The success of attendance at Karol G’s first concert in Santiago is akin to the alarming dropout rates in Chile. It shocked me to hear at the Conversation on Proposals from Civil Society for educational transformation that the 50,814 students who are outside the education system (Mineduc, 2023) equate to more than one National Stadium singing La Bichota’s hits. All attendees looked at each other, impacted.
In the current scenario of widespread demotivation, both at the student and teacher levels -where teachers in Chile last on average only 5 years (U. de Chile 2021)- various perspectives emerge on how to solve the problem. One suggests, among other measures, that digital technologies are a dynamic tool that can reconnect students with their own learning processes and allow for the diversification of pedagogical strategies.
It is evident that technologies are pushing the current teaching process to its limits. In fact, in the recent participatory process of the Pedagogical and Curricular Congress carried out by the Ministry of Education, “Computing and digital literacy” appeared highlighted for the first time in the analysis of what and how to learn.
It is true that the hyperconnectivity of children and young people raises the concern of many, but it is not about more screens, it is about education in technology. Any educational innovation that aims to be effective must simultaneously address technological, political, and cultural dimensions of educational change (UNESCO 2022).
Adhering to the Ministry of Education’s vision, we believe that it is essential to educate in the safe and responsible use of devices both inside and outside the classroom, a task that needs to be shared with educational communities. The intentional, conscious, and mediated use of digital technologies in teaching-learning processes allows, through active methodologies, to foster the development of transversal skills such as adaptability, critical thinking, creativity, and innovation, as well as to influence how students interact in the digital society, improving their ability to contribute to it and their future employability.
After several years of work in the digital empowerment of teachers, at Kodea we have seen that providing the educational system with knowledge, methodologies, and innovative technological tools helps to create collaborative environments in the classroom, arouses motivation, and allows students to reconnect with their learning processes.
Just as the National Stadium vibrated a few days ago, we want a revitalized motivation of teachers and students to emerge, for which technology is a key element, because education relevant to the 21st century consists of educating current generations in the ethical and productive use of digital tools, promoting the search for meaning and purpose in technological development so that it results in positive benefits for the planet and the beings that inhabit it.
Claudia Jaña Z.
Education Manager
Kodea NGO