In poor regions of the Third World, unsafe water produces social, economic and health problems, including such chronic fatal diseases as Hepatitis, Typhoid Fever or Cholera. Clearly, the lack of access to safe drinking water poses a serious health threat. Latin American countries are particularly affected by this problem, and mortality and disease from the consumption of unsafe water is very high, particularly in rural and isolated zones. Thirty percent of the population of many Latin American countries lives in areas with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants, generally in conditions of extreme poverty. Without economic or technological support from the state, residents use river, spring, well and pond water, all of which are highly contaminated. The situation is more pronounced in agricultural and ranching regions where toxic insecticides and chemical fertilizers have been used for extended periods of time. This situation is analyzed in more detail in our Topic of the Month.
http://www.educoas.org/portal/en/tema/editorial/oct03.aspx?culture=en&tabindex=36&childindex=0
Registration Open for e-Government Course
The Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD/OAS) is pleased to announce the course "Introduction to Electronic Government" (Spanish version only). The course will be offered online through the Educational Portal of the Americas and is scheduled to begin on November 10, 2003. Online registration is open through Friday, October 24, 2003.
The course "Basic Concepts for the Formulation of Electronic Government Strategies", which is sponsored in part by the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA), aspires to introduce the basic concepts of electronic government, present the key elements needed for creating an electronic government strategy and provide an overview of the development and implementation of e-government projects, with particular focus on the analysis of best practices.
For additional information on the course, as well as details on how to register, please click on the following link:
http://www.educoas.org/portal/es/ineam/curso_e-gov.aspx
Virtual Classroom
In addition to the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the course "Quality in Basic Education", in which more than 600 educators from the region are participating, the Virtual Classroom is also currently training tutors for the course "Introduction to Electronic Government", which will be offered in Spanish during the month of November. Also, during the next month or so, announcements will be posted for the financial assistance programs available for professional teaching courses to be offered during the first half of 2004.
World Links for Development: Horizontal Cooperation
The Educational Portal of the Americas and the World Links program are working together to make available to the region a variety of teaching and technical materials. To do so, the Portal is providing its Virtual Classroom platform through INEAM and World Links is offering a series of training courses on the educational use of ICTs. Through the use of electronic networks, the World Links initiative connects secondary-level students and teachers from developing countries with those from developed countries to carry out joint research and other programs through the Internet.
Evaluation and
Certification of Labor Skills
Within the framework of the XII Inter-American Conference on Ministers of
Work held in Brazil (Salvador do Bahía, September 24-26), the Ministers of
Labor of the Hemisphere expressed their concern regarding the effects of
globalization on employment and emphasized the need to prepare workers for
a global economy. During the event, Sofialeticia Morales, Director of the
USDE/OAS, presented a short demo of the course "Evaluation and
Certification of Labor Skills" (Spanish version), which will be offered
through the Portal during the first half of 2004. The course will promote
the concept of labor skills to members of organizations that are
responsible for their implementation. The course will also serve to form
groups of specialists that support the establishment of norms, evaluation,
certification and training in the countries of the region. The initiative
was received enthusiastically by the Ministers, who highlighted the
strategic value of interactive methods of teaching and learning for
training activities at the regional level.
Latin-American
Congress for Higher Education in the 21st Century
More than 1,000 people participated in this event, which was sponsored by
the IACD/OAS and held at the University of San Luis (Argentina) from
September 18-20. The Congress covered topics currently affecting higher
education and the search for alternatives that support the understanding
and overcoming of educational and social problems. It also explored
mechanisms for improving the exchange of innovative experiences, projects
and proposals in higher education, the dissemination of research and the
establishment of networks or inter-institutional projects in the field.
Dr. Mónica Luque, Academic Coordinator of INEAM, presented the
accomplishments to date of the the Educational Portal of the Americas, as
well as other projects and initiatives.
For additional information:
http://conedsup.unsl.edu.ar/
Belize: Distance Education via Satellite
From September 1-3, the IACD/OAS carried out a technical mission to the
Belize Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to prepare the final
proposal for the project "Distance Education via Satellite for training
teachers: Education and Human Development in rural areas of the
Hemisphere". The project is valued at US$1.7 million, and would be
financed with funds from FEMCIDI, with counterpart contributions from the
Government of Mexico and other participating countries.
The general objective is to improve the coverage and quality of education
through the satellite delivery of content for teachers and students. The
project contemplates use of the Educational Television Satellite of the
Government of Mexico (EDUSAT) to send education and social content through
television signals and Internet pages. Direct beneficiaries would include
those communities identified by the Ministries of Education of the
participating countries. It is worth noting that during the III Meeting of
Ministers of Education, held in Mexico during the month of August, the
IACD and the Secretariat for Public Education of Mexico signed an
agreement to collaborate in the use of EDUSAT for the benefit of the
Hemisphere. The project presented by Belize represents the first practical
application of the agreement.
Digital Publications: Teaching Models
During the month of October, the Portal's digital library will include the
Spanish version of the work "Twenty Teaching Models for Latin America" by
Ernesto Schiefelbein and Karl-Heinz Flechsig. The authors present 20
models through which teachers can plan a teaching and learning process.
Given the wide selection, teachers can select a model that best conforms
to their type and style of learning, the interests of the students and the
content.
With the goal of contributing to the ongoing improvement of quality in
education, this publication makes these models available to teachers with
the hopes of enriching their professional skills and introducing change in
their learning processes. Encompassing concepts such as "face to face"
learning, dialogue, debate, exploration, and case studies, the authors
create a space for reflecting on today’s educational practices.
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