Indotel director: Public schools need to rely on radio and TV programs

[Dolores]

The new director of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel), Nelson Arroyo threw a bucket of ice water on those dreaming about digital learning being the standard. Arroyo says the reality is that the prevailing poor connectivity is making virtual learning difficult for this school year. He said the focus should be on distance learning programs via radio and television for the rest of the year.

President Luis Abinader has announced the 2020-2021 school year will begin on 2 November with online classes, radio and TV instruction. The government has announced plans to invest heavily to provide laptops, notebooks and tablets to public school teachers and students. Abinader has expressed high hopes the Covid-19 situation will serve to push the country to reduce the digital divide.

When asked about Arroyo’s opinion, Vice President Raquel Peña said the government is working...

Continue reading...

 

[MikeFisher]

well, schooling via TV or Radio.
I fear the 2020/2021 school year will under the line be a simple Mess and failure.

 

[NanSanPedro]

well, schooling via TV or Radio.
I fear the 2020/2021 school year will under the line be a simple Mess and failure.

Hope they let the EDEs know this.

 

[bienamor]

Hope they let the EDEs know this.

No more EDE's remember

 

[bob saunders]

No more EDE's remember

Different name, same problems. There many rural areas without power, without tv, and even radios are rare. We have kids in our school that travel for 45 minutes by moto to get to school. Here in the mountains people live all over hell's half acre.

 

[bienamor]

I Obviously forgot the smiley face for the comment.

 

[bob saunders]

Different name, same problems. There many rural areas without power, without tv, and even radios are rare. We have kids in our school that travel for 45 minutes by moto to get to school. Here in the mountains people live all over hell's half acre.

Just had a conversation with a public school teacher that has her child in our school. She teaches grade 5 in the public system. She said that more than three quarters of her students have both parents working and the child goes to an aunts, a neighbours or and grandparents during the day. She had to go house to house to show them how to use zoom or even whatsapp on phones and tablets. We have a lot of teachers children registered in our school, just got another dozen or so this week. The real problem will be with the 4 to 6 year olds.

 

[JD Jones]

Just had a conversation with a public school teacher that has her child in our school. She teaches grade 5 in the public system. She said that more than three quarters of her students have both parents working and the child goes to an aunts, a neighbours or and grandparents during the day. She had to go house to house to show them how to use zoom or even whatsapp on phones and tablets. We have a lot of teachers children registered in our school, just got another dozen or so this week. The real problem will be with the 4 to 6 year olds.

Jeez.. that is brutal.

 

[MikeFisher]

agreed, thats the problematic age for the stuff.
my 9 years old knows since years how to use a tablet or smartphone, well better than my wife does.
no kidding, my wife ask's our daughter when something on her tablet doesn't wanna work as it shoudl and the lil one get's it done.
but thats because she's a Daddy's girl and with me at my working computers since ever.
as far as her small private school goes, teh only computers there in use bene one at the secretary's office and an other one at the director's desk.
in class no computers, not even calculators.
the part with no calculators is what I personally like, as i was raised without calculators to be used through all my school years til univercity degree been achieved, wht you get in case of maths that way is somethin nobody could ever tecah you while calculators are allowed to be used.
but the point is, the schools here are so far behind, i can not omagine that some government donations can close such gap.
I would love to see this school system running virtual perfectly, it would start a new school age for the DR for the future to be implemented,
but i do not see such to happen very well any time soon. we have to much to cope up with first.

 

[NanSanPedro]

agreed, thats the problematic age for the stuff.
my 9 years old knows since years how to use a tablet or smartphone, well better than my wife does.
no kidding, my wife ask's our daughter when something on her tablet doesn't wanna work as it shoudl and the lil one get's it done.
but thats because she's a Daddy's girl and with me at my working computers since ever.
as far as her small private school goes, teh only computers there in use bene one at the secretary's office and an other one at the director's desk.
in class no computers, not even calculators.
the part with no calculators is what I personally like, as i was raised without calculators to be used through all my school years til univercity degree been achieved, wht you get in case of maths that way is somethin nobody could ever tecah you while calculators are allowed to be used.
but the point is, the schools here are so far behind, i can not omagine that some government donations can close such gap.
I would love to see this school system running virtual perfectly, it would start a new school age for the DR for the future to be implemented,
but i do not see such to happen very well any time soon. we have to much to cope up with first.

Totally with you Mike on no calculators. Learn to do it in your head. Keeps the brain from going dormant.

I think this school year the gap between the haves and havenots will widen with respect to intellectual ability. It's sad, but the poor will fall further behind.

 

[MikeFisher]

sad, but I ee it the same way.

 

[bob saunders]

agreed, thats the problematic age for the stuff.
my 9 years old knows since years how to use a tablet or smartphone, well better than my wife does.
no kidding, my wife ask's our daughter when something on her tablet doesn't wanna work as it shoudl and the lil one get's it done.
but thats because she's a Daddy's girl and with me at my working computers since ever.
as far as her small private school goes, teh only computers there in use bene one at the secretary's office and an other one at the director's desk.
in class no computers, not even calculators.
the part with no calculators is what I personally like, as i was raised without calculators to be used through all my school years til univercity degree been achieved, wht you get in case of maths that way is somethin nobody could ever tecah you while calculators are allowed to be used.
but the point is, the schools here are so far behind, i can not omagine that some government donations can close such gap.
I would love to see this school system running virtual perfectly, it would start a new school age for the DR for the future to be implemented,
but i do not see such to happen very well any time soon. we have to much to cope up with first.

you never used a graphing calculator in high school or for trig? As far as virtual education, if the input is garbage the output will be garbage. I hope it works but I am pretty cynical. Zoomie will say whats your education experience- I was part of a team developing online training for aviation technology, and I was the guy writing the exams, putting them into an exam bank that was totally computerized. I also taught numerous aviation related subjects, plus flight safety....etc. Not the same as teaching little children though.

 

[NanSanPedro]

you never used a graphing calculator in high school or for trig? As far as virtual education, if the input is garbage the output will be garbage. I hope it works but I am pretty cynical. Zoomie will say whats your education experience- I was part of a team developing online training for aviation technology, and I was the guy writing the exams, putting them into an exam bank that was totally computerized. I also taught numerous aviation related subjects, plus flight safety....etc. Not the same as teaching little children though.

Bob, I'm 65. I never used a calculator in school until college. Never permitted in high school and probably not invented when I was in grade school.

 

[bob saunders]

Bob, I'm 65. I never used a calculator in school until college. Never permitted in high school and probably not invented when I was in grade school.

I am sixty three and used one in Grade 11 and 12 for Math, Physics and Chemistry, all of which I have forgot , well mostly. Used for advanced algebra, trigonometry, and calculus, all of which I sucked at.

 

[bob saunders]

Totally with you Mike on no calculators. Learn to do it in your head. Keeps the brain from going dormant.

I think this school year the gap between the haves and havenots will widen with respect to intellectual ability. It's sad, but the poor will fall further behind.

I believe you are entirely correct.

 

[MikeFisher]

Bob, I will be just 56 in 15 days from today, but luckily(yes, i really enjoy the pos effects) we did not have any calcualtors through Grad School and my specific high school did not allow any calculators during all my high school time. other schools, most as fact in back in the day germany, did have and allow and use them all around, but not mine, and i am thankful for that.
it did not stop me from learning to use such "high tec", todays, since a couple decades, I make a living of online work on my computer and designing websites for competitors, lol. i guess it was that time of changes on that sector.

 

[Auryn]

I began using a computer in school when I was 5. Technology is natural for me, but for today’s children, it’s intuitive.

I am just repeating myself from previous older threads, but as stated, the problem with the government plan is infrastructure. How can this possibly be successful when there isn’t even a reliable electrical grid? What time frame have they provided to address that? Months would be optimistic, which just allows the have nots to have less.

What has been suggested in regards to internet connectivity? I believe I read somewhere about a plan to address that, but haven’t gone back to look for it.

 

[bienamor]

I began using a computer in school when I was 5. Technology is natural for me, but for today’s children, it’s intuitive.

I am just repeating myself from previous older threads, but as stated, the problem with the government plan is infrastructure. How can this possibly be successful when there isn’t even a reliable electrical grid? What time frame have they provided to address that? Months would be optimistic, which just allows the have nots to have less.

What has been suggested in regards to internet connectivity? I believe I read somewhere about a plan to address that, but haven’t gone back to look for it.

Even if they had connectivity they are sorely lacking for bandwidth. Let alone the other problems before they need to to worry about that. Indotel is spot on

 

[nanita]

So in the end it seems the DR is following Mexico's model of using the TV and radio to educate the students during the 'pandemic'. Very sad, but not surprising. The new generation will pay the cost for this year's events - traumatized by the fear mongering and poorly socialized and educated. Taught that physical contact must be followed by disinfecting, unable to read facial cues due to masks. Unable to play outside with their friends or have a sleepover. Sat in front of a TV or radio and expected to learn and retain information. God know how long this will go on. In the West, they'll be paying off government deficits all their lives. I feel for them, I really do, poor little sods.