Fundación Telefónica

• Fundación Telefónica
• Versión Español

Objectives of the Program

General Goal: To offer a service to society by innovating education through Information and Communications Technologies.

Global Strategy: EducaRed is a program attempting to transform the present paradigm of education by adapting it to the needs of the Information Society. It is continually committed to applying technological innovation education and learning in those countries where Telefónica operates. This public service is based on the philosophy of a system of networks with a clear, pragmatic mission.

Strategic Focal Points:

•  To facilitate the integration of technology into the classroom by offering the necessary means (platforms, tools, methodologies, contents and training) to the educational community in Spain and Latin America.  
• To promote and maintain leadership in educational innovation, showing society the transforming power of ICT.
• To stimulate the creation of virtual transnational communities of teachers, students, parents and others involved in the education sector.

This program was created in 1998 by Fundación Telefónica together with the main educational organizations in Spain with the goal of promoting educational use of the Internet for the benefit of teachers, students, parents and schools.

EducaRed is present in Latin American countries whose educational systems are based fully or partially on the Spanish language. Over the years, EducaRed  has become a leading educational program in Spanish, covering kindergarten age through university entrance. Since its start, the program was intended to assist teachers of all levels in facing the profound changes imposed by ICT with regard to accessing knowledge. It was also designed to promote debate on the use of technology and as a way of reducing the gap between “analogical" educators and “digital” students through its training.

EducaRed activities are supported on the Web portal of the same name, where one can follow all its lines of action, access special content and use tools designed for on-line pedagogical and collaborative work. These portals were created in Spain in 1998, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru in 2002, in Colombia and Mexico in 2007, and in Venezuela in 2008.

However, the program goes beyond the Internet and has an intense agenda of training, encounters and debates aimed at the entire educational community. EducaRed’s program is free, in both its virtual and on-site formats. Proof of the value of EducaRed’s tools, resources and contents are the numerous prizes and citations that the Foundation has received over the years.

It should be emphasized that EducaRed is a global program carried out in a coordinated fashion in all the countries where it operates. Fundación Telefónica works to ensure that its educational strategy is the same in all of these countries, with a common plan and common-lines of action. For this reason, it sponsors a set of projects that are international in scope. Many of the EducaRed programs are carried out are with the cooperation of those who know most about innovation in education, hailing from public, private and social sectors. This fact is evident in EducaRed’s valuable partnerships with companies and organizations, and in the collaboration agreements signed over the past few years with the following entities: the Organization of Latin American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI); the Educa Virtual Program of the Latin American Summit of Heads of State and Government; the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL); the Latin American Network of Educational Portals (RELPE); the various administrative authorities in Spain and Latin America; Red.es, a corporate entity and offshoot of Spain’s Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce; Microsoft; and Universia, the university portal of the Bank of Santander.