The education system is not equipping youth with the necessary tools for the future of work, but the problem starts before that. Educators are not fully equiped with the content and skills necessary to thrive in today's world. TEC.LA brings computational thinking closer to the classroom by providing concrete work proposals and possible routes to perform plugged and unplugged activities.
The training program has been designed to be highly adaptable to the realities of different regions in Latin America, co-constructing the format in which the training will take place. So, training can range from 8 to 24 hours depending on the availability of the audience.
In the first module of four, we introduce the candidates to computational thinking through hands-on activities related to topics such as “Basic understanding of Computer Science application, limits and opportunities”. The second module focuses on a further exploration of the content. It invites candidates to explore decomposing problems, finding patterns and generating solutions. The third stage consists of 6 hours of asynchronous work where the candidate has the opportunity of co-designing strategies and tools for learning experiences. Lastly, in the fourth module we propose an optional space of evaluation and feedback from our team on the tasks the candidates have worked on.
The main objective of the program is to help closing the opportunity gap for young people by inviting the unexpected allies - teachers who never got involved in Computer Science training in Latin America- to take part in the strategy. To reach this goal, the innovation provides tools for educator's trainers to be able to design their own learning experiences to develop computational thinking cognitive skills, as well as communication and collaboration.
As for how it has been spreading, since the launch of the program in 2018 we have reached 5 countries. We also have successfully conducted more than 100 training workshops and reached more than 2000 trainers.
If an organization is interested in our program, they should contact our Partnerships area by the mail of mar@eidosglobal.org. Then we would have a meeting to understand their particular needs and how to adapt the material for their teachers.
If an individual is interested in being part of the innovation they should check our site in order to know when the calls for candidates are open.