Dominican Participation by GFDD and FUNGLODE in the XII Meeting of Virtual Educa Mexico

During the XII Meeting of Virtual Educa Mexico, the Dominican Republic actively participated in many of the meetings, panels and high-level presentations conducted over the 5 day period.

Press conference before the opening of the meeting

Over 15
Mexican communications media representatives gathered at noon on June 19 at Virtual Educa Mexico headquarters, located in the Colegio Nacional de Matemáticas (CONAMAT), to receive the preliminary information on the XII meeting of Virtual Educa Mexico. Among the participants at the head table were: the General Secretary of Virtual Educa, José María Antón; the Technical Secretary of Parlatino, Alfredo Jiménez Barros; the Director of GFDD
New York Office, Director of FUNGLODE’s Training Activities Program and General Coordinator of Virtual Educa Caribe, Yamile Eusebio Paulino; the head of the Scientific Program Committee of Virtual Educa, Dr. Fernando Gamboa; and the Director General of CONAMAT, Arturo Santana.

Meeting of the Board of Virtual Educa

On June 20, a meeting of the Board of Virtual Educa took place, headed by its Secretary
General, José María Antón, in which Ms. Yamile Eusebio Paulino participated representing GFDD. Also present was the Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel, who, on behalf of the Chair of the Board, President Leonel Fernandez, presented a formal apology from the President for not being able to attend due to matters of the State. She opened the meeting and expressed a collective desire that Virtual Educa remain the benchmark for all of Latin America in the
field of education.

Opening of the Forum

The Minister of Education, Josefina Pimentel, opened the forum on "Public Policies for the Integration of Innovation in the Educational Systems", coordinated by Abigail Castro de Perez, representative of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Panama, where experts agreed that one of the current challenges for the region is the systematization of data on the
educational systems in the region. The Minister of Education and Culture of Paraguay, Luis Alberto Riart also attended the meeting.

During her presentation, Minister Pimentel made it known that the DR is currently in the process of creating a central educational monitoring and oversight system (SAS) that will keep accurate data on the main variables of the country’s educational system, such as the number and location of the schools, their physical condition,
students’ and teachers’ registers, performance, academic progress, etc. Later that day, in the Auditorium of the Tecnológico, the Deputy Minister of Education of the Dominican Republic, Víctor Sánchez, explained how the Monitoring and Supervision System that is currently being implemented functions.

In turn, Luis Alberto Riart, Minister of Education and Culture of Paraguay, emphasized that within 10 years, no one will
be discussing the number of computers purchased or the theme of digital migration since all schools will be connected. He said that the basic question will be: "Are students learning or not and where are we in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) evaluations. The subject is learning."

Seminar on "Learning to learn with ICTs"

On Wednesday, June 22, the opening of the
seminar "Learning to learn with ICTs", organized by the Administración Federal de Servicios Educativos en el Distrito Federal, Secretariat of Public Education (SEP for its acronym in Spanish) took place. The Minister of Education of the Dominican Republic was the guest of honor and formally opened the seminar, and Luis Ignacio Gómez Sánchez, Federal Administrator of Educational Services, Federal District, Secretariat of Public Education
(SEP), welcomed the Minister’s presence.

IV SEMINAR ON RELPE EDUCATIONAL PORTALS

The opening of this seminar was conducted by the Minister of Education of the Dominican Republic and President of the Latin American Network of Educational Portals (RELPE).

During the afternoon of Wednesday the 22nd, various experiences related to the "Use of social networks in Education" were presented, as well as on "Models 1 to 1", which are being carried out in several Latin American countries.

The auditorium was filled to capacity during the conferences, reflecting the interest generated by the issues presented in this VI Seminar, which has been taking place for several years within the
framework of the Annual Meetings of Virtual Educa.

AT the meeting of heads of Latin American Portals on June 21, issues of common interest for the region as a whole were discussed. The meeting was attended by over 20 representatives and associate members of the network. The Minister of Education of the Dominican Republic, Josefina Pimentel, accompanied by one of the two Network Vice Presidents, the Minister of Education of Paraguay, Luis Alberto Riart, officially
announced that Virtual Educa will have representation as an observer member in its various executive meetings. Ms. Yamile Eusebio, Director of GFDD’s New York office, Director of FUNGLODE’s Training Activities Program and General Coordinator of Virtual Educa Caribe, will be in charge of such representation.

Dominican Participation

The Deputies Dominican Ministers of Education, Victor Sanchez and Adalberto
Martinez presented the experiences of the ministry in implementing the Management System of Educational Centers in the Dominican Republic and the System of Monitoring and Supervision in the Dominican Republic, respectively.

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT), Rafael González, participated in a discussion panel on "New Synergies Between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Local Governments," as well as
represented the President of Virtual Educa Caribe, Ligia Amada Melo, in a seminar organized by UDUAL on Wednesday, June 22, at the UNAM headquarters.

In turn, Felix Farias Campos, Director of Technologies of MESCyT, moderated the meeting and presented the experience of the Dominican Republic on "Inclusive Networks and Innovative Systems in Higher Education" with the theme "Using ICTs to Promote Development in Higher Education, the Dominican
Experience.”

The UNIBE representative and member of the Organizing Committee of Virtual Educa Caribe, Darwin Muñoz, participated in the panel "Innovation in Education, Cross-cutting Strategy for Development" featuring the theme "Education as a Fundamental Element of the Information and Knowledge Society." Furthermore, the representatives of PUCMM and UNIBE participated in the panel on "Inclusive Networks
and Innovative Systems in Higher Education", where Luis Eduardo Bayonet Robles, Associate Professor in the School of ICTs, Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE); Julio Santiago Perier Alcantara, Coordinator, Software Factory Division, Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE); Teresa Guzman, Universidad Iberoamericana; and Judith Lara Feliz, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, presented various important Dominican experiences on the use of technology in higher
education.

Meeting with Microsoft

FUNGLODE and GFDD is part of Microsoft’s initiative Alliance for Education, an NGO responsible for monitoring the initiatives of this important international company and which has as its Dominican Public Sector counterpart is the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic.

During the XII Encuentro Virtual Educa Mexico, the main representatives of these
institutions at the meeting, Anthony Salcito, Senior Vice President of Microsoft; Josefina Pimentel, Minister of Education; and Yamile Eusebio, Director of GFDD’s New York office and Director of FUNGLODE’s Training Activities Program, held a follow-up meeting on the issues that are being developed in the country and to introduce other initiatives that Microsoft wishes to develop in the framework of this alliance.

Engineer Paul Goris of FUNGLODE is the
person responsible for this program within that institution.

Links:

OAS www.oas.org/es/
CONAMAT www.conamat.com
PARLATINO www.conamat.com
Virtual Educa
www.virtualeduca.org
UNIBE www.unibe.edu.do
MESCyT www.seescyt.gov.do
MINERD www.see.gob.do