Education as the key to unleash Puerto Rico’s potential to compete in the global economy

EDUCATION, ECONOMY AND TECHNOLOGY:
FUEL FOR AN INNOVATIVE SOCIETY
Education as the key to unleash Puerto Rico’s
potential to compete in the global economy
Jon Borschow, Chairman - Foundation for Puerto Rico

8

Agenda
Where is our education system today?
New Trends
The Challenges
Case Study: Khan Academy
The Challenges
Case Study: Operación Éxito
Case Study: MIT and Harvard edX
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8 Call to Action
A new model of teaching…
9 Foundation for Puerto Rico

• Education in Puerto Rico is not
improving, if anything it is
deteriorating.
• The current educational
process does not foster the
development of the skills and
competencies that students
need to be successful in the
global market.
Where is our education system today?

• Common challenges that prevent effective
teaching and learning interventions in the
classroom:
– Lack of in-depth understanding of how learning happens
– Environment not conducive to foster innovation and creative
thinking.
– Absence of a life long learner attitude and continuous
improvement behaviour.
– Traditional classroom setting and teaching practices that
promote little human interaction.
The Challenges

“A new model of teaching and learning
powered by innovation and technology
and geared towards enhancing our
human capital is essential for a
prosperous Puerto Rico.”

• In 2005, after four years of interviewing students, teachers,
administrators and parents, Operación Éxito was created to improve
the quality of Puerto Rico’s public education system.
– Using technology and motivational strategies based in social learning
development theory, the program promotes skill development and an inquisitive
attitude toward learning science and mathematics, helping students discover
opportunities to succeed in these key academic areas.
– Since its inception, Operación Éxito has evolved from a simple motivational
competition and Internet platform to a complex international social
transformational strategy with multiple complementary components.
– The Operación Éxito community has grown far beyond the coasts of Puerto Rico
and is helping to improve academic performance in Spanish-speaking countries
across the globe. Recently, Operation Éxito has expanded its reach to the United
States of America as well with an English-language program.
Case study: Operación Exito

– Provides consistent and sustained technical assistance
– Includes coaching, mentoring and effective teaching strategies,
like project based learning.
– Enhances the school curriculum by integrating technology and
online modules
– Promotes social consciousness and community commitment to
the schools and the students success
– Teachers who participated of Operación Éxito has experimented
increased knowledge and skills on the integration of technology,
curriculum integration and alignment, evaluation methods and
different learning styles
Case study: Operación Éxito
Benefits

• The Khan Academy was founded in 2006 as a not-for-
profit with the goal of changing education for the better
by providing a free world-class education for anyone
anywhere.
– Website with thousands of instructional videos which covers K-
12 math and science topics such as biology, chemistry, and
physics. Since its foundation Khan Academy videos have
received over 250 million views.
– Coaches, parents, and teachers have unprecedented visibility
into what their students are learning and doing on the Khan
Academy.
Case study: Khan Academy
Reverse classroom: K-12
“If you don’t get it, pause, rewind and listen again.”
Salman Khan, Founder

• Khan Academy: teacher to the world
– Over 3 thousand lectures on the website
– More than 50 million pupils around the world
– Less than 50 staff
– No text books, less lecturing, more interaction in the classroom
– Allows every student to work at their own pace assuring they
master concepts before moving on…
– The Khan Academy's ability to freely distribute lessons has
demonstrated technology's ability to eliminate economic barriers
that prevent effective education.
Case study: Khan Academy
Benefits

• edX
– Provide interactive classes from both Harvard and MIT — for free — to
anyone in the world with an Internet connection.
– Enhance the educational experience of students who study in MIT and
Harvard classrooms and laboratories.
– MITx (pilot) – offered the class, “Circuits and Electronics,” which
attracted more than 120,000 registrants, ranging from high-school
students to at least one octogenarian, and has spawned groups that
have spontaneously formed worldwide to work together.
Case study: MIT and Harvard edX
“The new possibilities afforded by today’s technology, have created the biggest
change in education since the invention of the printing press.”
Anant Agarwal, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and
president of edX
Reverse classroom: Undergraduate

• Trend 1: The relationships among technology, education
and innovation
– Innovation in education does not necessarily require expensive high-tech and
complex solutions. Often innovation is about an attitude, state of mind or culture.
• Trend 2: A more sophisticated, blended approach to learning
– Increasingly, efforts are being made to recognize and integrate learning that
takes place within and outside classroom settings, whether at home, within local
communities, or within the global community to which technology provides
access.
• Trend 3: More Sophisticated Assessment and Evaluation
– Assessment plays a crucial role in learning, but perhaps too often becomes its
sole focus, instead of a tool for teachers to be more effective and targeted in their
interventions with students.
New trends

• In the spirit of Foundation for Puerto Rico’s most
treasured values I would like to invite you to collaborate
and join efforts to support these alternative approaches
to education that are proving to be more effective for our
students
Call to action

• Foundation for Puerto Rico (FPR) is a non-profit,
non-partisan entity that aspires to transform
Puerto Rico by driving entrepreneurial
engagement and exports, encouraging public
sector innovation, unleashing human capital,
and fostering social innovation. To do so, we
need to create a new paradigm: a culture of
inclusiveness, trust, altruism and collaboration.
Foundation for Puerto Rico
About us

• Purpose - Our purpose is to discover, link and unleash
Puerto Rico’s potential as an active participant in the
global economy.
• Mission - To serve as a catalyst for Puerto Rico’s
transformation into a vibrant society and economy by
driving entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Vision - A prosperous Puerto Rico that realizes its
untapped social and economic potential by leveraging
the talent, creativity, tenacity, commitment and passion of
our people.
Foundation for Puerto Rico
About us

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