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