The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of many work places, and educational institutions are following suit.
Through a partnership between El Abra and a local university, 55 area teachers are participating in a program aimed at promoting digital innovation to support vulnerable student populations in communities near El Abra’s operations in Chile.
The Education Laboratory of Universidad Católica del Norte created the program in response to the pandemic’s impact to the learning environments of Chilean students. El Abra is providing the financial support to offer the program to educators in the communities of Calama, Alto El Loa, Tocopilla and María Elena. The program began in August and will conclude in October with a conference on international educational innovation and digital transformation, open to all teachers in the Region of Antofagasta.
“Many of the teachers have been forced to adapt to digitization on their own with scarce guidelines, particularly in the case of those teaching in the most remote areas,” said Rubén Funes, President-El Abra. “Through this initiative we will be able to provide the tools they require in the educational transformation process, allowing them to adapt to a hybrid teaching methodology, which appears to be here to stay.”
The program’s curriculum includes planning, teaching digital skills and managing technologies for learning and teachers’ well-being. The impact of this year’s program will be evaluated to determine future opportunities.
For Cristián Celedón, academic director of the program for Universidad Católica del Norte, this initiative “will provide key tools to various establishments that will address remote teaching and generate sustainable digital transformation processes in the long term.”