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Summary of the Digital Interactive Classrooms Project on
Its scale up phase
The proposal has developed a comprehensive program that deals with 4 major pillars:
1. Digital interactive classrooms - 40 fixed and 10 mobile will be implemented in 8 out of 10
Panamanian provinces by expanding technology infrastructure and enhancing teachers' digital
skills in selected schools. This proposal takes the lessons learned in previous global
grants (GG2348095), to scale up the experience ensuring that we can implement at
least 5 schools in each of the 8 provinces with an estimated impact of 20,000 students
from primary public schools in Panama. These digital interactive classrooms are
geared to improve the teaching and learning processes in primary school children of
the public school system of education in the country. It is creating the present and
future, providing hope to those children.
2. Organizational development that includes all the coordination mechanisms with all
stakeholders ensuring an institutionalization of the interventions and development
of educational policies contributing to the digitalization of the education system of
Panama. The most important stakeholders are the Ministry of Education nationally
and regionally including its Technology Department, the Technological University of
Panama and the local Rotary Clubs in the 8 provinces.
3. Training Teachers and Students in digital competencies. For better use of the
developed infrastructure, including the use of educational software for a better
teaching environment.
4. Development of a well-structure monitoring and evaluation process. This includes
the participation of all the Rotary Clubs involved in the implementation of the project.
A communication strategy to be developed, geared to obtaining a strong buy-in of
the stakeholders and the community in general. It will also incorporate a CENTER
PRO EDUCATION contributing to the continuing training of teachers and students in
digital competencies plus a repository of digital educational material for further use
by teachers. The program will be accompanied by a well-structured monitoring and
evaluation system plus a strategy of programming communication to allow a strong
buy-in of the stakeholders and general community. The infrastructure development
will incorporate the implementation of the hardware with the necessary student and
teacher furniture for more collaborative teaching and learning. This part of the
project considers an integrated package which includes a better environment for
teacher-student, student-technology, student-student, and teacher-technology
collaboration processes.
The RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning) system
will be implemented into areas where there is no internet, as mobile classrooms.
These mobile classrooms will be linked to a fixed classroom - with digital boards -
where there is appropriate connectivity facilitating the updating of the educational
material for the RACHEL system. An extremely important pillar in our model is the
continuing training in digital competencies as well as digital methodologies that
facilitate a more creative and motivational learning experience for the primary
beneficiaries, children in the basic public schools in Panama. The pilot projects have
already proven that where we had demotivated students, now all the children want
to participate in classes, where children were not completing their work, now they are
the first ones to finish. Together with applications for teachers to create their own
content, there has been the identification of applications with adequate content
accessible to teachers like Khan Academy, Edmodo, Geogebra, ESTER and others, all
accessible free to teachers, and students.
A CENTER PRO EDUCATION, based on evolutionary psychology and neurosciences,
inserted in the UTP structure, will provide the necessary elements for continuing
training processes and updating knowledge by teachers and students alike.
Coordination mechanisms, together with the monitoring and evaluation system will
ensure that the program is able to maintain momentum and influence future
decisions by administrations to use their own resources in the expansion of the digital
interactive classroom. Evidence of this process and of these elements of the project
have been obtained from the observations and surveys undertaken during the
implementation of the project in schools of the previous projects and GGs.
This project will address the digital gap between the private and public school system
of education. The project believes that popularizing the use of new teaching
techniques with the use of technology, will accelerate the improvement in teaching
and learning outcomes in the selected schools, as models for future development with
other stakeholders that might be incorporated in the process.
This phase will expand the number of schools, teachers, and students using digital
classrooms nationwide, including deploying the Rachel system in hard-to-reach
schools with limited or unreliable internet access.
The satisfaction surveys done to students and teachers already give us an idea of the
difference with the introduction of digital interactive classrooms in various schools.
The project will continue to conduct the satisfaction survey periodically to test the
impact of the project on the students as well as teachers.
The ATAL (Aprendamos Todos a Leer- "Everybody learns to read") results in the
participating schools seem to be showing some progress in the learning outcome of
their children. The project will continue to investigate this test and others done by
the Ministry of Education that could give us an indication of the impact the project is
making on the students at the participating schools. Presently, the project has
undertaken a satisfaction survey for teachers and students using digital interactive
classrooms. Teachers and students alike have manifested that the motivation,
interest, and comprehension of students in class have increased. Additionally, the
teachers have manifested a perceived improvement in students' learning results.
What does the project needs:
1- Funding in terms of cash or DDFs for the procurement of all the technological
equipment consisting of a digital interactive board, an UPS, 30 laptops and mouse, 30
chair and desks for students and a chair and desk for the teacher, per classroom, as
presented in the picture below. Normally, this equipment has been purchased locally
to ensure that the guarantee is applicable. However, we will consider importing a small
number of laptops to complement the Rachel system. Rotary has also preferred the
purchase of equipment locally for all the after-purchase service that may be required;
2- Connectivity for all the fixed digital classrooms which is provided by the Ministry of
Education within their budget, which has already been negotiated with the Ministry;
3- For the mobile digital classroom that incorporates a RACHEL (Remote Area Community
Hotspot for Education and Learning) unit per classroom with 3 or 4 laptops per
classroom in schools without internet connectivity. The Rachels are purchased in World
Possible in USA, California. A Rotarian with technical knowledge has been committed
to programming all the RACHELs and the laptops to accommodate the programs used
in the Panamanian system of education;
4- Teacher Training Program which has been organized by the Universidad Tecnológica de
Panamá. It is expected that at least 300 teachers will be trained. This is a hybrid course
which intends to improve the digital competencies of teachers in schools throughout
the country where the two types of classrooms are implemented. It is expected that
the project will be able to develop the center pro education in the University, at least
in three sections: Santiago, Panama and David, Chiriqui.
5- Monitoring and Evaluation, which is primarily done by all the Rotary clubs in the various
provinces where the project is implemented. Rotaractors are participating in
implementing surveys with students. Conversations are underway with the
Department of Evaluation of the Ministry of Education (MEDUCA) at Central Level to
undergo a more systematic evaluation process.
6- 7- All the equipment is purchased new either in the USA and Panamá and the process of
installation and after purchase service done with the company that sells the equipment.
The cost of the equipment was included in the budget of the presentation provided.
Following Rotary intervention, the Department of Technology from the Ministry of
Education (MEDUCA), with whom a good working relationship is maintained, assumes
the responsibility of the maintenance and follow operation of all the equipment,
together with their Regional offices of MEDUCA
To make this initiative a reality, we have calculated the following budget: Total of USD 653,992 planned as follows
Total Estimated Budget for the New GG for Digital Interactive Classrooms for the 5 years of Implementation
# Item Description_________________ Quantity /___________________ Detail Unit Cost ($USD) ___________TotalCost($USD)
1 Fixed Interactive Classrooms ______( 40 fixed classrooms __________12,000.00 _______________________ 480,000
technological equipment, school
_______________________________furniture, UPS, etc.)
2 Collaborative Students furniture for
30 students desk & chairs,
1 desk & chair teacher per each fixed digital 1,999.80 79,992
interactive classroom+costume
3 Connectivity in classrooms (fiber optic
≥20Mb) Fixed classrooms -cost and responsibility
agreed by MEDUCA
4 Mobile Interactive Classrooms for. __________________10 schools (Rachel System +4 ______________________13,000
schools of difficult access _____________________________________Chromebooks)
5 Teachers Training in digital __________________________2 courses per year for 35 4,500/course_____________36,000
competency _______________________________(2 courses per year) beneficiaries per course=70 per year
___________________________________________x 4years= 280 beneficiaries
6 Project Manager ________________12 months _______________________2,000/month ______________________24,000
7 Communication & Public Information__________________________________________________________________10,000
8 Monitoring & Evaluation_____________________________________________________________________________10,000
9 Transportation & installation of
technological equipment to the vaious
schools included in the cost of technological
equipment -
10 Contingency ___________________________________________________________________________________ 1,000
Total Program Budget (5 Years)_______________________________________________________________________653,992
You can see how the students enjoy their classes in interactive classrooms.
https://youtu.be/02CQPIbLkYk
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