LMS) was also installed to facilitate sharing educational content across CTCs. In addition to Moodle, Facebook has also been utilized for courses.
Figure 1 - Map of CTCs Across the Dominican Republic
These pilots projects illustrate both the potential and challenges brought by these changes. Despite growing access to mobile technologies, and increasing emphasis on personalized learning, creativity and innovation, current levels of connectivity in the Dominican Republic and across CTCs make it difficult for individuals to move beyond a limited use of the internet, moving from “visitors” to “residents” (White and Le Cornu 2011), limiting also the development of PLEs and the utility of mobile devices. Low connectivity levels and quality of connectivity can reduce the potential benefits of ICT in developing regions, diminishing the number of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) producers and prosumers. This study highlights some of the positive experiences and challenges faced by participants when learning via mobile devices and developing PLEs.
As the internet expands, so does the quantity of high quality OERs available. Increased connectivity, and access to web 2.0 technologies, along with better information and media literacy skills, can help increase sharing and production of resources as well as the preservation of local knowledges. A better understanding of how we can use and create open resources, as well as access to “flexible” technologies can further empower local communities to share their knowledge and leapfrog into their own futures. Despite the potential for “invisible learning” (Cobo and Moravec, 2011), without improvements in environment and connectivity, the development PLEs, and a DIY, Edupunk attitude in the Dominican Republic across CTCs remains limited.
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