[liberationtech] Technology & Education in Brazil -- Tablets, Computers & New Tech in Education: Fad or New Paradigm?

[Yosem Companys]

If you cannot see this e-mail,  access:
https://lemanncenter.stanford.edu/ITseminar<http://lemanncenter.createsend2.com/t/j/i/qvlyt/l/r/>


                       [image: Forward
icon]<http://lemanncenter.forwardtomyfriend.com/j/l/2AD73FFF/qvlyt/l/y>

Forward <http://lemanncenter.forwardtomyfriend.com/j/l/2AD73FFF/qvlyt/l/j>



Invitation to Seminar:

*Tablets, Computers, and New Technologies in Education: Fad or New Paradigm?
*

In the late 19th century, education visionaries proclaimed that
correspondence education would replace classrooms. In 1910, Thomas Edison
declared that film would completely change schools within ten years. Over
the past century we have witnessed many of such cycles in education, with
desktop computers, mobile phones, tablets, one computer per student, videos
and online education. First, new technologies are introduced into schools
with great excitement and promise. Some years later into the cycle, critics
argue that these new technologies are unlikely to improve learning
outcomes, and that we should go "back to basics." The announced revolution
comes to nothing: schools and parents become suspicious about educational
technologies; funding is no longer available; projects are canceled; and
schools eventually go back to the traditional teaching methods.

These cycles are even faster now that technology develops at an
astonishingly rapid pace. As a result, the public opinion and policy makers
are increasingly confused about the real role of technologies in the
classroom. Should technologies replace teachers, eliminate books, reach
remote regions, make education more affordable, allow for the teaching of
new content, enable student-centered, constructivist pedagogies, or make
learning fun and effortless? How does the recent discussion on tablets in
Brazilian schools fit into this debate? Are we witnessing another cycle of
exaggerated promises and disappointing results?

These questions will be addressed in the webinar *Tablets, computers, and
new technologies in education: another fad or new paradigm?* organized by
the *Working Group Current Trends in Brazilian Education*. This event, held
on February 15, is part of four workshops sponsored by the Center for Latin
American Studies <http://lemanncenter.createsend2.com/t/j/i/qvlyt/l/t/> and
the Lemann Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Brazilian
Education<http://lemanncenter.createsend2.com/t/j/i/qvlyt/l/i/>,
both at Stanford University.

For this seminar, coordinated by Prof. Paulo Blikstein, we invited
world-renowned researchers in the implementation and evaluation of
educational technologies:




*Roseli Lopes* is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronic
Systems Engineering from the Engineering School of   the University of São
Paulo (EP-USP). She is a researcher at the Integrated Systems Laboratory
(LSI-USP), and the leader of the research group "Interactive Electronic
Media," which comprises computer graphics, digital image processing,
techniques and devices for human-computer interaction, virtual reality and
augmented reality. Lopes coordinates research projects on the use of
interactive electronic media in the fields of education and health. She
also helps with the project "One Laptop per Child" in partnership with the
Brazilian Ministry of Education.




*José Armando Valente* is a Associate Professor in the Institute of
Multimedia Arts (IA) at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). His
focus is on computer-related technologies in education. Valente coordinates
the Nucleus of Informatics Applied to Education (Nied). He is the editor of
the book "Computers in the Knowledge Society,” which focuses on how schools
can prepare students for the contemporary world, where technology plays a
crucial role.




*Claudia Urrea* is a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) Media Lab. She helps empower and support schools and
communities of learners to evolve from traditional teaching methods and
material into progressive learning environments using state of the art
technologies developed at MIT-Media Lab. Also, Claudia works in
collaboration with "One Laptop per Child" (OLPC) to participate in the
worldwide deployment of revolutionary learning tools to children in the
developing world.




The seminar will be coordinated by *Paulo Blikstein*. He is an Assistant
Professor at Stanford University and director of the Transformative
Learning Technologies
Lab<http://lemanncenter.createsend2.com/t/j/i/qvlyt/l/h/>.
Blikstein develops cutting-edge technologies such as computer modeling,
robotics, and rapid prototyping that assist with creation of powerful
constructionist learning environments for children to learn science and
mathematics. He is especially concerned with the application of such
technologies in underprivileged schools from developing countries.
Blikstein is one of the founders and executive director of the Center for
Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Brazil at Stanford.

The seminar is open to all and will be presented in Portuguese and Spanish.

*Date: *February 15

*Time: *12:00 pm to 2:00 pm at CERAS 100B - *Lunch will be provided*

*Please, RVSP by registering here:
http://goo.gl/UKoju<http://lemanncenter.createsend2.com/t/j/i/qvlyt/l/k/>
*


About the Working Group *Current Trends in Brazilian Education*

This group is formed by the Stanford University graduate students: Luana
Marotta - MA student, International Comparative Education; Marcelo Granja -
MA student, International Educational Administration and Policy
Analysis; Tassia Cruz - PhD student, Economics of Education.


520 Galvez Mall CERAS Building, Room 232 Stanford, CA, USA 94305
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20120213/7d955dfa/attachment.html>