ICT collective appropriation on childhood and its impact on the community: the 5D educational model potentials and limits

Abstract

Uruguay became the first – and so far the only – country in the world to provide a laptop to each public school student and teacher since 2007. Six years after the beginning of the plan, several studies and assessment reports have highlighted the breakdown of the pattern of inequality of access to computers and the Internet thanks to the Plan. Despite this, other studies find that the community impact of the plan is almost zero in social and neighborhood organizations. This article presents the theoretical and methodological framework for research that aims to analyze how the impact of the Ceibal Plan can be improved by fostering the emergence of communities of practice through the introduction of the Fifth Dimension Educational Model (5D)2 in a context of social vulnerability in Uruguay. The methodological approach adopted to implement the research is Participatory Action Research, which focuses on a recursive process of reflection and action and is carried out with local people rather than on them. In addition, the time factor becomes a key element for understanding the processes of negotiation and rearrangement that are required in constructing Participatory Action Research.