Thursday, March 30, 2023

Some personal information (InformaciónPersonal)

About ME:
Rafael Ángel Espinoza Pizarro

I have been in the field of education since 1987. My early years in the field include teaching elementary first through fifth grades. My academic preparation began in 1986 at the National University of Costa Rica (NUCR). I received a B.S. in Elementary Education in 1989. I also obtained a B.S. in Educational Administration. During the time that I was studying, I was working as a full-time elementary teacher in Costa Rica San Jose’s school district.
I began my work in higher education at the National University of Costa Rica teaching methodology courses for elementary teachers. My work included teaching classes in curriculum development, research in the classroom, and coordinating student field experiences.
I obtained my Master’s degree in Education in Curriculum and Instruction and a minor in Educational Management.
In 1993, after I finished my Master's Degree at New Mexico State University, I became a full professor in the department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at the National University of Costa Rica.
I provided numerous workshops and short courses to teachers within Costa Rica and across all of Central America, to bilingual educators. So, I become an international workshop facilitator in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, Jerusalem, Mexico, and the United States. In June of 2001, I was higher a Curriculum Development Consultant in an International USA organization, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA (www.iica.int)). This institution has 34 offices in the hemisphere, which are working to meet the needs of the countries in areas such as agricultural health, technology, and innovation; education and training; information and communication. I developed capacities for training stakeholders in rural areas through technology such as videoconference, Internet, and CD-ROM.
In this globalized world, getting in touch with international professors will be an added value for my country to share knowledge and build capacities.
In the last 5 years, I have been doing consulting on designing learning environments through the Internet. Thus, I was the coordinator of an international project in South America.
I hold a doctoral degree in Research in Education. In 2010, I graduated with a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies.

The Importance concerning Reflection of Our Research Process

As educadors, an specially as online educators (facilitadors, learning facilitadors) we are call to reflect upon our educational online practices.


Here, some importat points to start this reflection about our online praxis:

1. What is praxis ? Think about it? Write your definition
How is our practice in our online learning communities?

Reflective practice is an umbrella term for thoughtful and analytical thinking about one’s own practice.
This appears in different perspectives, ideologies and conceptions of a reflective practitioner
It is opposed to the view of teachers as technicians
It enhances ‘teacher generated epistemology’ or knowing-in-action.

When to reflect?: before, during, after online teaching and learning process?


Reflective Practice: Different ideological views

So, what kind of practice do we want for our future community of learners?

Praxis and Reflexivity: Research as Praxis

What is research as Praxis?

Comunidades de Aprendizaje y Desarrollo Profesional

https://star-unesco23.uvigo.es/
Un congreso importante para participar a nivel internacional
STAR Scholars network and the UNESCO Chair at the University of Vigo (Spain) are delighted to invite you to the STAR Global Conference to be celebrated in Vigo, Spain on October 9-10, 2023

http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) has created a variety of Community resources categorized by discipline and program area to provide users with different types of materials for teaching and learning. Community Portals provide MERLOT members with differentiated information about exemplary teaching strategies professional associations, journals, conferences, and other resources for continuous professional development.
It is useful for teaching at the university level, high school, and for those who are interested in using technologies in the classroom.

The main type of interaction in this community is asynchronous. As I went through the WebPages, they were very friendly and easy to find out all the materials and the categories presented at the main web page. Thus, I feel that the type of interaction supports the goals or purpose of the community (to share knowledge).
The best quality of the community in terms of interaction is the ergonomics of the web page. The ergonomic of the page is really creative and well done. What I mean is that if we apply the concept of ergonomic as the science of people-machine relationships (Answers.com). An ergonomically designed webpage implies that the WebPages are easy to go through in a very friendly environment.
The interface has a high quality of usability. All these factors are related to the website design and connected to ergonomic design.
I become a member of MERLOT community. More than changes, I would add a synchronous tool such as “chat”. Thus, any time that I log in, I may have the opportunity for chatting with some colleagues that they send me invitation for join their discussions (if they are available at that moment, or any chat room that I want to participate).

Classroom 2.0.
http://classroom20.ning.com/
Classroom 20 is a social networking and the purpose of the community is for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education.
The main type of interaction of this community is asynchronous. Mainly: discussions board, emails among members, forums, discussion groups, Blog Posts.The main goal of the community is to foster social networking. One feature that I found very interesting is the use of Ning Plattform (www.ning.com), the self-described “software equivalent of Home Depot,” making it a snap to create your own social network.

The best quality is the opportunity of any member to share any time: materials, videos, readings, blogs. One of the features that I believe is the most exacting and allows teacher to create content is Ning in Education. Ning is an online platform for creating social websites and social networks. I personally create my and you may see it on: http://education.ning.com/profile/RafaelEspinoza
Finally, more than changes, I would add a synchronous tool such as “chat”. Thus, any time that I log in, I may have the opportunity for chatting with some colleagues that they send me invitation for join their discussions (if they are available at that moment, or any chat room that I want to participate). It would be interesting especially if you find teachers from different places around the world.
http://education.ning.com/profile/RafaelEspinoza?viewAsOther=1

Reference
Edutopia.(October, 2007). Classroom 2.0. 3(7).

Colaboración

Saludos colegas y amigos estudiantes:

De regreso por acá después de varios años fuera del país en un gusto poder compartir información , colaborar con ustedes. En lo que necesiten aquí estamos y seguimos adelante.
Saludos
Rafael Espinoza Pizarro
Profesor

Ligas de Interes para todos

http://mit.ocw.universia.net/
Portal Universia y MIT les invita a utilizar gratuitamente esta selección de materiales de cursos del MIT traducidos al español.


Recursos de la WEB 2.0 para la Investigación

En este apartado vamos a ver sitios web de apoyo para nuestros procesos de investigación:

Stakeholders and Organic Knowdlege

Here are some pictures of sites visited and organic knowledge of the Stakeholders