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 Digital Opportunity through Technology & Communication Partnerships


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Launching the Enlace Quiché Bilingual Web Portal: dot-EDU
[Issue III: Winter 2003]

March 26th will see the launch of http://www.ebiguatemala.org, the bilingual, intercultural web portal, created by Director of Materials development, Mario Torres and the local Enlace Staff. A ceremony and presentation will take place on the official launch date at the Camino Real hotel, in Guatemala City, attended by project partners, students, teachers, as well as representatives from both USAID and dot-EDU.

The portal will serve as prime venue for information and educational resources relating to bilingual education and Mayan language instruction and training.

Modeling Project-Based Learning
To develop the capacity of teachers to use the rich resources available via the portal, IT, and the Internet as a whole, Education Technology Specialists Daniel Light from Education Development Center, and Kelly Morphy from the Academy for Educational Development, modeled the process of project-based learning, and how technology can be integrated into their curriculum in user-friendly and creative ways. Travelling to Quiché, and Nebaj to I.M.D.I. (a normal school which houses a technology center), the two worked with a variety of classrooms - including general pedagogy, foundations of bilingual, intercultural education, philosophy, and pedagogy of teaching math.

A major focus was Internet-based research, including demonstrating how to:
  • perform research using the Internet;
  • use the Internet as a resource for relevant curricular themes; and
  • create didactic materials for use in their future bilingual classrooms.
The teachers learned how to conduct in-depth investigations about their local culture and traditions in Nebaj, complete with digital photos and personal interviews presented in Powerpoint. Lessons learned and successes gleaned from the week's workshops will serve as a future model for trainings at additional school centers.

New Centers Added
Continuing the mission to expand public access to IT, two new centers will be inaugurated in Uspantan and Sacapulas on March 5 and the 20th, with a visit by Guatemala's new USAID Director, Glenn E. Anders. Additional center inaugurations are scheduled to take place in mid April, after receipt and installation of computers and other center equipment.

Microsoft Donation
Microsoft donated software licenses and training funds for the Enlace Quiché program. A signing ceremony and press event will take place on March 18 to commemorate the Microsoft donation.

Project Successes Shared at CIES and Other Conferences
In order to highlight the many successes of Enlace, Project Director Andy Lieberman will travel to the United States Mar 13-16 to attend and present in a panel at the annual CIES conference. Andy's panel will present on, The Preservation and Revitalization of Indigenous Languages, and his discussion will focus on the work Enlace has done to improve Mayan language teacher training instruction in Bilingual Mayan Primary schools throughout rural highlands of Guatemala.

Additionally, Enlace Quiché has been invited to share its experience in three upcoming regional conferences. Education specialist, Jacinto de Paz, will represent the project at the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas conference in Ottowa from March 24 to 26. Technology center coordinator, Cynthia Castillo, will attend the second regional telecenter encounter in Quito, hosted by Somos@telecentros, in early April. Domingo CamajŠ, Assistant education specialist, will represent Enlace in Lima at a conference in April on access to information and bibliographic services for indigenous populations in Latin America.

dot-EDU was awarded the Guatemala Project on June 6, 2002 for 20 months (Award No. GDG-A-00-01-00011-00 under the dot-EDU Leader Award No: 520-A-00-02-00109-00).


For more information

CONTACT
Andy Lieberman, Project Director, Proyecto Enlace Quiché
Email:
Tel: +11 502- 755-0810

Kelly Morphy, Senior E-Learning Specialist, dot-EDU
Email:
Tel: (202) 884-8706

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