Due to the large demand for our training program on Innovative Pedagogy and our limited budget, we created an ecourse to allow us to accompany as many teachers a we can in our program with limited staff. In the Region of Cusco, we set a goal of getting 300 preschool and primary school teachers signed up for the course (out of the over 13,000 that participated in our training programs last year). We are grateful to have the good problem of having too many teachers who want to participate in the course, but finally we were able to get down to 355.
Our Peruvian ecourse is broken into 7 month-long modules that build, piece by piece, the tools that teachers need to be empowered to plan, implement, and evaluate innovative pedagogy based in local indigenous culture, critical and creative thinking, and social-emotional wellbeing in order to achieve the academic goals of Peru’s national curriculum. Participating teachers can work at their own pace during the month and upload their work when they have access to an internet connection. Alma staff will also visit the teachers in their classrooms during the year.
Upon completing the course, teachers receive a certificate from the regional educational authority (GREC) in Cusco. However, after two months of coordination, we are extremely excited to announce that the Universidad Cientifica del Sur, a private university in Lima known for its master’s program in education, is accrediting our ecourse as an official Specialization in Innovative Pedagogy! Therefore, the teachers who complete our ecourse/accompaniment program will not only receive certification from the state, but also from a highly regarded university!
Our alliance with the Universidad Cientifica del Sur will help us incentivize the participating teachers even more than they already are, as well as open up doors to more course creation in the future.
Ian McGroarty
Executive Director