Diapositiva 1

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Digital Nations Colombia
Education for Peace Empowering the Community
through the use of ICTs
Fernando Chaparro Corporación Colombia Digital
(CCD)
Digital Nations Consortium MeetingCambridge,
MIT, October 30-31, 2003
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Colombian Digital Corporation and the Digital
Nations International Consortium (DN)
Academia
Colombian Government
Private Sector
CCD
Other Int. Centers
Other Int. Centers
MITs Media Lab
DN Members
DN Members
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Two Main Functions

• To facilitate and develop innovative projects in
  Colombia that use in a creative way information
  and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to
  improve education, promote social learning
  processes and empower communities by creating and
  strengthening their capacity to generate and use
  knowledge to improve their wellbeing and satisfy
  their basic human needs.
• Assure the participation of Colombia in the
  Digital Nations international consortium and
  develop joint projects with MITs Media Lab and
  other consortium members aimed at diminishing the
  digital divide.

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Program of Work of CCD
1- Education for Peace (E4P) Empowering the
Community through Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs). 2- Improving
Productivity and Competitivenes through ICTs
(a) Strengthen agroindustrial chains through
the use of ICTs (b) Internationalization of
Colombian Software Industry. 3- Promote the
production in Colombia of new information
and communication technologies that may help to
promote the New Economy. NOTE We will
concentrate in the E4P Project.


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Education for Peace Project
GENERAL OBJECTIVE

• Background Project seeks to break the vicious
  circle of poverty, ignorance and violence
  perpetuating themselves by generating poor
  conditions for learning, which in turn
  exacerbates poverty, threatens sustainable
  development and leads to worse conditions for
  learning.
• The General Objective is to empower low-income
  communities in Colombia to both generate and use
  knowledge that is relevant to their basic needs
  by developing its local capacity to use
  information and communication technologies (ICTs)
  in a creative way that allows them to create
  sustainable rural and urban livelihoods and
  improve their quality of life. This implies
  replacing vicious by virtuous circle, whereby
  improved conditions for learning leads to social
  improvement, leading to better conditions of
  learning development.

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Two Specific Objectives

1. Transform the educational process in Colombian
schools on the basis of the Constructionist
Theory and the use of ICTs in order to develop
creativity and the capacity of learning to
learn. 2. Promote the creative use of
information and communication technologies in
responding to the challenges of the community and
in developing innovative solutions to the
problems they confront.


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Agents of Social Change

• Project will be carried out in two
  communities
• a) Comuna 13 (Medellín)
• b) Pensilvania, Caldas
• We will work through four Agents of Social
  Change
• a) Children, Teachers and Schools
• b) NGOs and community organizations related
  to main community challenges
• c) The Community Police
• d) The E4P Core Team

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Use of ICTs in strengtheningLearning
Processes in Communities

• We propose the idea of Community Technological
  Immersion as a means of tapping the latent
  learning potential in each community. Rather
  than focusing on any specific aspect of community
  life, or any particular institution, we propose
  providing computational resources and
  connectivity on as broad a basis as possible,
  infecting all aspects of community life as a
  means of breaking vicious cycles of violence and
  poverty and seeding the possibilities for
  creating new pathways.
• A key role is played by Learning Networks and
  Communities in which creative interactions take
  place among students, teachers, producers and
  other stakeholders, through which solutions can
  be invented for specific problems and relevant
  knowledge may be generated and applied, thus
  stimulating learning processes to take place.

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Two basic principles

• We aim to create conditions for the development
  of people, new ideas, new civic participation to
  break the cycles of violence and poverty, using
  new ICT tools and applications to move the
  community into positive participation and a more
  equitable social environment, taking advantage
  of the new digital technologies. Creative
  community involvement is critical for this
  project.
• Since this is a stakeholder-led process that is
  responsive to community needs, we are developing
  an approach we term emergent design. In essence,
  we lay the groundwork with a technical
  infrastructure supported by continuing efforts to
  introduce new ideas, support the development of
  technological fluency, methodologies to help
  harness creativity, creating an environment that
  strengthens the community's capacity to generate
  and use knowledge.

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Main Project Components

• 1. Mobilizing the Community and generating
  commitment to assure community involvement
• Imagination Seeding Workshop.
• Vision Workshop Identification of community
  needs and objectives.
• WIFI feasibility study Role of wireless
  technology
• Selection of first group of participating
  schools in Comuna 13 and in Pensilvania, Caldas.
• Identification of key stakeholders NGOs, the
  Community Police, various community
  organizations (i.e. madres comunitarias),
  associations of producers, youngster clubs, etc.

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Main Project Components

• 2. Laying the basis for transformation of
  schools, based on a constructionist approach
• Training of teachers.
• Integration of computers in schoolroom
  (re-design).
• A new Plan of Work is being developed with
  the teachers and students Construction of a
  pedagogical pr.
• The new approach will be implemented first
  semester of 2004, with the backstopping of a
  support network.
• Close monitoring of process, that is aimed at
  developing creativeness, learning-to-learn and
  development of key skills (competencias y
  destrezas).
• Children increasingly involved in community
  issues through Student Projects and through
  closer interaction with stakeholders.

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Main Project Components

• 3. Strengthening the capacity of other Agents of
  Social Change
• E4P Core Team, constituted by project staff and
  community leaders committed to project. Training
  at MIT.
• Strengthening capacity of NGOs, Community Police
  and community organizations to use ICTs.
• An E4P Center will be established in each
  community as a vibrant place of digital creation,
  taking an open, atelier approach to learning
  through doing and reflection. The tools available
  should be wide-ranging, from a variety of
  computers, high bandwidth access, servers for
  the community, community wireless access,
  digital video and cameras, video and sound
  editing, etc.
• WIFI Communications System being put in
  placeViral Communications Theory approach.

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Main Project Components

• 4. Building/strengthening community networks on
  main community challenges and problems
• Identification of community problems/challenges.
• Use of ICT and local connectivity to generate
  local solutions and technologies.
• Based on Learning Networks and Communities
  in which creative interactions take place among
  students, teachers, producers and other
  stakeholders, through which solutions can be
  invented for specific problems and relevant
  knowledge may be generated and applied, thus
  stimulating learning processes to take place.
• Three main topics are emerging (emergent
  principle)
• a) Governance participation Comm. Electronic
  Publ.
• b) Environment management
• c) Improving local production and employment

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Main Project Components

• 5. These topics/networks require mobilization of
  specialized technical knowledge, through
• Taping local/traditional knowledge in the hands
  of stakeholders.
• Expert knowledge that can be contributed by local
  universities, researchers, etc.
• Learning processes that take place through the
  creative interaction of students, teachers and
  producers or extension workers. This is of
  particular importance.
• The Digital Peace Corps that may provide expert
  advise from around the world in real time.

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Thank you !!