AME courses offered specialized instruction in Communication and School Organization and the Course of Acquisition and Use of ICT in Primary Education
Santo Domingo, November 4, 2009 - Fundación Cisneros and El Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña (ISFODOSU) today presented certificates to 80 teachers completing courses offered by the Actualización de Maestros en Educación (AME) program of the Fundación Cisneros.
The ceremony of the 9th graduation of AME courses was held at the public enclosure of Félix Evaristo Mejía of ISFODOSU, and the Fundación Cisneros was in attendance, represented by its Vice President and Executive Director, Mr. William R. Phelan, and its Project Manager, Ms. Sofia Perazzo. Also in attendance from El Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña was the Rector, Pedro Antonio Eduardo, Academic Director, Lourdes Concepción, Professor Ramón Emilio Vilorio Polanco, AME program coordinator at ISFODOSU, and Marcos Vega, Executive Vice Chancellor of Campus. In addition, there were other ISFODOSU authorities, teachers, family and associates present along with representatives from Indotel, the Escuelas Vocacionales de la Fuerzas Armadas, Fundación Rica, Fundación Sur Futuro and Barrick Gold.
The AME program, an interactive online program for teachers in Latin America to promote continuing professional development, offered the courses School Organization and Communication and Acquisition and Use of ICT in Primary Education. These courses lasted 12 weeks and were directed by AME and coordinated by the Metropolitan University of Venezuela and the Latin American and Caribbean University (ULAC), under the guidance of expert Silvia García.
In the School Organization and Communication course, the ISFODOSU ranked 15th out of the 133 teams from 14 Latin American countries that participated in the program, which offers content to learn and understand the concepts and basic steps of the strategies of internal and external communication for schools including, parental and student involvement; essential elements in supporting the educational process.
The Ownership and Use of ICT in Basic Education course at ISFODOSU ranked 5th and 8th among 227 teams from other Latin American countries. The course aimed to guide the teaching practice towards the use of new educational approaches focused on the student; to assess the importance of information and communication technologies in the innovation processes of basic education and improving access to education; and develop interest in the use of information and communication technologies in order to improve learning processes in classrooms, among others.
Since 2005, the Fundación Cisneros, in conjunction with ISFODOSU, has certified more than 1,500 Dominican teachers, making it one of the largest networks in Latin America. The AME program also has strong partnerships with Barrick Gold, Grupo Punta Cana, Escuelas Vocacionales de las Fuerzas Armadas and the school district of Miches. In total, these networks and ISFODOSU have certified 1,868 Dominican teachers.
The rector of El Instituto de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña, Pedro Antonio Eduardo, addressing those present, stressed the importance of generating partnerships, like this one, that directly impacts training in an effort to improve educational quality. This strategy is essential in the society of knowledge, as a means of strengthening the quality of education.
Migdalia Sánchez, the teacher who spoke on behalf of the certified teachers, expressed her satisfaction with the courses taken, which provide relevant and timely training especially in the handling of technological tools, scientific and management information required for the practice of teaching management.
Also, Mr. William R. Phelan, Executive Director of the Fundación Cisneros, spoke of the important and productive relationship established between the Fundación Cisneros and El Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña, highlighting the passion for education shared by both institutions. Mr. Phelan stressed the importance of continuously updating teachers with courses that complement their professional development and improving teacher quality, enabling them to exercise education holistically.
Institutional Profiles:
About El Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña
El Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña is an institution of higher education, at the state and public service level, specializing in human resource training for the education sector. As an academic community, it is committed to training teachers to higher levels of expertise with a commitment to Dominican education, with an innovative vision for improving the national education system.
As a decentralized state institution, it is linked to the Secretary of State for Education, as the executer of policies for training teachers of the Dominican educational system.
About Fundación Cisneros
The Fundación Cisneros is a private, non-profit institution established by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Gustavo Cisneros, and currently led by Adriana Cisneros de Griffin, in order to strengthen the social fabric, promote freedom of expression and democratic thought, encourage economic progress and strengthen understanding among Latin American nations. Its mission is to improve education in Latin America while promoting global awareness about the region's contributions to world culture, as well as channeling and structuring the Corporate Social Responsibility programs of the Cisneros Group. The strategy of the Fundación Cisneros is to establish partnerships with local organizations and use the information and communication technology platform of the Cisneros Group to develop educational, cultural and corporate social responsibility programs.
About AME
AME (Actualización de Maestros en Educación) is an interactive online continuing professional development program for primary school teachers in Latin America. Through various partnerships with the public and private sectors of the countries that have implemented the program, AME offers courses and educational television programs free of charge for teachers to improve their teaching skills in relevant subjects such as information and communication technologies in schools, didactical training in language arts, mathematics, health education, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental awareness, ethics, among others. The program also contributes to the development of teamwork skills with other teachers and the use of professional networks to access information from colleagues and experts to support professional development.