Disruptive education in disconnected territories

Abstract

En la era de la sociedad del conocimiento, el acceso a internet es visto como un derecho esencial para fomentar la sinergia educativa y el empoderamiento comunitario, facilitando el desarrollo personal y profesional. No obstante, la falta de acceso a internet representa una barrera significativa, especialmente en la educación, donde la ausencia de infraestructura y recursos adecuados limita las oportunidades de aprendizaje. Para superar estas barreras, educadores y administradores en los territorios desconectados se enfrentan el reto de asegurar una educación de calidad sin depender exclusivamente del acceso en línea. Esto ha llevado a la adopción de pedagogías activas como el aprendizaje basado en tareas, proyectos, problemas y servicio. Estos métodos promueven habilidades del siglo XXI (UNESCO Office Santiago and Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2017) y el desarrollo cognitivo avanzado, alineándose con la taxonomía de Bloom (Previle, 2023). También se plantea la utilización de materiales tradicionales impresos, cartillas, el uso de la radio y la televisión, en el que el diseño instruccional juega un papel preponderante que debe apuntar también al uso de pedagogías activas. Mediante estas alternativas se busca garantizar que todos los estudiantes, independientemente de su conectividad, puedan beneficiarse de una educación integral y relevante

Access to the internet plays a relevant position in the daily life of individuals today. In most regions access to the information highway is given for granted. Big cities have been reducing the number of facilities where citizens can attend directly to deliver their requests and inquiries. Banks have also reduced their number of physical branches favoring a number of virtual platforms fostering online transactions. In the field of education as well, access to the internet is considered essential. Students and teachers are now able to have instant access to an amount of information unthinkable 20 years ago. Educators use online tools to foster knowledge acquisition, development, and creation, which results in high quality research and analysis in academic environments. However, there are still multiple locations where access to the internet is limited or even impossible. These disconnected territories, even present inside big cities, represent a gap in the educational opportunities of millions of students. As expressed by the World Inequality Report 2022, schools in these disconnected territories experience limited or no physical infrastructure, must face high costs of existing options (e. g. SpaceX’s Starlink) or unreliable or inconsistent connections, or simply lack the devices required to participate in online learning. The tight budget many educational organizations have avoided the renewal of old or damaged devices which could end up in a disconnection despite the internet access service being available and affordable in their areas.