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Title:	IT or not to be: the impact of Moodle in the education of developing countries
Author:	García Almiñana, Jordi; Somé, Michel; Ayguadé Parra, Eduard; Cabré Garcia, José M.; Casany Guerrero, María José; Frigola Bourlon, Manel; Galanis, Nikolaos; García-Cervigon Gutiérrez, Manuel; Guerrero Zapata, Manel; Muñoz Gracia, María del Pilar
Other authors:	Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Arquitectura de Computadors; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Organització d'Empreses; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria de Serveis i Sistemes d'Informació; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria de Sistemes, Automàtica i Informàtica Industrial; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Estadística i Investigació Operativa; Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. CAP - Grup de Computació d'Altes Prestacions; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. SUSHITOS - Grup de recerca en serveis per a tecnologies d'informació socials, ubiqües i humanístiques, i per a software lliure; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. GRINS - Grup de Recerca en Robòtica Intel·ligent i Sistemes; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. CNDS - Xarxes de Computadors i Sistemes Distribuïts; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. LIAM - Laboratori de Modelització i Anàlisi de la Informació
Abstract:	E-learning environments, such as Moodle, provide a technology that fosters the improvement of the educational system in developed countries, where education is traditionally performed with relatively high standards of quality. A large number of case studies and research have been conducted to demonstrate how e-learning technologies can be applied to improve both training and learning processes. However, these technologies have not been proved efficient when applied to developing countries. The challenges that must be addressed in developing countries, both technological and societal, are much more complex and the possible solution margins are more constrained than those existing in the context where these technologies have been created. In this paper we show how Moodle can be used to improve the quality of education in developing countries and, even more important, how can be used to turn the educational system more sustainable and effective in the long-term. We describe our experience in implementing a programming course in Moodle for the Higher School of Informatics at the Université Polytechnique de Bobo-Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso (West Africa), joining efforts with local professors in designing and implementing the learning system. The case example has been designed having in mind a number of contextual problems: lack of lecturers, excessive teaching hours per lecturer, massive classes, and curricula organization and stability, among others. We finally discuss how the teaching effort is reduced, the students’ knowledge and capacity improves, and the institutional academic model can be guaranteed with the proposal. For this reason, we claim that information technologies in developing countries are a cost-effective way to guarantee the objectives originally defined in the academic curricula and, therefore, deal with the problem of the education.
Abstract:	Peer Reviewed
Subject(s):	-Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge -Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica -Developing countries -Internet in education -Moodle -e-Learning -Education in developing countries -Programming course -Països en vies de desenvolupament -Internet en l'ensenyament -Moodle (Programes d'ordinador)
Rights:	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Spain http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
Document type:	Article - Published version Conference Object
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