Research about One Laptop per Child Program in Peru – December 2009

Research results about One Laptop per Child in communities of Peru, developed in December 2009

The research was developed by Carlos Laura Quispe and Edgar Bolivar Diaz from the Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social of Peru. This study aimed to identy facilitators and barriers that arise from the introduction of One Laptop Per Children Program in Peru, specifically in rural Peru.  The program has three years of implementation. The research was developed in Arequipa and Puno. These regions are in the mountain in Peru.

The facilitators of the implementation of the Program are the followings:

1.  TEACHER BELIEFS.-

• The teachers that participed in this study said that the technologies such as computers and Internet have important effects on the education process and learning.
• Technology can improve the learning process specially when a teacher is working with students of different grades. For example when a teacher works with students of 1st. grade and 2nd. grade at the same time. Also, there is a change about the importance of the new technology in the classroom.

2. AVAILABILITY OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES.-

•  Teachers and students have access to a network of information and communication  anywhere and specially in remote areas of Peru.
• Students who use laptops are changing their learning process. For instance they are working in teams and developing news skills.
• Students consider that laptops have high value.
• Teachers consider that laptops and Internet are an important aspects in their development as educators.

Education is changing in the World

Education has news perspectives in the Network Society

 Education in the world is changing. Every day teachers are using news technologies and Internet to teach in different issues. In this video, you can see the aspects that are changing, what is the goal of education and how teachers are using tools to teach in an environment where young people have access to computers and Internet, also to other social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Hi5, etc. For instance, in Canada there are schools that use Internet to prepare classes for students. Parents also, can participate through Internet looking about the progress of students. The incorporation of new technologies is very important in the educational system, especially in low income countries where the educational level is not effective.

Statistics about new technologies in Peru (December, 2009)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ACCESS TO INTERNET

The access to new technologies in Peru is different. According to National Institute of Statistics of Peru, in December 2009, 27,7% of the houses in Peru have a phone connection, 65,2% have access to cell phone, 22,7% have access to cable, 19,2% have a computer and 9,7% have access to the Internet. It is very important to know that the acces to Internet in the houses is very limited but the access to Internet in Internet booths is high.

According to the Institute of Statistics and Informatic of Peru, 31,4% of the people over 6 years of age use Internet. However, there is inequality by gender. For instance 35,1% of males use Internet and 27,7% of females use Internet, so there is a gender gap in the access to Internet. That is why, the government should promote different activities to close this gap about the access to Internet by gender.

According to the same organization in Peru, in relation to age, the  group of people between 19 and 24 years of age use the most the Internet (55,4%) and 51,4% of people between 12 and 18 years old are the second group that use more frequently the Inernet.

Other important information is about the place where people use Internet. 67,2% of people use Internet in booths. This is an important information, where you can see that out of 10 Peruvians that access to Internet, 7 Peruvians access it in public booths. In educational organizations only 8,3% of people have access to Internet.

You can get more information about this issue in this link where the information is in Spanish. Here.