Contribute to the innovation and the improvement of the developing world’s education through a totally ONLINE High School program with free INTERNET access delivered completely through an online ICT technological GNU platform for a quality academic proposal trough scholarships specially directed to people of short academic opportunities, vulnerable, of limited resources and in pedagogical risk. Besides mastering 6 years of academic contents, they also develop reading and writing skills, self confidence, fluent use of information resources, computer literacy, and also become expertise in the use of online delivered courses, expecting to arrive at 5000 students by 2010 with UNESCO support.

• Our LIFE our PROJECT - OBJECTIVE: To contribute to the reduction of the digital divide gap and the school desertion in Ecuador, the Region (Andes) and the developing world (part of Asia and Africa) through UNESCO support, by means of an approved* remote online quality High School Educational System through Internet, developed as a new Pedagogical, Methodological and Technological Paradigm, which could easily be replicated. By the year 2010 we would want to extend the services to 1000 students in every Andean country (5) and replicate our model as a prototype project in Africa and Asia.
  

OBTAINED RESULTS (5 semesters - Dec. 2007)

• 600 students from the cities of Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Ibarra, Cotacachi . Also, Orellana and Tena (indigenous Communities of Alto Napo) an several other small towns in the rest of the country.
• Because of the validity of the Project we have over 20 varied organizations supporting us, including municipalities trough their respective Mayors, and the online school also serves youngsters, below the 18 years of age, in special institutions with lack of liberty.
• We are also giving online high school education in special infocenters to street gang youngsters, in marginal urban areas, who are on the process of regenerating themselves, giving them the opportunity to continue their online studies at worldwide renowned universities, after graduation.

Distributed as follows:

consisting of 54% men and 46% women. The students of the Tena, Orellana, Ibarra and Cotacahi, are native quichua speaking. The working occupations of the students are: agriculture, home, messengers, construction, commerce, mechanics, gardeners and artisans, among others. The students´ ages fluctuate between 15 and 45. 20% of the women are unmarried female mothers, dedicated to their homes and children.

• Financing of 600 scholarships for the students through different Foundations, companies and local government.
• Systematization and research done on virtual pedagogy (ICT supported) to improve the online educational process using Internet at the secondary level (last six years of high school).

• Distance students make their studies exclusively by Internet, at the “Infocentros” with free Internet access that belong to different Institutions that are part of the foundation´s Network of Academic Support (*) dedicating approximately one and a half hour daily of online study activities. Every study year has the duration of ten (10) calendar months, according to the law of Education for the “Regime of Popular Distance Education”.

The courses are developed as online modules with one month duration each. That is to say, the students, in groups pf 25 or less, receive an intensive online course during a month, for each subject or content, time in which a permanent flow of communication among the members of the learning communities occurred (students, teachers, facilitators, tutors); in each virtual classroom, professor and students, conformed by a maximum of 25 alumni, depending on the subject and the methodological proposal of the teacher, work in groups.

• The communication tools among teachers and students are forum, homework, wikis, evaluation activities, messenger services, chat, internal mail in every classroom, external mail, telephone (if needed), among others, most of them integrated into the course management system (CMS). The increase in the use of technological resources results in a better communication among the members of this particular educational community.

Also, it is important to mention that most of the time the communication is asynchronous, reason why the schedule the student chooses to make his studies depends on his time possibilities and individual situation; thus, this particular system of education emphasizes the time particularizations of each student.

The contents of each subject (course) have a pedagogical and theoretical treatment, in such a way as to manage the contents of daily life, in order to contextualize the students’ problems in its different geographical places, cultural fields and socioeconomic conditions (contexts). The academic activities are based on the educational philosophy of the socio-critical constructivism.

Finally, it is important to mention that the graphically and pedagogically well designed online contents appear as multimedia hypertexts design, in such a way as to open the door to the students, so that they may also deepen the different informative contents of the Internet world. The students, besides the contact with his living community, also have the opportunity to experience the outside world by means of online games, simulation, myriad of information, online conferences, etc. The students also have access to multimedia format study materials, within the classroom, through the Virtual School Library.