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Ericsson partnering with Entel to deploy Connect To Learn in Chile
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Rural Chilean students and their teachers benefit from connectivity to a 21st century education through a cloud-based computing solution and mobile broadband technology
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Program for online cultural exchange is also implemented, bringing teachers and students together with global peers
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC, news, filings) and Entel announce the launch of Connect To Learn, an initiative that offers quality education for rural students, in three schools in Chile that previously did not have access to technology in education. Connect To Learn in partnership with Millennium Promise and the Earth Institute at Columbia University is using the latest technology to improve educational opportunities for rural students, especially girls.
Through Connect To Learn, mobile broadband connectivity has been implemented in the Arturo Prat Chacón secondary school as well as two primary schools, all located in rural Ninhue, in the Bío Bío Region of southern Chile. The program in the Arture Prat Chacón school also includes online educational resources, a cloud-computing solution in a low-maintenance and easy-to-use model and relevant training for teachers. The technology deployed gives students and teachers access to 21st-century educational tools and resources, and the ability to connect to other schools around the world to foster collaborative learning, cross-cultural understanding and global awareness.
Manuel Araya, Corporate Affairs Manager, Entel, says, “With Connect To Learn, students and teachers benefit from access to global news, information and the latest educational content, and can collaborate with fellow students and teachers around the world, despite their remote location.”
Entel is providing optimized 3G connectivity to the selected schools to ensure good connectivity, as well as free Internet connections.
Carla Belitardo, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Ericsson Latin America, says, “This initiative demonstrates our commitment to enabling our vision for a Networked Society in Chile and in Latin America. Mobile broadband is a key enabler for access to a quality education in all communities, even the most rural. Delivering cloud-based computing services and connecting them is a major step toward bringing quality education.”
Since 2010, Connect To Learn has been deployed to help students in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Brazil Senegal and Djibouti helping students access quality learning resources for a 21st-century education.
School-To-School Connections
Through Connect To Learn, Entel and Ericsson are also introducing School-To-School Connections, a flagship program, pioneered by co-founders Millennium Promise and the Earth Institute. High school students at the Juan de Mairena Institute in San Sebastian de los Reyes, Spain, created their very own global classroom, connecting through a video call session with students from Arturo Prat Chacón High School, located in Ninhue, southern Chile, as part of the School-To-School Connections partnership program facilitated by the Connect To Learn initiative.
The program connects classrooms in rural and urban communities around the world to foster cross-cultural learning and cultivate global awareness, understanding, and collaboration.
The goal is that the School-To-School Connections program will help create a sense of commonality among young people and a sense of shared responsibility for tackling the global challenges we all face. In 2011, with School-To-School Connections in mind, Connect To Learn commissioned a team from Columbia University Teachers College to create a set of curricular resources based on the Millennium Development Goals in order to support shared lesson planning between teachers at partnered schools and collaborative learning among their students. Video calls and emails help facilitate their work together and build relationships among participants.
The classes shared their thoughts on “ensuring environmental sustainability” and what it means in each of their countries, asking questions, clapping, laughing and nodding their heads. They also talked about the similarities and differences in the types of activities that take place in each of their communities.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Download high-resolution photos and broadcast-quality video at www.ericsson.com/press
Ericsson Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility – 2012 Report:
http://www.ericsson.com/res/thecompany/docs/corporate-responsibility/2012/2012_corporate_responsibility_and_sustainability_report.pdf
How ICT is changing the classroom:
http://www.ericsson.com/news/121023-how-ict-is-changing-the-classroom_244159017_c
Report: Learning and Education in the Networked Society
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2012/learning-education-in-networked-society-report-201121022.pdf
About the Connect To Learn initiative
Connect To Learn is a public-private partnership between Ericsson, the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Millennium Promise along with operator and other corporate and individual partners. A global education initiative, Connect To Learn was launched in 2010, in response to the challenges of access and inequality. The Connect To Learn partners recognize the transformational role broadband connectivity and other ICT solutions can have in scaling up access to quality education through innovative programs, such as cloud-based curricula and school-to-school connectivity.
To learn more please visit: http://www.connecttolearn.org
https://twitter.com/ConnectToLearn
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http://www.youtube.com/connecttolearn
About Ericsson
Ericsson is a world-leading provider of communications technology and services. We are enabling the Networked Society with efficient real-time solutions that allow us all to study, work and live our lives more freely, in sustainable societies around the world.
Our offering comprises services, software and infrastructure within Information and Communications Technology for telecom operators and other industries. Today 40 percent of the world’s mobile traffic goes through Ericsson networks and we support customers’ networks servicing more than 2.5 billion subscriptions.
We are more than 110,000 people working with customers in more than 180 countries. Founded in 1876, Ericsson is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2012 the company’s net sales were SEK 227.8 billion (USD 33.8 billion). Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX, Stockholm and NASDAQ, New York stock exchanges.
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