CONGENIA: Spanish acronym of GENuine CONversations about
topics Important to Learn
Project overview, lessons learned
revised project
Alvaro H Galvis, D.Ed
The problem• There are significant failures in elementary
education, as measured by national and international tests. Major problem areas include:– Language arts– Mathematics– Science– Civic education
The opportunity
• Governments are investing in Information and Communication Technologies as a means of leveraging education and culture:– Computers and Internet in schools, libraries and
community centers– Information literacy and computers for teachers– Strategic alliances with private & public sectors– International networking: educational portals, content
development / localization
CONGENIA• An ICT-based TPD project focused on
helping elementary schools succeed in their educational improvement plans, by means of:– Building local communities of practice that reflect
on their own teaching practices– Fostering distributed communities of practice that
reflect on shared educational problems– Integrating genuine conversations in F2F and OL
teaching activities
http://redes.colombiaaprende.edu.co/fcongenia/home/home.htm
Stakeholders
• Sponsors– Colombian ministry of
education– Three secretaries of
education (Turbo, Atlántico, La Guajira)
– USAID, dotEDU project, via EDC
• Implementation– Concord Consortium– Metacursos– MoE´s MICT program – Teacher colleges from
Turbo, Uribia and Manatí
Participant regions
Per region:• 1 teacher college• 5 elementary sch• 1 coordinator• 25 teachers• 1000 kids
Uribia y ManaureLa Guajira
Manatí,Atlántico
Turbo,Antioquia
Modules in the pilot, one per semester
Computing literacy
LocalCommunities
Of practice
and
Genuine Conversations
Virtual Communities
BlendedCoP
Collaborativeprojects
Video cases
Lessons learned• Participation in CONGENIA produces significant
changes concerning:– technologic, pedagogic, communication, and
collaboration teaching competences– student attitudes, class participation, and performance
• Commitment over 1.5 years is difficult to get• Technology mastery has to be a pre-condition• Video case studies should not be part of the
experience, but a way of assessing its value
The revised CONGENIA – 1 yearGlobal collaborative Project: Let´s Know Each Other – online school paper
LocalCommunities
Of practice
and
Genuine Conversations
Virtual Communities
Problem-based
Study groups
BlendedCommunities
of practice
Video case studies – by regional followers / evaluators