Successful Closure of Virtual Educa Santo Domingo 2010

Yamile Eusebio, General Coordinator of Virtual Educa – Dominican Republic, addresses the audience at the Closing Ceremony

The Assembly Hall (Aula Magna) of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) was the venue of the June 25th closure of the XI Latin American Meeting on Education and Technology, Virtual Educa Santo Domingo 2010. It was announced that next year’s meeting will be held in Mexico at the Monterrey Institute of Technology. 

The closing ceremony was led by Ligia Amada Melo, Minister of Higher Education, Science
and Technology who was joined by Education Minister Melanio Paredes; Vice Rector Docent, Iván Grullon in representation of the Franklin García Fermín, Lord Rector of the Autonomous University of  Santo Domingo (UASD); José María Antón, Secretary General of Virtual Educa; Coordinator of Virtual Educa for the Dominican Republic, Yamile Eusebio and Rector of Monterrey’s  Institute of Technology,
Carlos Cruz Limón.

“Today we are ending a week of hard work in which we contributed a lot and learned a lot. We reached our expectations and, in fact, surpassed them,” said Yamile Eusebio in a speech at the beginning of the event.  She gave some data about the productiveness of the meeting: more than 290 papers written and disseminated, more than 2,000 local participants and 3,000 visitors from abroad attended; more than 300
volunteers and more than 22 institutions were involved in the development of this most important annual event on education and technology in Latin America. 

A video that captured some of the highlights of the meeting was shown just before Education Minister Melanio Paredes took the podium and gave special thanks to the more than 800 teachers who participated in the event. She went on to predict the success of next year’s XII annual Virtual Educa Mexico
2011.
 
At that point, Ligia Amada Melo, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology took the floor to emphasize that these types of meetings allow educators and academics to reflect on what new schools should look like in the XXI century. “We are satisfied because we have fulfilled, indeed surpassed, our expectations especially in terms of the attendance and quality of the lectures in addition to the innovative activities which provide
us with education through technology,” she emphasized.

Secretary General of Virtual Educa, José María Antón, then spoke: “It was a pleasant surprise that no one was put off by the rain or the thunder in order to be here, including this closing ceremony which has been one of the best attended ever.” Mr. Antón expressed his satisfaction at the success of Virtual Educa Santo Domingo 2010 and thanked
everyone who made it possible.
Images of important Mexican monuments along with text about Monterrey’s Institute of Technology were used to motivate people and announce next year’s meeting of Virtual Educa Mexico 2011.  Rector, Carlos Cruz Limón, invited all those present to “share what we humbly offer” next year and to apply and pass on what has been learned in each one of the conferences.

To end
the event, a trio of mimes from the Professor Simón Orozco Polytech’s Invivienda sector in Santo Domingo East, put on an entertaining act.