Case Study Presentation: The Dominican Republic

1. Case Study Presentation: The Dominican Republic Godys Armengot EDTC 645 Professor Wieczorek

2. Introductory Statement of Purpose The example of strategies related to improving access to instructional technology employed by the Ministry of Education in the Dominican Republic, where extreme poverty is high, should be taken into consideration by administrators in the Rochester City School District as a possible source of inspiration for meeting the Rochester City School District’s 2014-2018 Action Plan goals of providing better classroom technology and additional opportunities through community partners (RCSD, 2014).

3. Community Technology Centers of the Dominican Republic | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEt2sYyCs7Y

4. Technology and Education in the Dominican Republic Martiz (2015) and Barceló (2014) have demonstrated that limited access to technology, social marginalization, inequality, and access are key challenges for students and educators in the Dominican Republic. Their studies suggest that the effectiveness of education can be improved through educational use of mobile technologies, which are more readily available than computers, smartboards, or other classroom technologies.

5. Martiz (2015) documents how a Dominican English language teacher and her students resourcefully decided to use cell phone features in order to integrate instructional technology that can assist students with 21st century technology skills inside and outside the classroom. This provided a resourceful approach to dealing with the unequal access to technology in a language classroom by proposing and implementing ideas for the effective use of mobile technology devices used by the teachers and the

6. students for educational purposes. In addition, Oliver Barceló (2014) concludes that it is important to bring a new perspective to the Dominican educational system. This system should promote education as a space of transmission of a culture of struggle and development, and a place to overcome marginalization and isolation rather than reinforce and perpetuate social inequalities. H. Estill Varner (personal communication, November, 2015), observed a private school for the Deaf in Santo Domingo

7. that had no electronic devices (including but not limited to computers, televisions, and projectors) in the classroom. However, in the same city she also observed a private university that had instructional technology equivalent to that used in the United States (personal communication, November, 2015). This disparate access even within private institutions demonstrates that access to instructional technology is still a struggle. There are several practices and programs that are in place to provide more access. First, the Ministry of Education has approved spaces for

8. Community Technology Centers (CTCs ) supported by the Office of the Vice President (Vicepresidencia, 2015) and open to all at no cost. Secondly, the Ministry of Education is supporting the Samsung “Smart School” initiative (Tecnologia, 2015; Molini, 2015) to provide instructional technology in public schools. These two initiatives along with the use of mobile devices are positive steps toward expanding access to instructional technology within approved parameters established by the Dominican Ministry of Education.

9. Dominican National Exam Preparation Apps for Mobile Devices

10. Community Technology Centers (CTCs) Vice President Dr. Margarita Cedeño inaugurating a new Centro Tecnológico Comunitario (CTC) in the Villa Central community in Barahona in October, 2015.

11. Samsung Smart School Initiative

12. Rochester and Rochester City School District The City of Rochester is currently the number one city of its size in the nation for extreme poverty rates and also has the fifth highest poverty rate overall for large metro areas in country (Riley, D., 2015). The Rochester City School District has 22% of schools with 90% or higher poverty rates (RCSD, 2015).

13. Rochester City School District 2014-18 Action Plan Better technology in classrooms and additional opportunities through community partners are two of the ways that the Rochester City School District proposes to close the opportunity gap (RCSD, 2014).

14. Rochester City School District Theory of Action

15. Interview Insights Regarding Technology and Education Interviewee: History Estill-Varner Fulbright Scholar works with schools for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing in the Dominican Republic

16. Interview Insights History Estill-Varner is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology who was awarded a Fulbright to research education for the Deaf and hard of hearing in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, she completed an internship with the Dominican Ministry of Education and noted that the Ministry was “in the process of researching technology to use in the classroom for students with disabilities.” (personal communication, November, 2015).

17. However, the private school for the Deaf that she observed had no instructional technology in the classroom (personal communication, November, 2015). Some of the challenges she noted were “Not only is the upfront cost for technology expensive but maintenance as well. Keeping the technology safe could also be a challenge.” (personal communication, November, 2015). This interview provided me with additional insight into the uneven access to instructional technology even among private schools.

18. My erroneous assumption prior to conducting this interview was that private schools would have more instructional technology than public schools. However, this is not always the case as the observations by Estill-Varner demonstrate. Therefore, the Ministry of Education supported programs including the Community Technology Centers (CTCs), which are free and open to the public and initiatives such as the Samsung Smart Schools are positive steps toward overcoming access barriers for students

19. in both public and private educational systems as well as for community members who are interested in furthering their educational opportunities outside of traditional schools. While these combined approaches address the current challenges for the students and community members they serve, more programs like these are needed to reach people living in underserved areas of the country including rural communities and sugar cane plantations or bateyes (Barceló, 2014).

20. Lessons from the Dominican Context The Dominican context suggests that in areas of highly concentrated poverty it is important to approach the challenge of closing the digital divide through multiple channels. The Community Technology Centers are a public space endorsed by the Ministry of Education and open to all free of charge. These centers in addition to programs such as Samsung Smart Schools initiative are making instructional technology more accessible to students and community members.

21. Summation In conclusion, in order to increase access to technology and close the opportunity gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not, it is necessary but not sufficient to introduce instructional technology devices in schools. The approach of the Dominican Ministry of Education to providing Community Technology Centers that are open to all and should be seriously considered by policy makers in Rochester and the state of New York.

22. While public libraries offer some access, there are many communities in Rochester with very limited access to transportation. Neighborhood technology centers offering free seminars and information literacy classes could make a real difference in the availability of access and skill level of some of the most vulnerable members of community.

23. References

24. Barceló Mar, O. (2014). Educación y desigualdad en los bateyes de la República Dominicana. [Education and inequality in the bateyes of the Dominican Republic]. Educar, 50(2), 403-425. Finch, L. (7 May 2013) Dominican Republic's Community Technology Centers Fight Digital Poverty. Rising Voices. Global Voices Online. Retrieved from https://rising.globalvoices.org/blog/2013/05/07/dominican-republics-community-technology-centers-fight-digital-poverty/ Gates Foundation. (2012). Community technology centers of the Dominican Republic. [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEt2sYyCs7Y Martiz, G. (2015). A qualitative case study on cell phone appropriation for language learning purposes in a Dominican context (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4414 Molini, P. (2015). Samsung presents Smart School program in the Dominican Republic. Retrieved from http://globalmedia-it.us/samsung-presents-smart-school-program-in-the-dominican-republic/ Riley, D. (2015). Report: Rochester tops 'extreme poverty' list. Retrieved from http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/01/08/rochester-poverty-act-community-foundation-report/21452093/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=

25. Tecnología en las escuelas públicas (2015) Listin Diario. retrieved from http://www.listindiario.com/tecnologia/2015/10/06/390904/tecnologia-en-las-escuelas-publicas We Will Treat Every Child Like One of Our Own An Action Plan for the Rochester City School District, 2014-2016. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.rcsdk12.org/cms/lib04/NY01001156/Centricity/Domain/8/ActionPlan_ExecSummary.pdf Vicepresidencia de la República Dominicana. (2015). Gobierno amplía posibilidades desarrollo Barahona; inaugura Centro Tecnológico Comunitario. Retrieved from http://vicepresidencia.gob.do/vice/gobierno-amplia-posibilidades-desarrollo-barahona-inaugura-centro-tecnologico-comunitario/

26. Images

27. EduDeo. (2015). Dominican Republic education stats. Retrieved from: https://edudeo.com/get-inspired/countries/dominican-republic/ Margarita Cedeno at ribbon cutting ceremony in Barahona. (2015). Retrieved from http://vicepresidencia.gob.do/vice/gobierno-amplia-posibilidades-desarrollo-barahona-inaugura-centro-tecnologico-comunitario/ Pruebas nacionales dominicanas. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.educando.edu.do/portal/ Rochester City School District. (2014). A focused theory of action for student success. Retrieved from http://www.rcsdk12.org/cms/lib04/NY01001156/Centricity/Domain/8/ActionPlan_ExecSummary.pdf Three students win Fulbright scholarships. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.ntid.rit.edu/news/three-students-win-fulbright-scholarships Vicepresidenta considera vital uso de las TIC en aulas (2015). Retrieved from http://telenoticias.com.do/vicepresidenta-considera-vital-uso-de-las-tic-en-aulas/

28. Appendix: Interview Questions and Responses