Ceibal Foundation announce the 6 projects selected by the FSED – Modality A

Ceibal Foundation and the National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII) present the 6 selected projects that will be funded as part of the sixth edition of the Education Sector Fund (FSED) “Digital Inclusion: Education with New Horizons”.

In 2020, changes and improvements were made to the programme to gear it to the needs of the national and international context of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, efforts were made to strengthen articulation with Plan Ceibal and ANEP (National Administration of Public Education) in order to fund research projects. Two modalities emerged in this context: Modality A and Modality B.

Under Modality A, priority was given to those projects relevant and applicable to Plan Ceibal, in coordination with ANEP. A total of 25 projects were submitted to the call, launched in 2020, of which 17 were selected to move on to the formulation stage, and 6 were selected as beneficiaries of the funding.

Selected projects:

• Monitoring and assessing the use of educational platforms (Monitor y evaluación de uso de las plataformas educativas), submitted by the University of the Republic – School of Economic and Administrative Sciences. The overall objective is to produce statistical tools for the assessment and monitoring of educational platforms such as CREA and PAM that will contribute to the development of educational policies and to evidence-based decision-making.
• Innovations for the teaching and learning of natural sciences with the aid of digital technologies (Innovaciones para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las ciencias naturales mediados por tecnologías digitales), submitted by the National Administration of Public Education – Teacher Training Council. This project proposes the exploration of innovation strategies for teaching and aspects related to the learning of experimental sciences with the aid of technologies, based on the use of remote laboratories.
• Digital technologies for teaching mathematics: analytics of the use of PAM (Mathematics Adaptive Platform), systematic mapping of available software and best practices for inclusive, digital mathematics (Tecnologías digitales para la enseñanza de la matemática: analíticas de uso de la PAM, mapeo sistemático de software disponible y buenas prácticas para la matemática inclusiva y digital), submitted by Universidad ORT Uruguay – Institute of Education. The purpose of the project is to identify, describe and analyse digital tool use and best practices of mathematics teachers who incorporate them in their teaching.
• Development of tools to support language teaching by ​​applying artificial intelligence techniques (Desarrollo de herramientas de apoyo a la enseñanza de lenguas aplicando técnicas de Inteligencia artificial), submitted by the University of the Republic – School of Engineering. This proposal seeks to continue a line of work implemented since 2018 to strengthen specific aspects related to the teaching of English as a foreign language.
• The gender gap in STEM (robotics): self-perception of skills and motivation (La brecha de género en STEM (robótica): autopercepción de habilidades y motivación), submitted by the Centre for Economic Research. The gender gap in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is wide and persistent. In this context, the project seeks to establish whether there is s self-perception of a difference in abilities between girls and boys – young women and men – in Uruguay, using resources available from Plan Ceibal and ANEP; and to determine whether it is possible to modify the motivation of girls.
• CETA, expanding the possibilities of tangible interaction in schools (CETA, expandiendo las posibilidades de la interacción tangible en escuelas), submitted by the University of the Republic – School of Information and Communication. Its purpose is to expand CETA‘s ability to deliver a range of theoretically informed content by applying the participatory design approach. CETA (Ceibal Tangible) is an interaction device developed for Plan Ceibal tablets by an interdisciplinary team made up of journalists, psychologists, designers, computer scientists and educators. In the first phase, a video game was developed to stimulate the learning of the concept of number, and the second phase involved the development of a tangible interaction system and a video game for the blind and the visually impaired.

The Fund is an initiative of Ceibal Foundation and ANII (National Research and Innovation Agency). It has been in operation since 2015 and was supported by Canada’s IDRC between 2018 and 2020 as part of the ADELA project led by Ceibal Foundation. Its purpose is the funding of research projects consistent with one or more of the priority lines and topics whose implementation may result in proposals or inputs that can be applied or transferred to the educational context. The implementation of 41 national and international research projects has been funded and supported so far in the field of education and technology until 2019 inclusive.

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