Learning Networks (Enlaces) - Chile

Source: UNESCO

In 1991, Chile launched a wide and ambitious educational reform programme to address problems within both primary and secondary education. The major structure for this reform was the Primary Education Improvement Project (MECE) which, with a budget of US $ 243 million, had the task of improving the quality, efficiency and equity of primary schooling over a five-year period.

One of the main components and innovative forces of this reform movement was the establishment of a telecommunications network for underprivileged schools called Enlaces (Links). Begun in 1993, as an experimental pilot programme, it has, today, managed to build a network among some 180 primary and 62 secondary schools. The Ministry of Education recently converted the project into a national programme and granted it the political and financial support to integrate all secondary schools and half of all primary schools by the year 2000.

Most significantly, a majority of the schools in the programme are among the country's poorest communities and serve a mainly indigenous population. These schools are characterised by low standardised test scores in Maths, Spanish and other subjects, late primary entrance, high repetition and drop-out rates. Teachers often lack the means, knowledge of subject matter and training to deliver quality education using modern pedagogical methods. Shortages of educational materials, textbooks and guides also prevail. The computing and communications technology provided by Enlaces is attempting to address many of these issues.

Enlaces, through the introduction of computers and the connection to learning networks, seeks to transform schools. It has several specific aims:

• to motivate teachers (by increasing information resources for research, analysis and communication between colleagues) and bring students in touch with new ways and contents of learning. The network facilitates the development of collaborative learning between students and teachers. In particular, work around computers is designed to develop collaboration and solidarity among teachers and classroom, and a new, expanded vision of the world outside. From a curriculum perspective, the network would produce a gradual integration of course-content across the curriculum (teaching resource, collaborative learning);
• to allow teachers to share experiences, teachers guides, and successful educational experiences across the network (professionalisation);
• to enable schools, regardless of their location in the country, to become part of a wider learning community. Teachers in the network should, therefore, have access to the same information and projects regardless of where they are located. (equity and decentralisation);
• to enable teachers and students to gain access to high quality educational software for instructional purposes. It would also modify teaching practice, knowledge transmission and acquisition and stimulate skill development. (pedagogical modernisation);
• to allow teachers in the network the possibility of using their computer to produce instructional materials and to make educational administration more modern and efficient by maintaining data bases of student records, attendance and examinations (modernisation of education administration).

The Enlaces standard approach is to grant a small school (100 or less students) three computers, a modem, a CD-ROM player, a dot matrix printer and software package. A larger school (100 to 300 students) would receive six computers. The Enlaces network links schools and other educational institutions by means of Chile's national computer network. Those schools which are part of the network are able to communicate with each other using E-mail and Bulletin boards with standard addresses of the Internet. Enlaces has used a gradual demand-oriented strategy for expanding the network at the primary level. Enlaces' staff have actively promoted the network by visiting schools and meeting with principals and teachers to brief them on the network's educational benefits. If and when a school wishes to become a member of the network it has to demonstrate its commitment by applying officially, presenting a proposal as to how it intends to use the computer network in its educational programmes and agree to provide facilities, furniture, etc. At secondary level, the project plans to incorporate all 1,700 schools into the network by the year 2000. So far Enlaces costs can be broken down as follows: US$ 5,880 for a small school to US$20, 932 for a large school, with US$78 per student (US$17 recurrent expenses) being spent on a small primary school level. Large schools cost US$21 per student.

Enlaces has conducted some evaluation studies to assess changes occurring in schools. Research has shown positive changes in teachers' attitudes towards teaching, computers and in the benefits of the network. Evaluators found significant changes in student attitudes and a noticeable increase in creativity, individual and group initiatives). Teachers, and particularly school heads, have noticed reductions in school drop-out, as well as improvements in achievements among slow learners. Many heads felt proud of their schools especially when they were able to have the same resources as those in higher income communities. They also saw a wide variety of improvements in student communication skills, creativity and self-learning. Interviews with students also found that pupils were learning to use computers faster than their teachers, and that relationships and communication between students were changing to become more collaborative.

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