Event Information

Official Announcement

The UNESCO Brasilia Office, the UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, OREALC/UNESCO Santiago, and the Secretary of Distance Education of the Ministry of Education Brazil have convened the International Conference The Impact of ICT in Education to build knowledge and advance in the definition of agendas and policies.

Below please find information about: conference objectives, location and dates, registration and other information, background, agenda, and contact information.

Objectives

• To review the focus and practices in use and assessment of the impact of information and communication technology on the quality of education in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  To review the focus and practices of teachers’ ICT skills development, as part of the professional standards of the teaching profession.

Place and dates

The conference will take place between the 26th and the 29th of April. On the 27th and 28th, the conference will be held in the auditorium of the Conselho Federal da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil. See below for address:

SAUS Quadra 05 - Lote 01 - Bloco M – 3º andar – plenária
Brasília – DF
CEP 70070-939
Telephone: 55+61 2193-9600
Brasília - DF, Brazil

On monday the 26th and thursday the 29th, workshops for journalists and experts will take place. Number of participants is limited , so register soon!

Registration

Participation is free of charge. Please click here to fill your registration form.

Additional Information

Each participant is responsible for his/her own hotel reservation.Early booking is reccomended for better prices and services. UNESCO has special rates' agreements with some hotels. To have access to discount rates, participants must mention the event's name when booking.

Hotels with special rates

• Hotel Nacional
  Manhattan Plaza
  Kubitschek Plaza
  Carlton
  Metropolitan
  Bonaparte

Please click on the links for more information about Brasilia, tourist attractions and restaurants.

Background

Investment in Information Technology and Communications for education projects in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean is growing. Countries are investing several hundred million dollars a year in terms of equipment alone.

In this scenario it is essential to discuss the impact of technologies of information and communication in the basic learning’s of all the students. That is, the learning that should be available to all students, as are been defined by official and mandatory curriculum in each country. It is particularly important to stress that the results obtained by Latin American countries assessed by international measurements such as UNESCO LLECE, or TIMSS and PISA, did not consider in depth the potential impact of ICT in the processes of teaching and learning.

It is also important to discuss and develop approaches, tools and institutional practices in assess the impact of ICT on learning achievement, both to aid policy formulation and decision making regarding the allocation and use of ICT in classrooms, and to encourage more precise investigations that help identify "success stories" and generate knowledge and models, and mobilize political agendas derived thereof.

Besides the issue of impact assessment, a second critical issue is the use of ICT as a standard practice in the teaching profession. The subject refers to the inclusion of information and communication technologies in initial training and at the service of teachers. At present, investment and use of ICT in initial and continued training of teachers should be in harmony with the fact that the use of such technology is already standard everyday practice of most young people in all countries.

During the first decades of including computers in school systems, training programs emphasized office automatization in computers laboratories as separate activities of the other learning activities. Today principles and practices of inclusion of ICT have been installed as tools for teaching and learning within the classrooms. However, the discussion of these technologies being part of a process of deep changes in society and their impacts on education, has not received much attention yet: for instance, most students have already become “digital citizens", while teacher training and classroom practices at all levels of education is rooted primarily in the twentieth century.

The theme of the use and impact of ICT in education is directly linked to achieving f Education for All Initiative goals, in particular the most complex goal to achieve for all countries of the region: to provide quality education for all and lifelong learning.

Agenda

Monday, April 26 – Workshops:

• 9:30 - 11:00 – Inclusion of ICT in schools. Tools and applications for curricular programming.  Limited inscriptions (workshop will be in Spanish).

Coordinator: Alfredo Rojas , OREALC/UNESCO

• 15:00 – 18:30 – Open Educational Resources: building an international debate on public policies. Limited inscriptions (translation Portuguese into English).

Coordinators: Carolina Rossini , Harvard University; Melissa Hagemann, Open Society Institute; Mônica Steffen Guise Rosina, DireitoGV

• 16:00 – 18:00 – Workshop for journalists: covering ICT and Education news. (private meeting)

Coordinator: Guilherme Canela , UNESCO/Brasil

Tuesday, 27 April

• 8:30 - 9:00 – Registration
• 9:00 - 10:00 - Inauguration Protocol

Vincent Defourny, Director of UNESCO Office in Brasilia;  Jorge Sequeira , Director of OREALC/UNESCO Santiago; Carlos Bielshowsky, Secretary of Distance Education of the Ministry of Education in Brazil; Ophir Filgueiras Cavalcante Júnior; President of the Federal Council for the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB)

• 10:00- 11:00 - Opening Conference

Carlos Bielshowsky, Secretary of Distance Education of the Ministry of Education in Brazil
Moderator: Vincent Defourny, UNESCO Brasil

• 11:00 - 11:30 – Break
• 11:30 - 12:00 – Presentation: ICT in Education in Latin American and the Caribbean

Moderator: Daniela Trucco – ECLAC

• 12: 00 – 13:00 – First Study Presentation: ICT in initial and in-service training of teachers.

Speakers:  Maria Inês Bastos , UNESCO Consultant;
Questions, comments and conclusions.
Moderator: Maria Elizabeth Bianconcini de Almeida , PUC-SP

• 13:00 - 14:30 – Break
• 14:30 – 16:30 - Panel: Main themes about initial and continuous teacher education.

Speakers: Tarek Shawki, UNESCO Cairo (to confirm); Antonio Rodríguez de las Heras , University Carlos III of Madrid; Dr. Hugo Nervi Haltenholf, Decano University of Education, UDLA, Chile; Mario Avendaño Arguedas , Professional Development Institute, Uladislao Gámez Solano, Costa Rica Ministry of Education.
Moderador: Fernando Almeida, Fundação Padre Anchieta

• 16:30 – 17:00 – Break
• 17:00 - 17:30 – Presentation of the software “Curricular Programming for Educational Leadership” developed by OREALC/UNESCO with the support of Microsoft. (Presentation related to an experience developeded in Chile).
• 17:30 – 18:00 – Discussions and Conclusions of day 1

Moderator: Guilherme Canela , UNESCO Brasilia

• 18:00 – Cocktail at OAB
  

Wednesday, 28 April

• 9:00 - 10:30 - Second Study Presentation: Assessing Impact of ICT on the quality of education.

Speakers: Miguel Nussbaum and Patricio Rodriguez (OREALC/UNESCO Consultants)
Questions, comments and conclusions
Moderator:  Raúl Luna Lombardi , Institute of Educational Tecnology (ITE)

• 10:30 - 11:00 – Break
• 11:00 - 13:30 - Panel: Status and prospects of the evaluation of ICT impact in schools in Latin America.

Speakers: Paulina Araneda, consultant – Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); Daniela Trucco, ECLAC; Ana Laura Martínez , Plan Ceibal, Uruguai; Ricardo Menezes , Dell Computers
Moderator: Rosa Voccari , UFRGS

• 13:00 – 14:30 Break
• 14:30 - 17:00 - Panel: Main themes related to advancements of evaluating impacts.

Speakers: Claude Akpabie , UNESCO Institute of Statistics; Katerina Ananiadou , OECD; Alexandre Fernandes Barbosa - Internet Steering Committee, Brazil; European Union Representative; Rogério de Paula Barbosa , UNESCO Brasilia
Moderator: Leila Rentroia Iannone, UNESCO Consultant

• 17:00 – 17:15 – Break
• 17:15 – 18:15 - Discussions and Conclusions of day 1

Moderator: Alfredo Rojas OREALC/UNESCO; Atilio Pizarro OREALC/UNESCO; Guilherme Canela , UNESCO Brasilia

Thursday, April 29

• Meeting with UNESCO and partners about strategies in the Field of ICT and Education (only for invitees)

Contact:

• ticedu(at)unesco.org.br
• tics.educacao(at)unesco.org.br
• Alfredo Rojas - OREALC/UNESCO: a.rojas(at)unesco.org (Spanish and English)
• Guilherme Canela Godoi – UNESCO Brasilia: guilherme.godoi(at)unesco.org.br (Portuguese and English)