Proceedings in pdf format. - Sociotechnical Systems Engineering ...

CHANGES TO TRAINING AND PERSPECTIVE OF THE TEACHING STAFF FOR THE NEWTECHNOLOGIESAntonio Bustos JiménezDpto. de Didáctica y Organización Escolar,Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, University of Granada, 18071 – Granada (Spain)E-mail: abustosj@ugr.esKEYWORDSInformation and Communication Technologies (ICT),curricular integration, training.ABSTRACTThe present effort of the Education Administrations inthe field of the New Technologies assumes that morecomputer science equipment is made available to theeducation centres and that there exists a considerableinterest in improving the training of the teaching staff inthis type of emerging literacy and, finally, an increasedawareness of the need for this educational resource.The introduction of the New Technologies ineducation centres opens new possibilities and contributesvery diverse advantages, not only in the direct process ofteaching-learning, but in others. To understand thesepositive and diverse elements, and to spread and presentthem to the parents, teaching staff and pupils will help usto integrate these technologies in the centres (Mir Montes2000). Throughout recent courses one has seen increasedpossibilities for improving the manner of performingdirect tasks with the pupils and the teaching staff.My experiences in the centres in which I have had theopportunity to co-ordinate these types of resources, showthe necessity for an open and dynamic use of the newInformation and Communication Technologies.Furthermore, due to the scarcity of legal and internalguidelines concerning its use and the people who mustmanage it, there is an organisational deficiency, which issolved in many cases, by the generous participation of afew people. The intervention of the teaching staff in thismanner demands much effort and dedication (Rodriguezde las Heras 2003). Therefore, the proposal that Ipresent, part of which has been the stagedimplementation of necessities, argues for the applicationof a management model that tries to provide solutionsbefore the demand occurs at a greater rate than theadministration itself is able to regulate.WHERE IS THE DIGITAL DIVIDE?If we think of the digital divide as the set of socialinequalities produced by unequal implementation of theNew Technologies, this situation results in being unableto take advantage of the benefits that the informationsociety can offer to the more depressed zones, since theycan be the access to a very ample supply of trainingcourses, with the possibility of being able to mount theirown virtual companies with access to internationalmarkets, without leaving their localities. The situationcreates second-class citizens.Without doubt, when this concept is used, it leads to atype of separation produced in underdeveloped societies.This happens in countries like Spain, where one assumesthat, holding 9th place in worldwide development, itwould not occur. When the repercussions and real scopeof the New Technologies are analysed in depth weobserve that, for example, broadband Internet does notarrive at rural nuclei of great geographic isolation,causing an unequal development of these zones thataggravates their differences even more. This creates firstclass and second-class citizens. The inequalities are notcompensated for, but are promoted.If, as Camacho (2005) indicates, this digital dividearises from the social divide, while it is not able tooverturn the efforts in eliminating the social inequalities,the access in equality of conditions to the informationwill be a chimera. In the rural context, if the responsiblecollectives and companies through which the wholepopulation has real possibilities of access, also providinga sufficient degree of literacy in the new technologies, donot tackle the necessary initiatives jointly, the digitaldivide will progressively increase in these sectors ofpopulation.One of the processes to which these underprivilegedpopulations are subjugated is like a lost fight in the effortto compensate their deficiencies. The result, as PerezTapias (2003) indicates, is a "infernal circle": the morethe technology advances in developed sectors ofpopulation, the greater is the disadvantage of the leastmost developed to compete in equality of opportunities,and the more difficult it becomes to overcome thesituation. According to this author, "that which until nowhas been a traditional school is being overrun, and thetechnocratic pressure would make that which would bean elitist education in danger of obtaining partialachievements in comparison with an educational systemthat endorses the principle of equality of opportunities".More concretely, with the bursting in of these newtechnologies and everything they bring, the design of aneducation system conceived as obligatory for all, with thestate school as its vehicle, is seen to be more and moreAnnual Proceedings of Vidzeme University College “ICTE in Regional Development”, 200625