1. Virtual Platform for Education Cooperation in the Americas Webinar Technical Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee on Education-CIE Department of Human Development and Education Executive Secretariat for Integral Development September 11th, 2015

2. Background  The Virtual Platform for Education Cooperation was offered by the Minister of Education of Panama at the VIII Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education (Panama, February 2015).  It is a response to the request made by OAS Ministers of Education at the most recent Ministerial Meeting, for greater political dialogue and mutual understanding, improvements in communication mechanisms and to deepen cooperation opportunities.  Panama has committed human, institutional, and financial resources for its creation.  A legacy among CIE Authorities. The platform will be hosted by the Ministry of Education of Panama, which will provide technical maintenance. When the current Chair of the CIE’s term is over, the next Chair will take over this responsibility.

3.  It will contribute to the work of the Working Groups in the building process of the Inter-American Education Agenda.  It is key to provide greater visibility to the substantial educational progresses made by our countries, both among the Ministries of Education as well as the citizens of the Americas. Also to regional initiatives, such as the Inter-American Teacher Education Network and the Early Childhood Education Portal. Background

4. Useful Links Spanish: www.agendaeducativacie.orgwww.agendaeducativacie.org English: www.educationagendacie.orgwww.educationagendacie.org Twitter: @agendacie

5. Topics to Discuss 1.Platform’s Characteristics 2.Platform’s Sections 3.Users’ Benefits 4.How to Participate 5.Benefits for Ministries of Education

6. 1. Platform’s Characteristics  Self-administrated: It allows the creation and editing of content without having a specific software or knowledge on design and/or programming  Bilingual: All of its functionalities are available in English and Spanish.  Continuous Updates: The content is updated automatically.  Visible in any device and browser.  Dynamic: allows the upload of information in a very simple way and the immediate beginning of interaction among Ministries of Education.  Search engine: Allows the search of practices and resources included by the Ministries of Education through filters like: country, theme, geographical location, educational field, interest in providing and or receiving technical assistance, among others categories.  All the information is stored in one database owned by the OAS.

7. 2. Platform’s Sections

8. 1. Language Preference: By clicking ENG – for English - or ES- for Spanish-, the user can determine which language to use the Platform in. 2. Social Networks: Links to the Agenda’s social network accounts. Currently the Agenda has the following accounts: Twitter: @AgendaCIE, Flicker: Agendacie y YouTube: OAS DHDEE. 3. Lines of Action: The top buttons of the home page provide access to general information on the Agenda an its lines of action: Quality Education, Teacher Training and Early Childhood, as well as practices and resources uploaded by each Ministry. 4. Log In: Link to the login page to manage access to its credentials, create a new account, log in, and make changes to her/his password and/or provided email.

9. 2. Platform’s Sections

10. 5.News: Section that compiles the latest news articles published by the Ministries of Education in topics related with the three lines of action. 6.Practice and Resource Search Engine: These sections allow users to search for resources and practices uploaded by Ministries of Education. A smart search engine classifies the resources through key tags: country, theme, line of action, etc. 7.Ministries: Section that contains basic information of the Ministries of Education of OAS Member States, extracted from the countries’ official websites. 8.Logbook: A narrative of the progresses made by countries and the Technical Secretariat of the CIE in the building process of the Agenda. 9.Twitter: Exhibits the latest updates of the Agenda’s Twitter account: @AgendaCIE. 10.Image Gallery: This section contains the images of all activities implemented in the Agenda’s building process. 11. Newsletter: Will contain the most salient news and practices of the month in the Platform. Users will be able to subscribe by entering their email address.

11. 2. Platform’s Sections Agenda’s Lines of Action User’s Menu My contents

12. User’s Menu: The user’s menu is visible once the user has logged into the Platform. The users will be able to: 1.Upload practices and resources, 2.Modify or edit uploaded practices 3.Participate or create virtual forums. My Content: Menu that shows the practices and resources each user has uploaded. 2. Platform’s Sections

13. 3. User’s Benefits  Learn about educational solutions, resources and the latest progresses made by the Ministries of Education in policy implementation and the building process of the Inter-American Education Agenda.  Access the most updated information from Ministries of Education through the Twitter account - @AgendaCIE  Obtain basic information on the Ministries of Education  Use the internal chat of the platform to put forth real-time consultations/inquiries.  Search filters to identify resources and practices by theme, country, geographical area, and interest in providing and/or receiving technical assistance.

14. 4. How to Participate  Defining cooperation to be shared in the three lines of action of the Agenda (by filling out the online forms)  Sharing the latest news on the Twitter account or sending them to our email.  Participating in the existing forums or creating new ones in topics of their interest, to carry out consultations or proposing policy discussions.  Participating in private chats

15. 5. Benefits for Ministries of Education  To highlight promising educational solutions as well as their respective results and impact at a regional level, reaching both other Ministries of Education as well as all the citizens of the hemisphere.  To promote the knowledge and exchange among different Ministries of Education in topics of mutual interest.  To get to know educational solutions that may be considered useful to re-think and to respond to national educational and human development challenges.  To obtain key information to analyze and identify concrete opportunities for cooperation.

16.  To participate in permanent communication channels dedicated to promote discussions or carry-out high level policy consultations.  To centralize in one place, all the last updates of the Ministries of Education regarding education initiatives of high relevance.  To inform the citizens of the Americas, in a transparent way, about the educational progress made by their countries as well as the commitment of all Ministries of Education to advance in a collaborative way towards achieving greater education development in the hemisphere. 5. Benefits for Ministries of Education

17.  To carry out, bimonthly, webinars in which the Ministers of Education that have already uploaded practices can present and share them to other users. (Starting October)  Send monthly newsletters (Starting next October)  Carry-out a consultation process about the Platform’s Functionalities with all users to identify recommendations for its improvement (Starting next December). 6. Following Steps

18. Thank you! Romina Kasman – rkasman@oas.orgrkasman@oas.org Paulina Valdez – pvaldez@oas.orgpvaldez@oas.org