Colombian National telecentre.org Academy

The first ever National Academy pilot supported by telecentre.org in Latin America, called the Colombian national telecentre.org Academy came into being in January 2008 in Bogota with technical assistance from the Esplai Foundation in Spain. On success ful completion of the pilot, through another grant from telecentre.org, a two-year program was initiated in April 2008. The Colombian telecentre.org Academy developed a set of courseware on the basis of the curriculum offered in Spain by the Esplai Foundation with a number of course authors and tutors supporting the process of learning.

To date, the Colombian National telecentre.org Academy has implemented several cycles of courses for over 800 telecentre operators and NGOs in Colombia and in neighbouring countries. A two-member team based at Colnodo is spearheading the work with support from the Colombia Digital Corporation, Makaia Corporation, Colombian Ministry of Communications, among others.

Regarding the course content, there is a curricular plan that was designed in the pilot phase. The Academy is an ongoing process. Although the main topics are the same, we have included new modules according to new demands. We have had to introduce new modules to suit the tutors skills and the courses offered by the Esplai Foundation - adapted to the Colombian context. The goal for 2009 is to finish 17 online courses (we have completed 10) and to involve more than 700 administrators from the Colombian telecentres. The idea is also to convert the educational platform into a free use platform (Moodle) to save the costs of hosting the courses which could jeopardize the sustainability of the Academy in the long term."

Contact: Julian Casasbuenas G. (julian@colnodo.apc.org)