Availability and usage of information technology resources by students at BICU and URACCAN universities in

Bluefields, Nicaragua

Martín PernaEDCI6300 Spring 2009

University of Texas-Brownsville

Where is Bluefields?

Faces of Bluefields

Research Proposal

• To determine the status and usage of instructional technology by students at URACCAN and BICU University

• Identify in what context students use instructional technology

• Identify models used for development of instructional technology by instructors

Research Plan

• No published research accessible through my information resources in US

• Contact rectors, information tech specialists at university (qualitative research)– Determine questions for students

• Create online and print survey for sample population of students (quantitative research)– Conduct research, process and document findings

Research locations

• BICU (Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University)

• URACCAN (Universidad de las Regiones Autónomas de la Costa Caribe Nicaragüense)

Bluefields, Nicaragua• RAAS-South Atlantic Autonomous Region• Became formally part of Nicaragua in 1998• Nicaragua: second poorest country in

hemisphere• Official languages: Spanish, English, Creole

English, Indigenous languages• Ravaged by civil war, US-funded contra war

in 1980s• Suffered massive destruction by Hurricane

Joan (1988), Mitch (1998)

Population demographics

• Creole (Afro-descended-English and Creole spoken at home)

• Miskito (Indigenous, Suma, Rama languages, Spanish, English)

• Mestizo (mixed European/indigenous/African, English speaking)

• Garifuna (Afro-indigenous people with separate language, may speak English and/or Spanish)

Preliminary SourcesCampbell, M. (2006, September 22). In Latin America, new universities for indigenous students flourish.

Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(5), A40-A43. Gershberg, A.I. (Mar., 1999), Education 'decentralization' processes in Mexico and Nicaragua:

Legislative versus ministry-led reform strategies. Comparative Education, 35 (1), 63-80.Gershberg, A.I. (Jul., 1999), Decentralization, citizen participation, and the role of the State. Latin

American Perspectives, 26 (4), 8-38.Gershberg, A.I, Meade, B. (Aug., 2005), Parental contributions, school-level finances and

decentralization: An analysis of Nicaraguan autonomous school budgets. Comparative Education, 41, (3), 291-308.

Modelo Pedagogico del Uraccan (9/2004) retrieved Feb 6, 2009 from http://www.uraccan.edu.ni/documentos/publicaciones/modelo_pedagogico.pdf

Oferta académica. (2009) Retrieved Feb 6, 2009 from http://www.bicu.edu.ni/carreras.htmlRobb Taylor, D (ed.) (2005). The times and life of Bluefields. Managua: Academia de Geografía e Historia

de NicaraguaShapiro, M. (Winter, 1987) Bilingual-Bicultural Education in Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast Region. Latin

American Perspectives, 14 (1), 67-86.Sujo Wilson, H. (1998). Oral history of Bluefields. Nicaragua: CIDCA-UCA

Further reading

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefields

Image sources

• http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dartlife/archives/17-4/images/nicaragua2.jpg

• http://www.conicyt.gob.ni/ActividadesConicyt/Octubre/Estudiantes_Uracanpre.jpg