BUILDING A DISTANCE LEARNING INFRASTRUCTURE IN GUATEMALA

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Recruiting Organization: Asociacion Ventanas Abiertas

Can you read and write Spanish? If so, you can help build a distance learning infrastructure for primary school children in Guatemala, potentially saving thousands of them from lives of grinding poverty due simply to lack of education.

In March of 2020, just two months into the academic year, schools in Guatemala were shut down, not to re-open until the following January and then only briefly. They are still closed. On-line classes are held for youth seventh grade and above, but primary school children are only given homework to complete without any instruction at all.

In response, the teachers at Asociación Ventanas Abiertas (Open Windows), a free after-school learning center in San Miguel Dueñas, 20 minutes from the historic capital of Antigua, examined the national curriculum published by the Ministry of Education and identified the most critical components for grades one to six. They then created a YouTube channel, Aprende con Ventanas Abiertas, and began using educational software to produce video lessons in reading, math, science and social studies. [*]

A year later over 180 videos have been posted on the channel and viewed more than 160,000 times. The videos represent a new element of infrastructure for Guatemala: a permanently available cost-free teaching tool for primary school children that focuses on what they are required to learn. Any student in Guatemala, or in any Spanish-speaking country, can watch the videos on a cell phone or computer.

But here is the rub, and why your help is needed: the videos lack interaction. The children cannot respond on-line to the questions the teachers pose and the teachers cannot identify what the children have and have not learned.

Ventanas Abiertas is seeking volunteers who can devote a minimum of three months on-site in Guatemala to create interactive games and tests to accompany the videos. Volunteers will have free access to the necessary equipment and software as well as training on the software and ongoing support from the teachers while doing the work. Ventanas Abiertas will also help make your living arrangements, usually with a local family.

The only requirements are being able to read and write grammatically correct Spanish (speaking need not be fluent), the capacity (with support) to learn the software and a commitment of at least three months on-site.

For more information, contact Dennis E. Zeller, Ph.D., Volunteer Coordinator, at 1-518-992-8111 or dennis.zeller@outlook.com

[*] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYOIYnC5Jlc8ymsypGts-Mg

Stipend ProvidedFalse

Training ProvidedFalse

Housing AvailableFalse

Language/Cultral Support AvailableFalse

Wheelchair AccessibleFalse

Fee RequiredFalse

Fee Amount: None

This opportunity is recurring