FUNGLODE and GFDD, together with Grupo Santillana, Organize Educational Innovation Forum

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), partnering with Grupo Santillana, invited audiences to participate in the Educational Innovation Forum that took place in Santo Domingo on May 8 – 9, 2013.

The event began with the lecture “Information and Communication Technology Use in Education in Latin America: the Inter-American
Development Bank experience,” delivered by Horacio Álvarez Marinelli, Education Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), on Wednesday, May 8, at 7:00pm in event open to the public and held at the auditorium of FUNGLODE.

On Thursday, May 9, there was a private, by invitation-only, high-level working session on the theme of education organized by Grupo Santillana at FUNGLODE’s headquarters.

Following the working
session, Francesco Pedró, Chief of the Division of Sector Policy Advice and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education at UNESCO, kicked off the conference series with a presentation entitled “ICT and Education, What Works and Why.”  Horacio Álvarez Marinelli, Education Specialist at the IDB, continued the series with a discussion of the limitations of ICT’s in “Assessments Conducted by the IDB on the Use of ICT’s in
Education in Latin America”.  Finally, Mariano Jabonero Blanco, Director of Institutional Relations at Grupo Santillana, provided an overview of ICT effectiveness in “ICTs and Education, Experiences of the Best: Korea, Finland and Singapore”.

The event concluded with a special conference on “Digital Applications and Developments for the Classroom” by Miguel Barrero Maján, General Director of Digital Developments at
Grupo Santillana.

About Grupo Santillana
Grupo Editorial Santillana has its origins in the publishing house Santillana, founded in Spain in 1960, with the educational mission of providing teachers and students with innovative and high-quality instructional materials. Though it may have originated in Spain, Santillana is now an international publisher with affiliates in almost all Spanish-speaking countries, as well as in
Portugal, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the United States.

“Innovative Teachers” Competition
On Thursday, May 9, an “Innovative Teachers” Competition, held within the framework of the Education Innovation Forum, was hosted by GFDD and FUNGLODE, in collaboration with Microsoft Dominicana and MINERD.  Of the 100 projects that had been pre-selected at the national level, 30 were
chosen to participate in the competition of which 15 semifinalists were selected.  Four winners, to be announced next month, were chosen by a jury of six Dominican experts in the field of ​​education.

The “Innovative Teachers” competition is a global initiative of the Microsoft Corporation and is part of the Partners in Learning (PIL) program that the company implements jointly with Ministries of Education and / Departments of
Education throughout the world. Its focus is on improving teaching and learning through the effective use of technologies in the classroom environment. Edward Ulloa, Puerto Plata Dominican teacher, was one of the winners in the Latin American competition that was held in 2012.

Partners of the Educational Innovation Forum
Grupo Santillana, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT), the Ministry of
Education of the Dominican Republic (MINERD), Microsoft Dominicana, the Instituto Tecnológico de la Américas (TLA), the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University (UNPHU), Universidad Acción Pro Educación y Cultura (UNAPEC), the Open University for Adults (UAPA), the Global Institute for Higher Studies in Social Sciences (iGLOBAL), and the Salomé Ureña Higher Institute for Teacher Training (ISFODOSU).