Every day we are more immersed in an era in which our lives revolve around technology, and without it, we simply don’t progress. The education field is not an exception; multiple education systems from around the world are using technology on a daily basis to develop more competitive students. Unfortunately, the transition hasn’t been homogeneous in many countries, and one of them is Mexico.
This was the problem identified by three students from the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Guadalajara, three semesters ago: Betsua Nohemí Francisco from Financial Management, Francisco Castañeda from Civil Engineering, and Metztli Benavides from International Relations.
During a Business Development with Social Impact course from the Monterrey’s Entrepreneur class, the students began working on a project to solve one of Mexico’s social problems. They realized that without an efficient and competitive education system, Mexico will get stagnant and won’t progress.
Francisco explained that she has always viewed education as a key piece in the development of Mexico, and Castañeda, who is from one of the most violent cities of Mexico, Tamaulipas, has suffered the loss of some of his friends at the hands of violence.
Nevertheless, they have also seen the way many of them have progressed thanks to education.
After deciding to focus on education, the students conducted an investigation at local schools to analyze the way they could address the problem, because the education system in Mexico is very complex and difficult to understand.
They discovered that there is very little technological involvement in the classroom because of limited pedagogical training and technological training.
If this is one of the elements to solve in the country, how do we plan to progress if one of the pillars is weak?
This was the moment in which Francisco, Dávalos and Campos decided developing programs that train teachers to use technology, given that in many cases they lack access to training. And TIPS was born, a project run by students, which trains teachers in their free time to use technological tools in the classroom.
“The professors are a key piece of the education quality because they are the ones who develop the society”, explained Betsua Francisco.
The Public Education Secretary in Mexico offers technological training but many teachers in Mexico struggle to attend. The teachers have low salaries and they often work overtime.
Besides, the SEP training is also ineffective as there are few instructors and many teachers interested in learning. Some teachers have told TIPS that in the training they were taught theoretical knowledge such as the definitions of the internet and its tools. They were not given practical training that they could apply to their classes.
TIPS aims to solve this problem by having one student from the Tecnológico de Monterrey train three professors at a time, as part of their social service requirements. In the trainings, professors are taught the basics, such as learning how to turn on a computer, to using more advanced tools such as Microsoft Office. There are different types of trainings based on the knowledge previously acquired by the teacher.
Additionally, TIPS received a fund of $192,000 Mexican Pesos, which was used to buy technological equipment. Many of the students of the beneficiary teachers have never had an experience with this type of material, so it is also sought that these trainings develop more competitive students.
Results until date
During the previous semester, 15 students began doing their social service with TIPS, but today there are 35. Every student is assigned with three teachers to train, which is why there is a close relationship between the students and teachers in which the teacher is not afraid to fail and learn.
In a day, the teachers can be taught how to use excel, use the cloud as a tool, or simple things like how to send an email. In a semester, they can learn how to use Microsoft Office and how to create web content.
The teachers are happy with the results; Sandra Hernández, who is teaching in an elementary school, said that one characteristic of the students is that they are always on the technological edge and the teachers are not. She talked about how she has been a better teacher thanks to TIPS and the trust they have in her, that motivated her to ask more questions and to use her new knowledge in the class.
Future plans
The first step for 2018 is to replicate the same model in another campus from Tecnológico de Monterrey, and after that, replicate it in other universities of the country.
Betsua Francisco ends the interview with this sentence: “Education is the key piece for Mexico’s future”. Therefore, we should not forfeit at fighting this problem, because here is the ingredient for a real change in our country. There is still time to do something.