Abstract:

The closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic has marked a historic event for educational systems around the world, forcing us to rethink the role of Educational Technology (ET) within the official curriculum and, mainly, within the teacher training programs.

From a systematic review of the curricula related to educational sciences programs offered in Mexico, it was found that ET, as a curricular area, has been relegated within the training project of future teachers; in some specific cases it has been considered as an extension of the pedagogical area, without constituting an independent body of knowledge or an essential training area.

Based on this diagnosis, a curricular proposal was developed for the integration of the TE as a training area within the curriculum of the bachelor’s degree in Educational Sciences at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC).

The process of curriculum design was developed during the second year of the pandemic; this was an initiative of a group of specialist researchers in ET, who are professors at the university. The design was carried out in four phases:
i) formulation of professional skills related to the field of ET,
ii) delimitation of vital knowledge within the field of ET,
iii) generation of proposals for compulsory and optional subjects, and
iv) integration of the ET area within the curriculum map.

The ET courses proposed for the training of future teachers were the following:
i) Theoretical bases of educational technology,
ii) Design of multimedia resources,
iii) Educational and technological innovation in the classroom,
iv) ICT and emerging learning environments,
v) Didactic material for distance education,
vi) Educational modalities mediated by ICT,
vii) Techno-pedagogical design and mediation, and
viii) Development of e-learning projects.

The curricular proposal aims to be a model for other educational programs that have the interest of strengthening future education professionals in the ET field, but at the same time, it constitutes a space for dialogue to approach other realities and building ties with other institutions that are about to initiate these processes of curricular changes.

Keywords:

Educational technology, curriculum, teacher training, higher education.