Scalable solutions for mathematics and literacy learning in Latin America

The Alliance for the Digitalization of Education in Latin America (ADELA), led by Ceibal Foundation, organized the event “Scalable solutions for mathematics and literacy learning in Latin America.” This meeting, held online on June 13th, brought together digital education and innovation technical teams and policymakers from the region.

The goal of this activity was to present projects that promote the sharing of evidence-based policies, practices and resources with a focus on the scaling of best practices and innovations tried and tested in the region and the search for cost-effective solutions specially geared to vulnerable communities that will help mainstream digitalization in education. The participants included representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay.

One of the speakers that stood out for her participation was Alejandra Vargas, senior specialist at IDRC, who mentioned IDRC projects in Latin America, highlighting the project implemented by Ceibal Foundation and Peru’s GRADE (Spanish acronym for Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo or Development Analysis Group): “Playing and Learning: Scaling a maths digital game in schools across Peru and Latin America.” Vargas also reflected on the significance of connecting the research agenda with the public policy agenda, and highlighted the role of ADELA, which since its inception has come into its own as a regional network of policymakers and technical teams that has made it possible to share and disseminate experiences based on evidence of what works and what does not, understanding the needs of policymakers in order to address and help meet those needs by means of a knowledge agenda.

Other participants in the event were Claudia Sugimaru, general coordinator, and Jessica Simon, pedagogical coordinator at GRADE’s Conecta Ideas, who shared the lessons learnt in the inclusion of technology for learning with a focus on equity: the experience of Peru’s Conecta Ideas, and Ignacio Barrenechea, consultant at Ceibal Foundation, who presented the opportunities and challenges of implementing Conecta Ideas in another Latin American country.

Finally, Fiorella Mondelli, management coordinator at Ceibal Foundation, and María Eugenia Alonso, coordinator at ADELA, presented the progress of the project “Enhancing the contribution of Edutech for the learning of reading and writing”, which is supported and funded by IDB Lab and the ReachingU Foundation. Implemented in collaboration with Ceibal, this project seeks to develop an app to support the learning of reading and writing in Spanish by children in their early literacy stage with a focus on the first year of primary education.

Presentation by Claudia Sugimaru and Jessica Simon, GRADE
Presentation by Ignacio Barrenechea, Ceibal Foundation
Presentation by Fiorella Mondelli and María Eugenia Alonso, Ceibal Foundation