The Institute of the Advanced Studies for the Americas (INEAM) of the Organization of American States officially launched its Virtual Classroom on May 5th with the online course "Calidad de la Educación Básica". This course will provide teachers and administrators at the primary and secondary levels an introduction to the concept of total quality management applied to education. Click here for additional details regarding the course:
The Virtual Classroom, an interactive virtual environment housed on the Educational Portal of the Americas, allows users to participate in educational activities and services similar to what one would receive at a traditional academic institution. The Virtual Classroom was designed by the IACD for Cooperation and Development as a tool to promote the formation and training of human resources in the region through the use of new information technologies.
"We are very excited about the potential for the Virtual Classroom to generate high quality educational and training opportunities for professionals in the region", said L. Ronald Scheman, Director General of the IACD. "This is a fine example of how information technology can help students and professionals obtain much-needed skills without having to leave their homes or offices." It is expected that during 2003-2004, the Virtual Classroom will train over 6,000 teachers, municipal workers and members of civil society in the areas of education, democracy, labor, health and science-related fields.
Experts in the socio-education, political and cultural sectors agree that improved quality in education is the most important resource available to the citizens of the Americas for improving their own development. With quality educational systems, the schools of the Hemisphere will be able to more adequately respond to the changes and transformations taking place in society. According to experts in the field, real quality in education is measured by the actual results obtained. Education should provide students with basic cultural values, prepare them for democratic and citizen participation, ability to solve problems, and encourage ongoing learning. What does quality in education mean to you? Visit our "Topic of the Month" and send us your essays on this subject.
The IV International Conference on Education, Training and New Technologies will take place in the James L. Knight Convention Center in Miami, Florida from June 18-20. The event was held last year in Valencia, Spain and had over 2,500 participants; this year promises to bring even greater numbers. For more information visit: http://www.educoea.org/virtualeduca/
The Educational Portal of the Americas experienced continued growth over the past 18 months—as of April 28, the Portal registered 42,924,785 accesses from over 143 countries of the world. This increase is the result of various new services offered by the Portal that are designed to meet the needs of different sectors for training human resources through onsite, distance and multimedia means. In particular, significant growth took place in the Caribbean region during the second half of 2002. The number of accesses from Dominican Republic grew 18% (from 117,290 to 138, 475); in Antigua and Barbuda 155.4% (from 6,594 accesses to 16,857); Dominica 10% (from 7,659 to 8,450 accesses); Haiti 202.56% (from 4,478 to 13,549 accesses); Barbados 46.9% (from 28,630 to 42,061 accesses; and Jamaica 23.5% (from 4,470 to 5,531 accesses). Other countries, such as St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, have maintained gradual growth. In general terms, the greatest volume of Portal users in the English-speaking Caribbean hail from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
As a result of the Plan of Action developed between the IACD and the UNESCO office in Brazil, 1,200 scholarships are being awarded for a professional training course for teachers. The course, "Qualidade da Educação Básica" (Quality in Basic Education), was developed for preschool, primary, intermediate and secondary level educators and will be delivered online in Portuguese through the Educational Portal of the Americas (click here to see fellowships announcement).
Dr. Jorge Werthein, Director of UNESCO/Brazil, said "This activity forms part of the support we provide to the Ministry of Education and the State secretariats to strengthen teacher training. The Educational Portal of the Americas has proven to be a powerful instrument for training human resources through multimedia means." The 14-week long course will begin on August 18 and will award a certificate and over 420 credit hours as described as follows: 252 hours for participation in the modules, activities and interactive online work, and 168 hours for various projects, including a final evaluation and the presentation of a project to improve the quality of the school in which the participant works. For more information visit the Educational Portal of the Americas.
"Rómulo Gallegos" Inter-American Scholarships for Lawyers in the English-speaking
Caribbean
The General Secretariat of the OAS, together with the Executive
Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee on Human Rights, is offering "Rómulo
Gallegos" scholarships to lawyers in the English-speaking Caribbean for
the period July 15, 2003-July 15, 2004 in the Executive Secretariat of the
Inter-American Committee on Human Rights, in Washington, DC. Requests must
be received in Washington, DC by June 6, 2003. The main objective of the
scholarship is to offer new professional lawyers from the member states of
the OAS the opportunity to learn about the activities of the Inter-American
Committee of Human Rights.
Click here for more information.
VII International Course on Distance Education
The Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development of the OAS is offering scholarships for the "VII International Course on Distance Education". The course will take place from October 1 through November 28, 2003 through a combination of onsite and online studies offered by the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) of Spain, through its Distance Education Institute, in collaboration with the Ibero-American Association of Higher Education (AIESAD) and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI).
Applications must be received in Washington, DC by June 20, 2003. The objective of the course is to study and analyze the various theoretical focuses of distance learning through the UNED model, identifying the elements needed for the preparation of an educational project to be developed through distance teaching. Click here for more information about this course.