ICTS IN A LATIN AMERICAN DISTANCE EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE COSTA RICAN UNED

Abstract

Contemporary distance education adds, to the traditional printing technologies, more recent information and communication technologies (ICT), which in the case of the Costa Rican Distance Education University are unified in “modular didactic units”. This paper summarizes our decade-long first hand experience on this subject, and explains the advantages and disadvantages that its use has had in the Costa Rican context. By breaking barriers of geographic distance and time, the ICT have allowed an increase in the segments of the Costa Rican population that are reached. Nevertheless, they have the disadvantage of suffering from a “digital gap” (in Costa Rica, this gap affects rural zones and women) and in our institution they also have the problem of passive resistance applied by the older generations. ICT may have to wait for a new generation in the Costa Rican UNED in order to fully dominate the design, production and delivery of knowledge.