CENECOOP R.L. launched a cooperative teaching program aimed at students

La República

San Jose, Costa Rica

Why and how
Take advantage of new technologies
The Party
A Significant step
Innovative tool
The Ministry of Education believes in Cooperativism
The Interactive CD
In Association with Coopehormiguitas

Attended by hundreds of pre-school and elementary school students, governmental authorities, and guests from all over the country, the Center on Cooperative Studies and Training (CENECOOP R.L.) as the entity responsible for cooperative education and training, launched the national Cooperative Interactive Teaching Program last Friday, July 1st.

Others who attended the event include Randolf Kissling, Aura Interactiva CEO, Adriana Retana, the Deputy Director of the National Program “Educational Training for the I and II Cycles from the Omar Dengo Foundation, congressman Luis Paulino Rodríguez, Hernán Solórzano, Vice-Minister of Youth, and Marlene Gómez, Vice-Minister of Education.

Third-grade students from Omar Dengo School and kindergarten students from La Trinidad de Moravia School together with teachers reinforced the idea of hope for a bright cooperative future.

Why and how

The Program was coordinated with the Department of Elementary and High School Cooperatives from the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) and developed by the e-Learning or electronic-based training company, Aura Interactiva.

“It is based on a constitutional policy defined by the Administration Board and Executive Directorship of CENECOOP R.L., to support and encourage a cooperativism teaching program aimed at elementary and high school students that will promote cooperativism growth during the students’ early years and develop an educated and trained generation based on a definition of a cooperative identity.

The course is included in a CD-ROM with a two-and-a-half hour duration and with three modules, where the principles, values, historical background, and the model of Costa Rican cooperatives are explored,” explained Floribeth Venegas, Administration Board Chairman for CENECOOP R.L.

Take advantage of new technologies

CENECOOP R.L. Executive Director, Stéfano Arias, explained to Surco Cooperativo that, “With this initiative we want to take advantage of new technologies and cover a large population and train young students on the topic of cooperativism in a short time, in compliance with Law 6347.”

Arias added that they used the teaching guides also used by the Cooperative Department from the Ministry of Public Education and transformed them into a fun and highly interactive electronic training solution that will allow children to learn in an innovative and effective fashion.

“Based on a pilot plan,” adds Arias, “it was possible to train over 15.000 children in three years and the number is growing; therefore, it was also possible to show the high scalability of the project during the implementation.”

Another benefit of the Program that was launched last Friday is cost reduction, the flexibility to use it across the country without taking teachers to different places, and the motivation to learn.”

The Party

Once the event finished, there was a party to celebrate mid-year vacations where refreshments and candies were served; there was a puppet show and a music performance by the Cimarrona from Santo Domingo de Heredia, and the always-present “masquerades” of “La Giganta”, “El Diablo,” and other characters.

A Significant step

The chairman for the Administration Board of CENECOOP R.L., Floribeth Venegas Soto, welcome participants on behalf of the entity

“Please receive the cooperative greetings of the Center on Cooperative Studies and Training, CENECOOP R.L.

For our organization, this is an important day in the history of the organization and of great significant for education.

Last year, the Administration Board made the wise decision of taking a qualitative leap in teaching on the topic of cooperativism to children in our country, and today it has been possible to make a dream come true, a dream that has been in the minds of people who have always be concerned for cooperativism education since cooperativism education at schools was declared mandatory.

The boys and girls who have come today are the future cooperativists of the country, and that’s why we want the instrument that is in your hands to become a tool that in a few years will reap the fruits of your efforts.

To you, teachers who have been asked to shape the citizens of tomorrow, we make our contribution so that together with society we can proclaim, “Success for cooperativists is to deliver an excellent cooperativism education.”

Before I finish, I want to thank God for giving us this opportunity and to thank all and everybody who has contributed to this significant achievement.

Innovative tool

“Let’s celebrate the launching of an innovative educational tool, aided by technology”

Let’s think about the implications and put them into context:

We are clear that we are living in post-industrial era. Some call it the knowledge era where technology plays a key role for the events around us and around the world.

This is a world that is also undergoing an advanced globalization process, a globalization that is the result of visionary nations that based on technology are seeking growth and development opportunities for citizens.

This technology-aided course on cooperativism encourages learning to be:

Fun: Students undergo a learning process based on multimedia stimuli where learning is composed of appealing visual and audible elements.

Effective: Organizations participated based on their best talent to develop the most relevant contents and convey them to students using the most effective tools possible thanks to technology.

Scalable: A multiplier effect of knowledge, a great idea, a great job that can be reproduced and distributed to 10, 1.000, or 100.000 students, in general terms, based on the same effort.

Reusable: This tool will be a key cornerstone of cooperativism education for many years ahead.

Economical: It maximizes the returns on investment in educational budgets.

The elements of scalability and reusability are blended so that the cost of state-of-the-art learning technology is close to zero, thus taking advantage of the Costa Rican technological infrastructure.

The Ministry of Education believes in Cooperativism

The Vice-minister of Education, Marlene Gómez Calderón, pointed out:

“MEP has made efforts to revitalize and rescue values through the project “Relaunching of Education;” moreover, it firmly believes in the kindness of cooperativism; therefore, it created a department called Primary and High School Cooperatives.

In this sense, the Ministry of Education, the only body able to develop and evaluate education, has signed cooperation alliances and agreements with several cooperatives from San Carlos, Guanacaste, the Southern Zone, and cooperative bodies; as a result, teaching guides have been designed for cooperativism and an interactive CD produced jointly with the Center on Cooperative Studies and Training (CENECOOP R.L.)

The Interactive CD

This morning represents a very special event because we will witness, in an animated, dynamic, and creative format, a series of topics related to cooperativism.

This teaching resource uses highly sophisticated technology to give life to characters such as Zompo and Popa, which will recreate and teach about the advantages of cooperativism. This is a very value tool for primary and high school teachers and for educational committees from traditional cooperatives.

School cooperativism is an entrepreneurial teaching laboratory where students “learn by doing” and implement entrepreneurial principles based on solidarity, teamwork, and mutual help.

Cooperativist boys and girls represent the “minor leagues” of cooperativism, so when they grow up, they will replace the current cooperativist leaders and members but with more experience and cooperativist training. Therefore, the interactive CD will reinforce knowledge on the cooperative doctrine in the Costa Rican student population.

In Association with Coopehormiguitas

Adriana Retana, Deputy Director of the National Educational Computer Science Program from MEP

“For the National Educational Computer Science Program (Pre-school I and II Cycle) from the Ministry of Public Education-Omar Dengo Foundation, it is a pleasure to share this activity with you.

Without a doubt, the Interactive Program that is presented today will be a new element to improve the digital library from the educational computer science laboratories. In association with members from “COOPEHORMIGUITAS” our students will improve their learning process and find out about the origin of cooperativism, its historical background, objectives, symbols, importance, and principles and values, key contents for the professional and personal development of our school boys and girls.

This digital environment takes advantage of the interactive and multimedia possibilities of a computer by offering a ludic learning that considers the different learning styles and special educational needs, so it becomes a resource designed for all members of an inclusive society that embraces diversity.

Each level has a menu with buttons that guide the user to navigate in the program and use the mouse and computer.

Without a doubt, today is a great day for education and the cooperativist movement in Costa Rica.