This document discusses the increasing role of technology in education and an innovative project in Uruguay called Ceibal that utilizes technology. The key points are: 1) Technology is advancing rapidly and will increasingly be used for teaching and learning, replacing books within 10 years. Teachers must learn to use technology or risk being replaced. 2) The Ceibal project provides every child in Uruguay with a laptop and uses telepresence technology to have remote teachers in other countries teach English lessons. 3) Preliminary results show that with proper training, materials, and classroom teacher support, students can learn effectively through remote lessons and be highly motivated using one-to-one laptops.

1. Technology and English Language
Teaching: Telepresence Technology
Paul Woods Regional English
Language Advisor,
The British Council, Argentina
Cartagena Policy Dialogue 31 September – 1
October 2012

2. Pace of change….
 We are living in exponential times
 In 2 years time there will be early adopters using devices
for teaching and learning that we don’t even know about
yet
 In 10 years time handheld devices will largely have
replaced books
 “Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but
teachers who don’t use technology will be replaced by
those who do” ~Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach~
 The next generation will demand teachers who use
methods they know and understand. This inevitably
involves teaching with technology.

3. The Classroom of the Future
Teachers use a portable work station
All students have portable work stations (XO Laptops).
All schools have a high band width internet connection.
XO laptops in a
Uruguayan
Primary School

4. Virtual Classrooms
http://www.examspeak.com/# Clip

5. Robot Teachers in Korea
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/
04/my-teacher-is-an-avatar/
Robot teacher clip

6. “This is Uruguay's problem: 40% of children who attend public
schools come from the poorest fifth rung of society. And out of this
fifth, just 3% makes it to college. Through Plan CEIBAL we decided
to take a chance on making a change and to find a way out of this
crisis we live in.”
Miguel Brechner, Plan Ceibal

12. Ceibal en Ingles
• Every child has a laptop
• Tele-presence
technology
• Remote teachers
Colombia and Argentina
• RT 1 hr per week
• CT 2 x 45 minutes per
week
• Proof of concept phase
• Progressive expansion

13. Uruguay – Remote Teaching using OLPC
Local classroom:
• TV screen showing
remote teacher
• Lesson materials shown
via Webex
2-way video & audio
Remote teacher
using video-phone
Joint lesson
planning
Students with
Classroom
laptops
Local class
teacher
managing activity
Remote
teacher

14. Learning
Manage-ment
System

15. British
Council
Materials

16. Lesson
Plans

17. Visual Aids

18. Worksheets

20. We intend to show that, with sufficient support,
appropriate training for classroom teachers and
appropriate materials for the pupils, learners will be
highly motivated, develop autonomy and achieve
measurable results through lessons delivered via
tele-presence technology and 1 to 1 laptops,
supported by classroom teachers with only a very
limited knowledge of English.
Using the language
The Ceibal Project

21. What have we learnt so far?
• Teachers need to be trained adequately,
both in how to maximise use of the
software on the laptops and how to
manage a class where the pupils have
laptops, for example, encouraging
students to create their own simple blogs
• Materials need to be mapped to or
created for the local syllabus
• Not everything can be done on the
laptops – young learners need to touch,
feel, handle, move round the room, do
things actively with other children
• Testing should test what the students
have been taught!

22. Thank you for listening!
Paul.woods@britishcouncil.org.ar