Communications
Microsoft and Telefónica unite on teaching resources
7 April 2008
At the annual Government Leaders Forum in Miami, Microsoft signed a collaborative agreement with the Telefónica Foundation, an entity of Telefónica S.A., to promote the development and improvement of education through information and communication technology (ICT) for teachers and students in Latin America. The agreement was signed by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and César Alierta, chairman of Telefónica.
The two companies will expand an online training network – called Profesores Innovadores (Innovative Professors) – to provide online content, services and curricula to innovative teachers in Latin America. The programme is designed to help educators learn, develop professionally and exchange knowledge with their peers. It is operating already in Spain, Mexico and Colombia, with a goal to expand offerings throughout more countries in the Latin American region, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru.
Innovative Professors is offered through the Telefónica Foundation’s EducaRed programme, in connection with Microsoft programmes and resources, including the flagship Partners in Learning programme, that are designed to enhance the educational process through technology solutions which foster innovative teaching and learning.
“While software and technology can play a vitally important role in increasing access to quality education, it takes more than a single organisation or company to provide all the resources necessary to make a real difference,” said Gates. “Through alliances like the one we’re announcing today with the Telefónica Foundation, we can use the power of technology to deliver great educational materials to students and teachers across Latin America in a way that will have a meaningful impact on education in the entire region.”
“Our businesses are directly linked to the social and economic development of the communities we serve all over the world,” said Alierta. “For this reason it was completely natural for Microsoft and Telefónica to begin working together in Spain in 2004 as engines of innovation in the Spanish educational system. Together we launched Innovative Professors, a programme developed with the cooperation of those teachers most concerned about ICT.”
The Innovative Professors programme uses an online portal and forum, built on Microsoft technologies, to encourage collaboration and sharing of innovative teaching practices. Launched by Microsoft and the Telefónica Foundation in February 2004, the portal focuses on IT literacy and teacher training by providing educators with activities, seminars, curricula and other services. Originally aimed at teachers in Spain, the programme was extended in 2007 to Mexico and Colombia, and now has more than 37,000 registered teachers, with over 100,000 unique monthly visits in 2007 alone.