Innovation in Education highlighted at Virtual Educa Mexico
The
XVI International Virtual Educa Symposium
concluded in Guadalajara, Mexico on June 26, after five days of
exchanges on innovation in education in the region. More than 13,000
participants took part in the event, including senior management of
education systems from 17 countries and 28 parliamentarians from 11
countries of the Americas; as well as educators, students,
representatives of the public and private sectors, and experts from
Latin America and the Caribbean.
In
addition, 25,717 users from 44 countries accessed the live broadcast
online and more than 100,000 followed the meeting through
conventional channels. Also, 472 speakers and experts participated
in the more than 100 workshops held. Topics covered included the use
of ICT in basic, higher and continuing education, R&D, as well as
quality models and indicators of educational impact.
Opening this year's
International Virtual Educa Symposium, the President of Mexico,
Enrique Peña Nieto, stressed the efforts made by the OAS to bring
together young people, academics, civil society, business and
educational authorities in a "multilateral cooperation initiative to
share experiences and best practices in such essential matters as
education, innovation, competitiveness and development."
The Mexican
President also said that efforts like Virtual Educa "will be enable
us to promote development and to avoid being left behind other
economies in the world," saying that his government is committed to
promoting the use of ICT in education, given that in today’s
knowledge-based society "quality education has become a fundamental
and strategic element for the development of nations.”
For his part,
Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin, highlighted
in his remarks the great importance of education at the national,
regional and global levels, and referred to the need to improve and
strengthen education systems as a central part of countries’
sustainable development goals. Ramdin recalled that "through the
years, Virtual Educa has been an effective platform to discuss these
issues. Virtual Educa addresses three main objectives: reducing
inequality, promoting education in the region and fostering
public-private partnerships”.
Recognized
private sector companies like
Google for Education, Intel, Brasil IT+,
JP,
Operación Éxito and
Blackboard,
joined experts and academics to share their initiatives. In addition
to the forums, seminars and workshops, the Global Forum on education
and innovation exposed how educational innovation is contributing to
social transformations. Moreover, among the entitled "convergence
spaces" established, a space was awarded to analyzing the
development of the Inter-American System of Innovation in Education;
an Interactive space allowed for the presentation of educational
intervention proposals; a space for R&D+i, provided students,
teachers and other participants with an opportunity to experiment
innovative models, and the international exhibition associated with
the meeting included other valuable experiences.
Virtual Educa is a
multilateral initiative attached to the OAS to facilitate the
implementation of innovative projects in education, that brings
together government, business, academic and civil society sectors.
This year's meeting was supported by the Government of Mexico, the
Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), the Government of the State
of Jalisco, the Secretariat of Innovation, Science and Technology
and the Secretariat of Education of the Government of Jalisco, the
National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), the
University of Guadalajara (UDG) and the National Union of Education
Workers (SNTE).
The meeting in
Mexico illustrated once again the value of Virtual Educa to share
projects and to further proposals among institutional leaders and
experts in the field of innovation applied to education and
training. In addition, the exchange of experiences and best
practices related to the knowledge-based society make the meeting an
optimal space to promote technical cooperation among different
sectors.
The photo
gallery of this event is available here:
http://www.virtualeduca.org/encuentros/mexico/imagenes.php
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EducaSTEM: Science in your hands
OAS program featured in Virtual Educa, Mexico 2015
"EducaSTEM: Science in your hands"
is an example of the kind of interactive exhibits conducted
during Virtual Educa Mexico. This exhibition allowed more than
1,000 teachers and education professionals to participate in 25
interactive workshops where they experienced first-hand
innovative solutions based on scientific developments.
 EducaSTEM
is the Regional Knowledge Network on Education in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the preschool,
primary and secondary levels in the Americas, which is
coordinated by the
Educational Portal of the Americas of the
OAS-SEDI.
In order to strengthen collaboration and foster STEM education
in the region, the initiative has created a network of
professionals,
mapped
practices in STEM education, and also holds technical
cooperation missions and interactive exhibits on this theme of
growing regional interest.
 The
exhibition "EducaSTEM: Science in your hands" offered a space for participants
to experience interactive activities under the guidance of
experts and facilitators, who illustrated the interesting and
fun side of science, its potential for innovation and for
solving everyday issues and development challenges in the
region. Activities such as building solar cars, rockets,
earthquake-proof structures, robots, and others aimed at
developing mathematical thinking for innovation and learning
through games were all part of the exhibit.
 Engineer
Marcelo Caplan, Professor in the Department of Science and
Mathematics at Columbia College Chicago and Co Principal
Investigator in the Scientists for Tomorrow project of the
National Science Foundation (NSF) highlighted that: "It is no
secret that there are excellent practices on educational process
on STEM throughout the Americas; but these initiatives are often
isolated and, for different reasons, have no possibility to
continue growing and improving. The
OAS EducaSTEM project has put in personal and virtual contact a
group of professionals in the area of education in STEM from
all parts of the continent. At this gathering - Science in your
hands – we were able to enrich each other and 'share' our
experiences through workshops and discussions. The result is not
only the participation of over 1,000 education professionals in
Virtual Educa, who had the opportunity to partake in over 20
workshops dedicated to the implementation of activities in STEM
in the classroom, but the collaborations that have already begun
to crystallize among members of the EducaSTEM Network. In a
nutshell, for me, this was an excellent experience!"
Thus, the objective of the OAS Educational Portal of the
Americas was met by combining the best from both virtual
platforms and on-site exchanges to strengthen education for
development. The EducaSTEM exhibition not only provided
practical knowledge on STEM for teachers and education
professionals, it also strengthened their network, which has
already begun to generate new opportunities for regional
collaboration.
The activities of the exhibition were designed and facilitated
by organizations throughout the region that are part of the OAS
EducaSTEM Network, including
Pauta (Programa Adopte un Talento, Mexico);
MIDE (Interactive Economics Museum,
Mexico);
Universum
(Science Museum, UNAM, Mexico);
Scientists for Tomorrow
(Columbia College Chicago, United States);
Tecnológico de Monterrey
(Campus Morelia, Mexico); among many other participating
partners. More details on the "Story of the exhibition" are
available on Storify
(Spanish only).
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