Dialogues around the transformation of higher education during and in the post-pandemic

Francesc Pedró, Director of the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), and Luciano Braverman, Senior Director of Education for Microsoft Latin America, talk about the transformation of Higher Education during and in post-pandemic scenarios in the opening session of dialogues on the occasion of the launch of the teacher training phase of the Program to support the design and implementation of strategies for the continuity of the higher educational services in the public universities of Peru. In relation to education in Latin America, “in the first weeks of the pandemic, almost more than […]

In relation to education in Latin America, “in the first weeks of the pandemic, almost more than ten years were advanced, particularly in the adoption of technologies in the classroom,” explains Braverman. Both specialists focus on the special care that must be taken throughout the digital transformation process on the issues of inclusion, accessibility, connectivity, availability of devices to ensure that all students have the same possibilities.

El modelo que más se ajusta a la realidad es el modelo de la letra K. Nos damos cuenta que hay universidades que iniciaron sus clases, y van bien, sin embargo hay otras que todavía están lejos de abrir. Se demuestra la distancia existente entre ellas, afirmó @FrancescPedroED
— UNESCO IESALC #EducaciónSuperior #HigherEd (@unesco_iesalc) October 20, 2020

Faced with this gap that is accelerating the pandemic in the field of higher education, Braverman and Pedró agree that the main mission of this project and of the digital transformation processes is not to leave any of the students behind.

Going from the face-to-face educational model to a virtual model requires a readjustment process in the pedagogical model. “One of the main objectives of the program that we carry out with 13 Peruvian universities is to guarantee that teachers and students are not only connected from a technological point of view, but also from a pedagogical point of view,” says Pedró. However, the director highlights the great opportunity that this situation offers us to rethink the pedagogical model.

? @FrancescPedroED: la crisis del COVID-19 nos ofrece una ventana de oportunidades que, a pesar de lo negativo, nos permite prepararnos para hacer las cosas distintas, hacer un rediseño pedagógico gracias al uso de la tecnología.
— UNESCO IESALC #EducaciónSuperior #HigherEd (@unesco_iesalc) October 20, 2020

Read the full history in Spanish.

Note: This dialogue took place within the framework of the launch on October 20^th of the teacher training phase of the Program to support the design and implementation of strategies for the continuity of the higher educational (Spanish).

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Dialogues around the transformation of higher education during and in the post-pandemic