5.

Informatics and telecommunication systems as

a support to the educational model

In the previous sections the Educational Model has been explained and will
continue influencing the decision-making and actions undertaken by
professors during the next years. One of Tec´s strength to carry them out is
the use of new information and communication technologies because they
make possible to use electronic networks and gather collaborative and
intercultural teamworks to perform tasks, projects and solve problems virtual
environments. These new technologies have shown that besides being a
resource, they are also a working environment that enhances the practice of
the Educational Model.
The application of these technological tools is nothing new in the institution.
The Monterrey Tec has always worried about searching for state-of-the-art
technologies to support education which was the foundation for the distance
education system to promote interactive learning. Seven years later, this
experience generated in the System became to be known as the Virtual
University; which spread its services and actions to all parts of Mexico and
some other countries from Latin America. Nowadays and thanks to their
experience, the use of new technologies has been spread out to all
traditional classroom courses that are offered by the Monterrey Tec and has
become an essential characteristic of the Educational Model .

Use of technological tools

The Educational Model includes a great number of processes. Many of them not
only become more efficient through technology, but also technology makes them
wider and more enriching. Students interact with their computer in different ways,
depending on the nature of the nature of the task and the learning objective.
Next, the way professors use the technological applications will be described.

Internet
The value of internet is based upon very valuable resources of information more
updated and far-reaching technology rather than the one he could have in the
university where he studies or in the campus library; on the other hand, it allows
the stored information packages to be shared at the same time by students and
professors from all campuses.
The information offered by internet is not organized and this allows
students to navigate, select, analyze, construct and evaluate the information
through a process of research so that the professor assumes the role of
coordinator of information rather than just a supplier of information.

The digital library

Another valuable resource of electronic information is the Digital Library for both
professors and students. From January 1999 on, a universe of scientific very
and other campuses and even from other countries. Such as online courses
offered by the University of British Columbia in association with Tec within the
Master´s Degree in Educational Technology in the Virtual University. This
program integrates students from all over the world in working sessions to form
along with the instructors a highly intercultural learning community. The
possibilities of virtual collaborative work are very high: seminars, projects,
discussions, solution to problems and simulations among others.
This virtual group offers a high range of educational possibilities and
control for professors when having access to the information registered which
can be used to facilitate the course process and the progress made by every
student in a continuous way and their adaptation to the established plans.

Applications
A great number of electronic applications are available in the network to
professors and as a support for the students learning. They are very valuable
learning means for example simulators (Ithink, Promodel, Fingame, Intopia)
virtual labs (labview, Matlab, Applet); Word processors (Word, Works, etc).
Calculus sheets (Excel, Lotus Notes); applications for presentations (Power
Point, Flash); applications to design (Autocad, 3Dstudio max, Photoshop) and
others that professors can incorporate to their courses.
Figure 5.1. shows technological tools available as a support for the learning
process in a classroom course.

Figure 5.1. Educational Applications of the technology

Technologies Applications Activities done by Activities done by

professors students
Internet and Development and cognitive ? To guide ? To navigate
Digital Library abilities: ? To help the ? To search
? Search of information. information ? To process
? Analysis process. information
? Synthesis ? To clarify
? Critical thinking
Virtual group ? Exchange of information ? To offer ? To contribute
? Professional feedback to perform
development ? To stimulate common
? Actions with common participation tasks.
goals. ? Guides the ? To make
? Solution of problems. process. decisions in
? Social development. ? Evaluates. group.
? To evaluate
results in
group.
E-mail ? Personal interaction ? To tutor ? To gather
? Punctual tutoring ? To give results.
? Personal communication feedback ? To look for
? Individual feedback ? To guide solutions.
? Exchange documents ? To evaluate ? To interact
permanently with the
 The use of this platform has several advantages for students:
? The data bases are interconnected and allow students to navigate.

Table 5.1. Modules of Learning Space, the Technological Platform

Modules Description Example

Presents the design and SCHEDULE1.4. Analyzing the United
structure of the course created Nations (UN) case
by the professor. It contains the Week Module 1: international
guide of activities for students Relations
to do in order to fulfill the Activity: Case Studies
objectives, their deadlines and Due: 10/14/98
the evaluation criteria. Analyzing the United Nations (UN)
case
Security Council
1. The UN security council.
Research in three
bibliographical sources the
most recent conflicts (year
1999) where the UN has
intervened.
2. Analyze the information
selected and identify conflicts
and challenges for the
committee.
3. Write an essay following the
Case Study Chart (facts,
problems and solutions).
It is a data base that contains Pc-95400 Scientific Research
didactic materials selected by Methodology
the professor. It allows students Scientific Research Methodology
to explore the information Group 00 SIN
sources, do a personal folder By Type
with annotations and have Document Title Writer
external access to texts, video Abstract
clips, multimedia and other Scientific Knowledge Characteristics
sources. Bunge
Article
A guide to increase creativity in
research inspiration or perspiration?
Loehle Craig
It allows an interactive COURSE ROOM Question 2
environment where students Main Topic: Hellet Communication
participate in discussions Companies and Information technoly
among themselves and with the Created by: Martha on 01/16/02
professor, besides presenting 11:42:12AM
space for homework, individual The Hellet Company which sells
 Family reunions, gym, cooking,
reading and writing (narrative
gender).
It is an independent tool
exclusive for professors
through which he/she will be
able to evaluate the students´
performance and offer proper
and punctual feedback.

It contains quizzes, self-

evaluations and polls that
students will answer in order to
be evaluated and receive their
results.
? Can be accessed online or locally, this makes it more flexible.
? Replications of courses can be done (updates) from server to server or
from a server to a personal computer.
? The operation of this tool is distributed and its legality is centralized.
? The content is always available.

Besides these advantages there are some difficulties such as the following:
? Sometimes the data synchronization when replicating is not achieved.
? It is a complex tool that requires training for using it.
? It is not suitable to use this platform through web.
? The administration of the access accounts to courses is very complex
? A high investment in infrastructure is required.

Figure 5.2. shows the infrastructure which was needed to develop the use of this
platform at Tec.

Blackboard
Blackboard is a flexible, simple and intuitive platform that is used in many USA
universities and contains basic functions to create the documents for the
administration of a course, it uses web as the means and has the following
characteristics:
? It offers the possibility to apply systems based on Web that help designing
a course in a creative way and to use electronic resources that support
learning.
? It is ruled by international standards (IMS) for the development of
contents.
? It allows the synchronic and non-synchronic communication.
? It is a more familiar platform to professors and students, its use is simple
and because it is based on Web, it does not require a lot of training .
Figure 5.3. Infrastructure developed by Tec for the Blackboard Platform

Server for courses in the Blackboard Blackboard Server for courses in the production
development stage development production stage

Finished courses Copies of the finished courses for different

groups of students.

The infrastructure required is similar to the one used by Blackboard; therefore,

they have common characteristics. This tool should be enriched with other
options such as the following:
? To store information generated by professors when implementing the
Educational Model .
? To offer professors different models for designing a course, more
adequate to the Educational Model and the methodology of each didactic
technique.
? To deliver finished courses to students with virtual environments of
synchronic and non-synchronic interaction.
? To strengthen the evaluation process by giving students the chance to
know his/her progress at any time. Also, professors can tutor students in a
more personalized way.
? To handle international standards of learning that make possible to utilize
the knowledge base from other educational entities.
? To offer a greater integration and a better control of the information
because of being centralized.

Table 5.2. Equivalences between the Learning Space format and that of Blackboard
Learning Space Blackboard
Start Here Course Information
Modules/Sessions Assignments
Calendar Course Calendar
Media Center Course Documents
Course Materials
External links
Course Room
? Discussion Discussion Board and Virtual Classroom
? Assignments Digital DropBox
Profiles
? Instructor and assistants´ profiles Staff information
? Student´s profile List / Modify Users
? Teams Manage Groups
Assessment Manager Assessment
Pool Manager
Online Gradebook
 which is contrary to the exposition where all students are supposed to
advance at the same time with the same background.
? It changes the professor-students relation. Working in this media,
hierarchies are broken and the professor naturally becomes a facilitator of
the learning process more than an authority. The professor defines the
course objectives, he suggests texts and other materials, gives
instructions and rules to be followed, continuously supervises; however,
the students do the collaborative work.
? Authentic learning communities are formed. These great communication
and information possibilities in electronic media result in personal
enrichment for all members of the group. The communication that flows is
an intellectual stimuli and a source of personal satisfaction for all
participants. Members of the virtual community share interests, get to
know each other and are concerned about one another. Professors and
students say that the interaction among them is more frequent, deeper
and more personal than in a classroom session.
? It enhances responsibility. A course in a platform gets students more
involved in the process. For a student to succeed in a course he has to
become responsible of his/her own learning and motivate his/her
classmates to do the same. He has to read the comments made by the
members of his group, to reflect about the issues discussed and look for
additional information to answer properly. Students establish their own
rules as a team work and they evaluate themselves reflecting about how
they are doing, what and how they have achieved goals and what they
need to improve. This enhances the building of a culture of continuous
improvement, it increases the quality of the assignments and trains for
continuous education.
? It facilitates the internationalization of education. Within the online learning
students acquire a wide knowledge and develop abilities to work in
networks and far reaching environments; they get ready for understanding
the world and a professional life with a global and universal mind. An
exchange of experiences might be promoted with students from other
countries and share this cultural diversity in the classroom; as well as
other cooperative activities that break down physical barriers and enrich
academic life.
? It helps for time management and it optimizes the space. The Educational
Model requires spaces where students can work in team works that do
not always exist in the campus; on the other hand, the time of a class
session is limited to different schedules or else it is not enough to
complete the activities. The use of virtual environments partly solves the
above mentioned because the student is working 24 hours in a space
available and he/she is able to get in touch with his/her classmates and
his professor and have access to the information and material that he
needs permanently. This way professors can dedicate the classroom time
to clarify, conclude, debate or present a new activity, reflect with the
group, give feedback and motivate students to keep on going.
 about relevant facts when implementing the Educational Model, the
benefits of its application, as well as the problems that came up and the
way to solve them. The information about this experience is
complemented and enriched by means of forums and satellite sessions
where all professors participate in their own campus. Within these
sessions the most successful examples of the year are presented. These
scenarios enhance the implementation of the Educational Model and
accelerate the process of change.

Comments and conclusions

Using technology has been very Even though in this chapter the value of technologies
important for both professors
and students because it is a tool is underlined, experience shows that technologies
that facilitates tasks, it allows neither educate nor represent a panacea that solves
the non-synchronic
communication, the construction all educational problems, as it was pointed out by a
of models and simulations. It is student: Technology does not give feedback or guides
an added value in the teaching-
learning process that we do not for a personal improvement.
have in the traditional classroom On the other hand, if technology is not used
classes.
Professors poll , 2001 properly, it might become a distracter for important
educational objectives and might have a negative
influence as it is shown in these comments:

? I did not find academic relevance in this course.

? It is an assignment that lacks personal focus.
? It seems to be a correspondence course.
? My doubts were not clarified.
? Sometimes the information provided is bad quality and some other times it
provides you with excessive information that hinders its use.

Other comments show its educational virtues:

? Working in web has changed my study habits; every day I have to do
something and I cannot neglect it.
? It gives you responsibility and guides you for self-study
? Assignments take you longer because you have to apply all your
knowledge, your criterion and not only memorization.
? You have to get prepared in advance with tasks to participate in
discussions.
? It is a lot of work at the beginning but then you get used to a constant
rhythm.
? I can publish my comment and make questions to all the group and this
way give and receive a quick feedback.
? It allows me to participate in a space where I can express my opinions and
where I learn from diverse opinions and points of view from my
classmates about specific topics.
? It facilitates the interaction with my classmates and professor.
 ? To organize the information in such a way that students find it easy to
navigate in the course.
? To increase the professors´ call for participation and promote a continuous
relation with students.
? To motivate and help students think and study more deeply.
? To adapt the process to the levels and expectations for different receptors.
? To promote socialization in the virtual collaborative work.
? To integrate technologies adequately so that learning enriches.

Figure 5.5. reflects what type of activities are performed by students in the
Learning Space platform. It can be seen that the rates are higher for those
activities related with information while the interaction and collaborative work
continues to be an area of opportunity.
Tec continues promoting the use of state-of-the-art technologies as a
support for education, dedicating strong investments on one hand, to the
development of infrastructure and to create more efficient virtual spaces; and on
the other hand, to train its professors. Table 5.3. offers a brief description of the
use of technology during the Collaborative Learning Workshop organized by the
Learning Technology Center at the University of Texas, where professors worked
in a virtual and classroom environment.

Figure 5.5. Use of Learningspace

A: To do assignments.
B: To get readings and course
materials.
C: To know the global
information of the course
D: To interact with the professor.
E: To participate in discussions
and debates.

Source: Monterrey Tec, A study of the Impact of the Educational Model, Learning Space.
Students poll, 2000.