TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION FOR ALL - TINFA
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Mission Statement
TINFA empowers teachers to bring 21st century skills to students in rural areas of Latin America.
About This Cause
TINFA provides 21st century education to K-12 students in under-served areas of the world, through the use of accessible technology and meaningfully connects these students with counterparts in the Northwest region of the United States (where TINFA is located). Every teacher and every child can increase their learning exponentially with appropriate support and targeted technologies (a) expose children to different types of quality learning that they may not otherwise experience (b) expand and deepen the student’s knowledge around their existing curriculum (c) empower students to explore, start learning independently and become lifelong learners (d) enable the students to reach out to the “world” and specifically schools in the Northwest area of the United States, to deepen their curriculum understanding, create an emotional connection to it and provide a sense of Global citizenship TINFA does not have a presence in the localities we serve. Our model is based on having partners on the ground who share a set of common values with TINFA, and who have complementary skills from TINFA. Some of the fundamental values that TINFA shares with its partners are: · The inherent worth and dignity of every human being · Do no harm. This starts with with coming as a guest. All intervention should strengthen the existing web of the community. From our point of view, it is better to do nothing than to disempower the constructive communities that will last long after our intervention. · Technology is a tool, to serve the people who use it. It is not an end by itself. · We don’t know (all) the answers, but we are willing to learn and experiment . TINFA currently has active programs in Mexico (Jalisco) and Guatemala (Quetzaltenango). We provide partner schools a “TINFA Kit”. It contains the essential elements for teachers to be able to use rich content and applications directly related to what they need to teach their students. The TINFA kit includes introduction training, equipment, technical training, educational modules that have a direct application to what the teacher is currently teaching in their class and yearlong ongoing physical and virtual support and training. Being connected is one of the foundation values of TINFA. Connecting the community we live in (The Pacific Northwest) and the partners we work with is an essential part of what we do.Our world challenges are increasingly global issues: we need to understand what is going on in different parts of the planet, and acquire a perspective that goes well beyond the place we live in. Our partner schools currently do not have the economic means to travel. Connecting virtually is a tremendous opportunity for them to discover most often for the first time, how similar and different students their age are in another country, on another continent. It is also often the first time the Northwest students have the opportunity of such exposure as well. Providing a different perspective, listening to a point of view they have not thought about, a voice they haven’t heard before, is TINFA supports exchanges in between the schools we work with and schools in the Northwest. It includes and goes beyond the physical exchange of some Northwest students visiting their counterparts, by creating a virtual relationship throughout the year. TINFA searches for interested teachers on both side, and studies their curriculum. We then work with these teachers on identifying modules in the curriculum that both classes are studying, and are doing so approximately at the same time. In cooperation with the teachers, the exchange part of the module is created. The exchange usually culminates with a 30 min skype conversation in between the 2 classes.