El papel de la OEA en el cierre de la brecha de desigualdad y el fomento del desarrollo

Carolina gave a copy to the students, asking them to copy the text it into Word. She also asked them to format the text when they finished. She showed them where the formatting tools were and asked them to explore their functionalities. When students began to finish copying the text, they started testing the tools. Some called Carolina for assistance, while others, in particular a couple of teenagers, were testing freely all the tools, and ended up having their text in large pink letters. Carolina pointed out for all some of the main tools and their functionalities, but this was not the end of the exercise, she asked them to turn to see her for a minute. Then she asked them their opinions about the text. This was a very interesting conversation to observe. Some

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students were upset with the white lady, others just happy the black man got a better seat. The conversation got deeper when one of the students, Rosa, high school student, told the class:

My stepmother does not like black people. She will avoid them and when she is home she says ugly things about them. But I think she is black, she has the hair and the colour, she is even darker than me and I consider myself black (Rosa, teen female, CDI student, ID20)

Carolina took this opportunity to talk about identity, racism and respect with the students. She told the students that she was black too, and that sometimes she had suffered from racism, but that she was proud of who she was. The conversation lasted less than 15 minutes, and Carolina started with the next task. Carolina was able to combine the typing exercise with a discussion on racism, allowing her students to engage in a critical discussion and dialogue. She also gave them more freedom to engage with the software than Fabio did with his students. By observing both groups, those that had more freedom also felt more at ease with trying out functions that they were unfamiliar with. This is a formal skill, which in the mid- to- long term, students need to continue to learn and practice on their own after the course ends. This kind of exercise is similar to what Freire (1970) used to do when teaching literacy. He would teach students words and then engage in conversations about the meaning of those words. This is a good example of how CDI promoted dialogue in the classroom. However, in this particular example, there is not a direct connection between the digital tools and the discussion. From a CA perspective, Carolina’s approach to the exercise was encouraging students to feel confortable with the tools, to explore and make mistakes, which can be considered to improve their confidence (psychological resources) and their ICT skills (educational resources). The conversation about racism was also informing the students about some cultural discourses that may impact them in different ways, either by being affected by racism or by observing it happening to others (informational and cultural resources).

Another example, where the task and the technologies are more intertwined, was observed at Francisco’s classroom at CDI Comunidade Eufraten. Francisco took his students on the immersion walk around the location of the school. Students took photographs and learned how to download them into the computer when they arrived back into the school. Afterwards, they looked together at all the photographs taken, and Francisco asked them what they had thought of their walk. Students

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started to share their impressions but one was common among several students. During the walk, they had problems crossing a street. Cars were driving pass very fast and there was no traffic light or zebra lines that could help them to cross. Only a few of them were able to run to cross the street, while most had to wait patiently for no cars to come in order to cross at a slower pace.

Francisco took this as an opportunity to ask them who was responsible for the streets and what they could do, if anything, to improve the situation. After discussing the issue, Francisco taught them how to search for information on Google about the organisation responsible for the streets in Campinas, finding the address and contact information to make a complaint. He also showed them how to search for examples of complaint letters and, together with them, chose one. Then he printed the letter as an example and asked them to copy the text into Word to practice typing and learning to format. It took four lessons to complete this exercise and as a result, students’ practiced typing, as in the two previous examples, but they also practiced searching for specific information that could aid a determined goal. In this case, the students did not have too much freedom when exploring the different tools in Word, arguably a banking education, but it could also be argued that they learned many other formal, information and strategic ICT skills (educational resources), besides the dialogue they engaged with about the problem itself (informational and cultural resources). Carolina’s group was able to experience the immersion walk too, however, the students only discussed the images. A lack of time meant they could not identify an issue that they all found interesting, or undertake the other activities that Francisco’s students did.

The teacher’s enthusiasm, skills and support they received, had a great impact on the students’ results. All four teachers had strong computer skills, but each had different levels of teaching skills and enthusiasm. For example, Gilberto, JC’s teacher from the telecentre HM (Plate 7-4), had great knowledge about programming and computers, huge enthusiasm, but little teaching experience. Observation of his lessons showed that his body language and attitude during class were very cheerful, and it was easy to see he liked what he was doing. Students also responded very well to him. However, when explaining different tasks, he would get into so much detail that students would start playing with their phones or look bored. The first lesson consisted of 80% explanation by him, with him writing the main ideas onto a flip chart. With his great knowledge about computers, he would share with students information not available in the manual JC teachers were asked

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to use as a guideline, and it could be argued that students were benefiting from this knowledge, but also, his lack of pedagogical skills limited how much he was able to communicate effectively with his students, as his style resembled a banking education in the way of just informing the students instead of promoting dialogue.