User talk:Maria sara
My name is María Sara Rodríguez Caldeyro and I am Uruguayan although I spent 18 years ouside the country and came back in 2004.
I am a Teacher Educator, Course materials writer, and, at the moment design my own website as well as run a Teacher Education Centre which includes a mini IT centre with 4 computers.
I have just finished running an International course called EDUCATIONAL USE OF ICT from EDI/ JEB and am offering new ICT International Qualifications as well as Educationn Qualifications.
I would be very interested in contributing to improving Education in Uruguay.
Unfortunately, from my point of view Education in Uruguay has gone backward since I left and would like to help bring it up to date.
One thing that worries me after spending hours going round this website is the fact that at no pointis there an explicit statement of Educational Values.
My questions would be:
What kind of citizen does Uruguay want to create? ( and ICT is only one element) As all of us in Education know, views of Education can be summarised in three currents:
CLASSICAL HUMANISM Which aims to educate the elite if the population and which
CLASSICAL HUMANISM Which aims to educate the elite if the population and which ally consists of TRANSMITTING information to students who sit silently in their seats.
RECONSTRUCTIVISM which came about as a result of societies becoming more "behaviour" oriented and which basically aims to provide all citizens with a chance to fit into a society that has clearly established behavioural goals.
PROGRESSIVISM which aims to develop the individual as a whole person and which therefore provides them with the tools to lean rather than forcing them to respond to certain rules. It also encourages the individual to think for him/herself and make contributions to the society s/he lives in.
From what I have seen since I came back to Uruguay, all discussions and all proposals have been concerned with e.g. " We need to improve the conditions of buildings", student desertion at Secondeary level especially," who is going to run what," etc.
I have not seen a coherent proposal for Education in Uruguay since I arrived. There are no principles behind what is being done,etc
YES, it is fascinating to see the kids playing with the ccomputers, but DO THE TEACHERS KNOW WHAT THE R0LE OF ICT SHOULD BE IN EDUCATION? DO THEY KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT ICT THEMSELVES?
I read the the descriptions of experiences of teachers in Durazno and Florida, etc in the Uruguay blog. But there are no principles behind it apart from the fact that the kids see a new world.
As I said above, I ran an ICT course for teachers between 200 and 2008 and they ALSO discovered a new world. But their main problem was linking ICT to TEACHING AND LEARNING in general.
Having poured my heart out, I would like to say again that I DO WANT to contribute to improving Education in Uruguay.
As I said I have a ( rather small) IT centre which can fit 8 people at a time and I think that the most useful contribution I can make at the moment is help to train teachers in the use of ICT.
Here goes a link to my current website which is in the process of being re-vamped
A link to our new blog: [http://eltservla.blog.co.uk
And a link to one of our latest emails where we experimented with some technologies to that we could incorporate them into our NEW LOOK WEVSITE which is ideally going to be ready by the end of August.
And a link to one of our latest emails where we experimented with some technologies to that we could incorporate them into our NEW LOOK WEVSITE which is ideally going to be ready by the end of August.
Am afraid can´t get to the link now but will be sending it soon.
All of this is just to give you an idea of the kind of work I am doing as I am VERY interesed in helping.
As regards Languages, which I have noticed are very important for you, naturally:
SPANISH: Fluen speaker and writer ENGLISH: Fluent speaker and writer. Portuguese: Fluent speaker ( totally illeterate although could learn) FRENCH; Fluent speaker and writer ITALIAN: Lower Intermediate speaker. ( Totally illeterate)
I would also like to point out that although I can switch from one language to the other, especially in the spoken language I am a terrible translator.
I am afraid I could not be much use there. Hope you find some use for me in your organisation.
Best,
María Sara Rodríguez Caldeyro URUGUAYAN I.D. 1. 306.335-2