Enlaces: The Chilean Educational Network

Abstract

Chile is presently under a major educational reform that started in 1991. A new curriculum for both primary and secondary education has been proposed to the country, new teaching and learning methodologies are being implemented to achieve a higher quality and more equity in our education. More resources, textbooks, infrastructure and better teacher salaries are all part of this comprehensive effort. The Information Technology initiative, better known as the ”ENLACES Network”, is also an important component of the reform. Its aim is to determine the benefits, contents, costs, and replicability of initiatives involving educational computing and networking in Chilean public schools. It incorporates mechanisms for evaluating its impact and preferably seeks to determine the roles of computer technology on those schools with the fewest resources [5].

ENLACES started officially in 1992 as a pilot project with 12 primary schools. By the end of June 1997, more than 500 schools, both primary and secondary were participating in ENLACES; by the end of 1997, it will comprise 1500 schools and by the year 2000, all secondary schools (∼1500) and half of all primary schools (∼5000) will be part of this initiative [3]. ENLACES is funded by the Chilean state and also by the World Bank [1].