Mother and child with laptop

Rethinking education beyond the pandemic

Don’t do things better, do better things.

That was the message from an online seminar, ‘Learning in hybrid times, what we know works’ for Latin American educators in Chile.

The seminar was opened by Christopher Dede, Professor in Learning Technologies, Harvard University and kicked off the Learning Lab, a collaborative project organized by the Harvard University Regional Office, Fundación REimagina, www.aprendoencasa.org and BHP Foundation.

Professor Dede said he’d never seen a better time than now to build a better education, encouraging participants to take advantage of the new technologies available.

‘When the pandemic is over, students will face a world that will be online and face-to-face as well and must be prepared for both,’ he said.

‘Our research at Harvard shows that when it comes to education, they are complementary, and more effective when put together than when each one is addressed on its own.’

He also emphasized that technology was never the innovation and always the catalyst.

‘You can have a lot of technology and still have a bad education,’ he said.  

The Learning Lab has the potential to reach more than 340,000 users of the Aprendoencasa.org platform in seven countries and provide access to 540 other learning resources.

For Alejandra Garcés, Program Director of BHP Foundation in Chile, the Lab will enable educators across Chile to share the knowledge, evidence and practices of Harvard teachers.

‘With the pandemic especially affecting the most vulnerable youth, technology is a tool that can generate more equity in education.’

"With the pandemic especially affecting the most vulnerable youth, technology is a tool that can generate more equity in education," said Alejandra Garcés, Program Director, BHP Foundation, Chile.