The European Union created the Erasmus+ program to support education, training, youth, and sport.
Tec de Monterrey has received European funding to promote an initiative for developing and strengthening its professors’ digital skills in a global virtual environment.
These resources come from Erasmus+, a European Union program to which the Tec was accepted after participating in a call with a research proposal for the Global Shared Learning Classroom initiative (GSL Classroom).
Jorge Membrillo, one of the professors leading the research, pointed out that the Tec was chosen along with eight other universities and institutions from Europe and Latin America to receive more than 48,000 euros for this project.
“The initiative to which the Tec has been invited is led by the University of Potsdam from Germany, and is based on the theme of initiatives that can be implemented to increase digital literacy in education all over the world,” he said.
This professor said that the Tec’s Institute for the Future of Education (IFE) proposed this research, which also includes Patricia Caratozzolo and Édgar López, both professors at the Tec’s School of Engineering and Sciences in the Mexico City Region.
The objective: to make an impact on global digital education
Because the GSL Classroom uses technology as one of its pillars for connecting with international partners, Dr. Membrillo believes it’s important to develop indicators and tools so that professors can strengthen their digital skills.
The initiative proposes analyzing, identifying, and suggesting improvements, as well as workshops that will help professors to implement the State University of New York’s Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) system, which the GSL Classroom utilizes.
“The pandemic forced us into a digital era. There are countries that are very advanced, but not all of us have reached the same level in the world.
“We want to find a way to communicate and transfer knowledge at the same level,” said the research professor.
Dr. Membrillo said that the aim is for countries to achieve equality of digital literacy.
“The research proposed by the IFE includes empowerment, evaluation, and skills development through the GSL Classroom, based on an educational model called COIL,” he added.
What’s more, the researcher thinks that student skills in various disciplines around the world can be developed at the same time, thus eliminating differences.
“This is so that our Tec students will know what skills are required at universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, in England; Eindhoven, in the Netherlands; Potsdam, in Germany; or MIT, in the United States,” he added.
Indicators and digital tools for education
Dr. Membrillo said that one of the steps in this GSL Classroom research is to develop a digital platform.
“In addition to being a world leader in the Global Classroom initiative, we will be able to share data, set guidelines, and develop global skills assessment,” added the professor, who is an international leader in publications on challenge-based learning.
“First, we will develop a digital platform with tools for professors, students, and managers, including indicators to identify the skills that we should develop,” said Membrillo.
He added that there will be a collaboration with the Tec’s Educational Innovation area to develop a site that is professor-friendly and will provide guidance so that they know what to do.
This platform will establish systematic guidelines for using and harnessing digital tools such as Zoom, Genially, Slack, and Google Classroom.
“We want this platform in Spanish, English, German, French, and other languages to be accessible to all universities that want to be part of the GSL Classroom,” added Membrillo.
“We want to have a global impact so that we can influence the educational trends of the future.”
Global Classroom: Digital education in a multicultural environment
The GSL Classroom was created in 2018 as an initiative by the Office of the Vice Rector for Internationalization, with the aim of connecting Tec de Monterrey courses with those of other international universities.
It offers everything from full semesters of courses with foreign professors and students, to weeks of video conferences, and multicultural seminars that involve students in global research projects.
The platform became more important in 2020, as it was one of the alternatives that the institution was able to offer students during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tec professors and students were able to have classes remotely and connect with students and professors from other educational institutions around the world, which is how the Tec fostered collaboration and learning in virtual and multicultural environments.
The initiative’s scalability was recognized by the international university network Universitas 21, which awarded the institution the 2022 U21 Award.
Two years to get results
The professor pointed out that this initiative is a multi-campus effort (Santa Fe, Mexico City, and Monterrey) between researchers from the IFE’s Socially Oriented Interdisciplinary STEM group (SOI-STEM), the Office of the Vice Rector for Internationalization, and the Tec’s Educational Innovation area.
“It’s a challenge that we’re going to solve in the next two years,” said the research professor.
“We want to properly establish the pedagogical bases of the GSL Classroom, have an understanding of educational trends, and know what indicators we need to improve and what skills professors will have to assess,” he added.
One of the research goals is also to train 500 professors from the Tec and other universities that received funding.
The IFE team is led by Genaro Zavala, SOI-STEM leader, and María Soledad Ramírez, leader of the R4C-IRG Interdisciplinary Research Group: Scaling Complex Thinking for All.
Also participating are Tec researchers such as Genaro Zavala, Leonardo Glasserman, and Jhonattan Miranda.
The Office of the Vice Rector for Internationalization is also collaborating with Patricia Montaño, Director of Innovation and International Networks, Gisselle Morales, Director of Global Shared Learning, and Arturo de León, a specialist in Online Internationalization.
“We want to have a global impact so that we can influence the educational trends of the future,” added Professor Membrillo.
What is Erasmus+?
The European Union holds an annual call for its Erasmus+ Program to offer funding for programs that promote quality in education, training, youth, and sport.
“European universities apply for Erasmus+ funding along with others from around the world, and it is thanks to Isabel Kreiner, Director of the Office for Attracting Funding that we took part and now have this opportunity,” he said.
This year, the program awarded 48,747 euros to Tec de Monterrey, which is equivalent to 12.19% of the funds delivered to the selected institutions.
The beneficiaries of this year’s funding are seven higher education institutions, one association of universities, and one government organization, these being:
- University of Potsdam, in Germany
- Jaume I University, from Castellón in Spain
- Pontifical Bolivarian University, from Colombia
- University of Caldas, Colombia
- Pontifical Xavierian University, from Colombia
- Colombian Association of Universities
- Tecnológico de Monterrey, from Mexico
- University of Guadalajara, from México
- Government of Santander, from Colombia
This year, the call for the Erasmus+ program received more than 10,000 applications for support for educational initiatives, of which around 100 were selected.
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