Information and communication technology opportunities for educational innovation in rural schools of Asturias

Abstract

In the last few decades some institutional projects -Digital Village and One Laptop per Child- were developed in order to provide technological resources and educational programmes for schools. These projects have had a significant impact in rural environments, contributing to reducing the digital divide between urban and rural settings. In this paper, an attempt is made to identify the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for educational innovation in rural schools of Asturias. Several features are considered: a) the opinion of a sample of teachers (n=117), collected by means of a questionnaire; b) the qualified assessment of the ICT coordinators of 14 rural schools, obtained by semi-structured interviews; and c) a SWOT analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats implied by the integration of ICT. As a conclusion, in spite of the context restrictions, the shortage of human and technological resources, and the investment of the time and money required by the integration of ICT, they offer great opportunities: teacher updates, the adoption of new teaching methods, the development of successful experiences with ICT, and an education more suitable for current student needs.