Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014) 442451

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Computers in Human Behavior

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School networks to promote ICT competences among teachers.

Case study in intercultural schools
Marcelo Careaga Butter, Laura Jimnez Prez, Mara Graciela Badilla Quintana
Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin, Faculty of Education, Member of the Unit of Educational Computing and Knowledge Management, Alonso de Ribera Avenue
2850, Campus San Andrs, Concepcin 4070129, Chile

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 6 August 2013
Keywords:
ICT competences
Virtual platforms
Teachers
Interculturality
School networks

a b s t r a c t
The aim of this quantitative, exploratory and descriptive research is to know if teachers that work in
intercultural contexts develop ICT competences by using virtual platforms. The innovation of the teaching-learning processes is promoted through the virtual platform, keeping a connection by forming school
networks among schools in indigenous contexts. 51 teachers from 10 schools from the BoBo and Araucana regions in Chile were part of the development of the networks. The main results show that the
participant teachers increased their ICT competences in the different dimensions of the use of the ICT:
pedagogical management, knowledge management, deepening of knowledge; and social, ethic and legal
dimensions, by applying the knowledge and talent management models.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Chile is in a favorable position to improve in the eld of promoting its intellectual and social capital, and achieve its educational
goals for this millennium. Poverty has decreased 13% among the
population, and the country improves its indicators as far as human development goes. Chile is now also part of the OECD and
shows economic and social potential to continue in this path.
The level of expenditure in education (public and private) was
higher than the rest of OECD countries in 2006: 7.5% of PIB in Chile,
against an average value of 5.8% from OECD members (UNESCO,
2006). Thus, public expenditure in education more than trebled between 1990 and 2003 with approximately two-thirds of this increment going to teachers salaries, infrastructure, ICT, learning
materials, and an extension of the school day providing material
support to an ambitious curriculum reform (Blignauta, Hinostroza,
Els, & Brun, 2010). However, Chile also has big challenges: make
progress and be a knowledge society, increase the levels of equity
by decreasing the social gap, and make possible a higher level of
equal social opportunities with a particular focus in respecting
and appreciate indigenous communities (UNESCO, 2008).
To face these challenges, through education, it is needed to
incorporate in the most efcient way the country potential, in order to develop competences among students in an unequal environment, from a perspective that privileges the girls and boys
rights. In this aspect, UNESCO has stated that the chilean education
Corresponding author. Tel.: +56 41 2345360.
E-mail addresses: mcareaga@ucsc.cl (M.C. Butter), ljimenez@ucsc.cl (L.J. Prez),
mgbadilla@ucsc.cl (M.G.B. Quintana).
0747-5632/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.024

system tends to separate kids from the same origin and social capitals emphasizing the inequality gap, schools barely have social
and cultural heterogeneity; and the differentiations - between
schools and groups of schools follow almost exactly the predominant social stratication of the country. In education and social
terms, this means that the Chilean kids and young people do not
have the same learning opportunities (p. 39). The analysis also
shows that there are no instances to socialise in common and no
similar social experiences; which translates to a school experience
profoundly inequitative that favors the social segregation, which
leads to the inexistence of spaces for the construction of the
population.
Nowadays, this situation of social encapsulation of the school
experience can be approached from the educative use of the virtual
connection among schools and generate a learning and development opportunity through the contact between students from different places and with different life stories. Schools in Chile have a
technological base of great communication capacity and during the
last years there has been an emphasis in a greater expansion of
broadband services in urban and rural schools. Data shows that
by 2007, 93% Chilean students had internet access and 75% teachers had been trained in its use (MINEDUC, S/f). The Index of Development Digital Schools (IDDE) (Rate of digital development in
schools) shows that out of 9553 school considered in the census,
the general infrastructure capacity is in an intermediate level
(Enlaces, 2009). From this point of view, the position of Chile is
optimal to make progress developing new initiatives by using the
technological and connectivity potential.
For the students, the network communication with kids and
young people from different communities and places, help them

M.C. Butter et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014) 442451

to broaden their horizons, share and appreciate their culture, expand their vocabulary, share and being exposed to new ideas; learn
to respect different points of view, learn about team work and
study groups, know about other cultures, face other challenges
and see other points of view, learn to make friends from different
places, learn to care for their environments, and nd courage to
learn more and value what they have (Aldunate & Nussbaum,
2013; Vercellone-Smith, Jablokow, & Friedel, 2012).
Consequently, school networks are tools with great potential for
the cognitive, social and moral development of the students (Ross,
Morrison, Smith, & Cleveland, 1990); and they promote basic principles about how to learn: (1) it facilitates the active participation
of the students in different projects and works, making them take
their own decisions and promoting their creativity (Elmore, Peterson, & McCarthy, 1996; Piaget, 1978; Scardamalia and Bereiter,
1991) and (2) they promote social participation and learning styles
(Federico, 2000). Regarding benets for the teachers, the network
can connect them with colleagues that have tackled or are interested in educative or professional topics and worries similar to
their own, helping them to take advantage of the experience and
intelligence that exist in other places. The networks can also connect them with teacher training centers in their country and the
rest of the world.

2. Theoretical framework
2.1. ICT in Chile
Different studies show that information and communication
technologies (ICT) contribute to the economic and social development of the countries, to the modernization of states and their
institutions, and also contribute to the equity of access to the information (Hepp, 2011; Hepp, Hinostroza, Laval, & Rehbein, 2004;
Lugo, 2011). Most countries of the region started, more than a decade ago, the incorporation of ICT in their school systems with different objectives:
 Achieve equity of access to the information, so the students
have similar possibilities of using ICTs en their schools and they
can develop competences for their use. This objective is related
to the efforts made to reduce the digital gap for students of vulnerable and to the role of the ICT to make education inclusive
considering genre, disability, and ethnolinguistic minorities
issues (CEPAL, 2011).
 Achieve a better quality in their education systems, through the
supply of new digital resources to learn and teach, and the
access to information and people networks. It is also associated
with taking advantage of the new opportunities to innovate in
the learning process of the young people of the new millennium
by using networks and mobile platforms in their personal life to
communicate, entertain and inform themselves.
 Prepare the students for the future, so they can accomplish
themselves in a society that values the capacity to manage
information, which requires superior abilities such as skills to
use communication networks: searching, critical selection,
summarize and analyze information, and being able to communicate with people from different cultural and social environments (UNESCO, 2008).
Complementing the aforementioned, evidence shows that most
teachers do not use ICT intensively as an educational resource in
their classrooms (Wilson, 2005). Among the different causes that
could explain this situation, stand out the teachers attitude towards technology, the lack of ICT resources or the lack of opportunities to access to them, the lack of time to become familiar with

443

them; and the scarce preparation to use them during the teaching
training process (Brun, 2011; Cuban, 2001; Hinostroza, Labb,
Brun, & Matamala 2011; OECD, 2009).
In this setting, it is needed to explore and study the use of
school networks to contribute in the development of equitable
educative practices based on the use of technologies, contributing
to the students and teachers education about signicant educative network projects, especially for schools located in rural zones
or in vulnerable urban areas that have a less cultural diversity and
already have access to the Internet; that way they will develop
their ICT competences.
2.2. School networks to promote the intercultural dialogue
School networks to promote the intercultural dialogue and allow them to reinforce reading and writing among students and expand their cultural knowledge and worldview (Gudykunst, 2003;
Samovar & Porter, 2004; Scollon & Wong, 1995; Ting-Toomey,
1999).
Intercultural communication is understood as the symbolic exchange process whereby individuals from two (or more) different
cultural communities negotiate shared meanings in an interactive
situation (Ting-Toomey, 1999, p. 16). Intercultural communication has ve essential characteristics. A symbolic exchange between at least two individuals and is carried out by using verbal
and nonverbal symbols, a process of interdependence between
the participants that happens between different cultural communities. A negotiation of meanings that are shared, an interactive situation of a gestalt nature that involves behaviors, participants
roles, physical context and equipment, characteristics of the communication situation (formal/informal, between others) and the
appropriate social skills to have access to a successful intercultural
communication.
It is essential to consider the identity negotiation theory, which
emphasizes the connection between cultural values and self-concept. Based on the fact that the image that we have about ourselves
is inuenced by cultural, personal, situation and interrelation factors, the identity negotiation focuses in the perception that the
individual has about security versus vulnerability of their identity
as the variable that affects intercultural meetings. In this aspect,
the cultural issue is fundamental about the vision that we have
about ourselves, since individuals tend to feel safe when they communicate with people they perceive as close and not a threat to
their identity. In all intercultural communication act, personal
and situational identity are part of the dynamics that generate
due to the interaction between members of different ethnic groups
and different cultures through the technology, specically virtual
platforms.
2.3. Knowledge management model
Knowledge management is a discipline that was developed because of economics, since businesses wanted to optimize their
organization in order to improve their capacity.
From that perspective, it is assumed as the management of the
intangible assets that generate value to the productive organizations. Most of these intangible assets are related to processes that,
one way or another, are linked to the gathering, structuring and
transmission of knowledge. Therefore, knowledge managements
main tool is organizational learning. In this aspect, knowledge management is understood as a dynamic or uid concept. In summary,
new technologies, tools and models are needed that allow an effective management of the knowledge of organizations.
Goleman (n/d) with his contribution related to emotional intelligence, has gradually been more incorporated to the economics
during the 21st century. The development of intellectual capital

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is everyday more related to emotional intelligence. Rivero contributes concepts that tend to highlight the intellectual capital of a
business in comparison to tangible properties (1999). Steve Wallman (2011 cited by Puchol, 2010) contributes elements such as
the potential of the human brain, name of products, and factory
brands, to the denition of intellectual capital.
During the last years, with the development of communication
through Internet, virtual businesses have appeared. These businesses are exible, adaptable, with a more uid structure, and have
a concept that differs completely about what an asset is, since their
development dynamics obey to network relations and decisions
that are way more efcient than the traditional ones.
Internet is a complex environment in which is developing
numerous relationships that could be explained by the Complexity
Theory and the Fuzzy Logic Theory. Walby (2003) enlighten how the
complexity theory has inspired two main ways of addressing the issue of change and diversity. The rst involves the concept of the
co-evolution of complex adaptive systems, where the concept of
co-evolution replaces any simple notion of single directional impact, especially in. The second involves the notion of saltation, of
sudden, critical turning points, in which small changes, in the context of complex systems, give rise to bifurcations and new paths
of development that are self-sustaining. The new way of thinking
about systems is useful in conceptualizing the nature of the connections and linkages involved in globalization, a process that by its
nature involves large-scale processes. Complexity theory confronts
the postmodern challenge to modernist metanarratives to address
issues of diversity and complexity more adequately. Moreover in
1965, Zadeh (1975) has established the notion of fuzzy logic, which
is a multilevel extension of classical logic where propositions can
get truth-values in the interval [0, 1], and are not limited to one
of the two values (Kandel, 1987). Almost ve decades before, his
pioneering work has shown a multitude of research work and applications related to signal processing (Mhalla, Jerbi, Dutilleul, Craye,
& Benrejeb, 2010), knowledge representation (Cordova & Leyton,
2010), control theory (Hossu, Fagarasan, Hossu, & Iliescu, 2010),
and reasoning (Ronen, Shabtai, & Guterman, 2002; Tamir & Kandel,
1990; Tamir & Kandel, 1995).
In the educational context, Careaga and Avendao (2009) proposed the Pedagogical Model of Knowledge Management, to address three processes: development of intellectual capital,
capitalization of knowledge and development of social capital.
The model considers four related levels: access to information, representation of information, creation of knowledge, and transference of knowledge (see Fig. 1). This implies that the model
connects the administration of information with the knowledge
management.
(1) Access to the information: it means that the knowledge promoters share an interest focus and they investigate sources
of information about it.
(2) Representation of information: the results of the investigation experiment a rst concept approximation, in which
the knowledge promoter is, intellectually and cognitively,
involved with the contents, contributing a rst level of analysis that can be descriptive or comprehensive.
(3) Creation of knowledge: it implies that the knowledge promoters, using as frame of reference the sources of information obtained in their investigations, incorporate their
experience and previous knowledge, take the purposes
demanded from their interest focus and integrate the
new contributions that are made as results of their theoretical reections, or practical approximations to the thing, fact,
phenomenon, circumstance, symbol, or known idea.
(4) Transference of knowledge: In education, it implies that the
promoters are capable to spread their learning achievements

in networks of knowledge, in which they collaboratively

construct didactics.
2.4. Talent management model
There are many denitions of the concept talent. For example:
from the Latin talentum, the notion of talent is linked to ability or
intelligence. It is about the capacity to practice certain occupation
or to perform some activity. Usually, talent is associated to the innate ability and creation, though it also can be developed through
practice and training. It can also be considered a talent, the intellectual capacity or ability to learn things easily, or to perform certain activity with impressive skills. It also exists the academic
talent, which can be dened as a competence that is superior than
average in one or more elds of the human aptitudes, which happens naturally, but needs an adequate learning context in order to
grow and reveal.
For this research, talent is considered as the superior, intellectual, practical, aesthetical and/or emotional ability that characterizes in a different way a person, that can identies why they
stand out in comparison to the average, as an individual and social
value (Careaga & Seplveda, 2012).
This model easily allows the diagnosis and characterization of
the talent management in intercultural contexts, establishing the
type of communication interactions, with a digital support, between local intercultural contexts and remote links with other distributed cultural contexts. The elements of the model consider a
cyclical dynamic that repeats itself depending on the interests
and communication capacity of the cultural agents, and their motivation to communicate their talents and search for convergence of
common interests to build an intercultural dialogue.
There are six elements that constitute this model (see Fig. 2):
(1) Diagnosis of talent in the local intercultural context: it consists on detecting cultural agents that have intellectual,
practical, aesthetic and/or emotional talents.
(2) Identication of talent for interculturality: identify the talents that have intercultural dialogue potential out of the
group of talent that has been diagnosed.
(3) Selection of talent for knowledge management: the talents
with intercultural dialogue potential are systematized in
digital context to install a communication potential that
allows connecting the local intercultural context with other
remote and distributed cultural contexts.
(4) Talent stimulation: recognize the individual talent as a constitutive element of the cultural identity, realizing it is a singular contribution of the subject to the denition of group
identity. The communication context with digital support
is one of the ways to stimulate talent, when forming communication interactions between subjects from different
cultural singularities.
(5) Control and monitoring: actions that allow the detection of
communication development of the interest focus conformed around the talent management. It consists on monitoring quantitatively and qualitatively the communication
interactions established between subjects that share interest
focuses linked to their talents.
(6) Identication of new talents: identify new talents that
appear due to the result of the intercultural knowledge management sustained by the talent management.
2.5. What has been made involving school networks?
School networks have been developed for years in Latin America, from the Enlaces project in Chile, to the Conexiones proyect in
Colombia, or Red Escolar in Mexico. These incited the positioning

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445

Fig. 1. Pedagogical knowledge management circuit (Careaga & Avendao, 2009).

Fig. 2. Model of the circuit talent management (Careaga & Seplveda, 2012).

of educative computering in schools. Among the school networks,

there are different networks with different purposes.
One of the most important objectives of the networks has
been to promote the use of ICT by sharing experiences lived in
the classroom by teachers and students. For example, RED ILSE
wants to foment the learning process and the digital culture
through technology, giving opportunities to Mexican kids. After
15 years, the network explores the contact between schools from
different countries, with the purpose of exchanging experiences,
the network has been designed thanks to collaborative proyects
oriented to support the countrys curriculum. However, the network does not explicitly take into account the intercultural or
reading development of the kids. Another similar network is

RedTelar, which uses collaborative learning in Argentinian

schools. In Chile, Kalakai is a network for students in primary
and secondary education that aims to support reading comprehension. However, it is a paid private network that not necessarily supports schools without paying-capacity. Some examples of
school networks:
 Red TELAR promotes in Argentina the use of ICT pedagogy by
working in national and international collaborative proyects
between schools (http://www. telar.org).
 Red IEARN promotes and help teachers and young people to
work online together through Internet in Spain (http://www.
iearn.org).

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M.C. Butter et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014) 442451

 Atlas de la Diversidad Cultural, is a network for Spanish schools

that has created one of the most important and most extense
data base about cultural diversity (http://www. atlasdeladi
versidad.net/).
2.6. Virtual learning communities in intercultural contexts
This research addresses the project named Comunidades virtuales de aprendizaje (Virtual learning communities) to promote interculturality by applying teaching models of
knowledge and talent management, funded by CIECII-MILENIUM
(Center of education research in an indigenous and intercultural
context) in Chile. It is based on innovating in the internships of
initial teacher training students of the program Educacin General Bsica (General primary education) of the Universidad
Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin, and Pedagoga en Educacin Bsica Intercultural en contexto Mapuche (Intercultural
primary education pedagogy in a Mapuche context) of the Universidad Catlica de Temuco.
The proposal is focused in innovating in the pedagogical practices of teachers and students of pedagogy in a practical professional stage, incorporating interculturality as a constitutive
element of their training process. The proposal consisted of organizing virtual learning communities, applying pedagogical models
of knowledge and talent management that promote the collaborative connection between schools, located in indigenous contexts,
for the development of interculturality.
The main strategy consists on developing networks of knowledge promoters, based on the promotion of the students talents
with the purpose of transferring intercultural knowledge. Students of pedagogy in a practical professional stage support the
collaboration processes between schools in the Bo Bo and
Araucana regions of Chile. University students and students of
different schools participate in an educational platform, which
has virtual spaces in which intellectual and practical constructs,
obtained due to the learning experience, are transferred.
A pedagogical design based in virtual tutorials is applied, which
is developed long distance by the students of the education programs of the Universidad Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin,
and the Universidad Catlica de Temuco.
The team that developed the project made three workshops
about virtual tutorial, and knowledge and talent management for
students of pedagogy in a practical professional stage, and teachers
of the schools involved. These workshops were imparted at the
beginning of the project, during the process, and when it nished.
A key element was to promote the implementation of pedagogical
and technological models that contributed to incorporate the
importance of interculturality during the training of the new generations of teachers.
The project was borned from the need to educate comprehensive persons that see reality as a whole, not just parts of it. It is
needed that future teachers incorporate in their education the
complexity of intercurturality, as part of the context in which they
will develop their pedagogical work.
The virtual communication platform used for the development of the project is based on Moodle. It can access the
platform from the following URL http://nucleomilenio.iegc.cl/.
In order to access to the virtual settings where the students,
teachers and virtual tutors work, you need to have an account
authorized by the responsible of the platform.
The platform has these essential virtual settings:
(1) Lets go to the schools: in this setting you can nd all the
participant schools. In a different environment, students
interact by posting the learning goals they have achieved,
expressed in their homework.

(2) Resource Center: the resource center is formed by pedagogical work spaces, that were congured to promote the collaborative construction. In these settings, the teachers,
tutors and students can share digital didactic resources that
are useful to help students to do their homeworks. It is
assumed that digital didactic resources are those that help
to support learning and are available in the back up digital
media, and can be transferred through communication virtual media. Among these resources are: web pages, education software, online games, virtual simulators, didactic
guides, learning guides, workshop results, laboratory results,
homework results, among other learning resources.
(3) Talent management: in this space, students post their talents, their favorite pastimes, and different cultural activities
that they develop in their schools, sharing with their schoolmates and other students, in order to share their cultural
diversity.
(4) Doubts zone: in this instance, teachers and tutors can interact to solve doubts and collaborate in their different
activities.
3. Methodology
This research is longitudinal, exploratory and descriptive. The
main goal is to implement a school network through a virtual platform to promote the development of ICT competences and teaching innovation in the pedagogical practices in the classrooms,
among the teachers of intercultural schools in the BoBo and Araucana regions.
The participant sample was formed by 51 teachers exercising
the position and in a practical professional stage. All of them
worked in ve different schools of the BoBo and Araucana regions, in Chile. The selection requirements for the schools were:
being part of intercultural contexts in both regions, having the
equipment and broadwire connectivity, being authorized by the
school board and that they were motivated to work on the project
for a year. The selection criterion for these teachers was that they
were interested in participating in the project, that they exercised
their positions on the primary education and that they had user level ICT knowledge. These teachers were between 21 and 50 years
old and their graduate studies are related to primary education
in different specialties. None of them have ICT degrees, but they
were prepared through some ICT courses or self-taught methods.
The investigation was carried through between March and
December 2012, during the regular school period.
3.1. Instrument of data collection
The instrument of data collection was a survey about ICT competences (Jimnez, 2012), which focuses in measuring ve dimensions related to the use and implementation of technology by the
teacher in personal and pedagogical contexts:
 Basic knowledge of ICT: technological aspects related to the use
of technology.
 Pedagogical standards: the pedagogical aspects aforementioned
in the Standards of ICT Competences given by the Ministry of
Education, Chile (Ministerio de Educacin, 2010).
 Knowledge management: it has relation with how knowledge is
distributed among equals and the means used for the collaborative work.
 Deepening of knowledge: related to the aspects that complement the teaching-learning processes and the way they are
used.
 Social, ethical and legal aspects: connected to the social, legal
and ethical aspects of the use of technologies.

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447

The survey has ve sections and a total of 73 closed-ended

questions, all of them using the Likert scale with 5 categories
(never, rarely, sometimes, almost always, and always), which were
assigned a value of 1 up to 5, respectively.
Also the Moodle virtual platform, designed to promote the collaborative work and communication between schools, provided
relevant data regarding to the access and use of the spaces as well
as information published periodically on it.

and others specials gifts that they have. The idea was to express
their interests and motivations in relation with their talents (see
Fig. 4). The results show that there are common interest between
students, and the development of intercultural dialogue.
All mentioned activities were fomented during one year. After
this period, data analysis show different levels of achievement by
the students.

3.2. Procedure and data analysis

4.2. Second Part: ICT teachers competences

The data collection instrument was used in a printed format, as

a pre-test and a post-test at the beginning and at the end of the
project. In both instances, the test was taken in both universities,
depending on the region. They had 30 min to answer it. Teachers
were advised to answer them individually.
SPSS v19.0 software was used for the analysis of the descriptive
and inferential statistical variables of ve dimensions, and T test
was used for related samples and for the comparison of continuous
variables of pre and post-test, with a condent interval of 95%.

4.2.1. Basic notions of ICT

About the technological aspects of using technology, two side
analysis of results shows that teachers have an increase in the
development of pedagogical reexion activities in virtual settings
at the beginning (M = 3.22, SE = 1.04) and at the end of their participation in the project (M = 4.08, SE = 0.74) and there are signicant
differences between them (t(50) = 10.258, p = 0.000) (see
Table 2).
About the frequency of use of productivity tools and Internet
among the teachers, it is possible to observe that there was an increase in both tests, especially in those that expressed that they
use it always (pre-test = 67%, post-test = 84%) (see Fig. 5).
When being asked about the frequency that they reect in virtual settings, the teachers answer that after the implementation of
the project, they state that the amount of activities that take into
account this conduct increases (pre-test = 10%, post-test = 29%).

4. Results
Results are structured in two parts. First part explain results
from Moodle virtual platform, and second part, corresponding to
the survey data, which focuses in measuring ve dimensions related to the use and implementation of technology by the teacher
in personal and pedagogical contexts.
4.1. First Part: model virtual platform
In general, the initiative was developed correctly, with normal
access to the platform and appropriate Internet connectivity,
allowing teachers to maintain good communication between the
participating teachers and students in the school network project.
Researchers perceived that was enhanced educational and
intercultural dialogue among the participants, due to the uid exchange of messages sent monthly through the platform, reaching
173 messages in average (see Table 1).
The content of the messages sent by the participants was directed towards: the Communication Forum, the Pedagogical Forum,
the Homework Forum, the Internet research Forum and the Didactic digital resources Forum.
Central work developed by teachers was to facilitate communication in different forums. It was focuses on specic activities to
promote each phase of the Knowledge Management Model: access
to the information, representation of information, creation of
knowledge and transference of knowledge (see Fig. 3).
In addition, teachers to encourage students to share their talents in the following areas like: artistic, manual crafts, sports,

Table 1
Intercultural dialogue among the participants due to the virtual platform.
N School

City

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Caete
Caete
Caete
Caete
Caete
Temuco
Temuco
Temuco
Temuco
Temuco
Total

Number of comments
198
150
172
208
183
120
142
174
186
197
1730

4.2.2. Pedagogical standards

About the usability of technologies in different pedagogical
activities among teachers, two side analysis of results shows that
teachers who participate on the project have an increase in the frequency of participation in virtual learning platforms (beginning of
project M = 1.86, SE = 0.74); end of project M = 4.00, SE = 0.72); and
there are signicant differences between them (t(50) = 17.056,
p = 0.000) (see Table 2).
In relation to the ways the teachers achieve and demonstrate
strategies to apply ICT to the current school curriculum, it is possible to see an increase in both tests, especially in those that expressed that they used it always (pre-test = 43%, post-test = 65%)
(see Fig. 6).
About the use of multimedia resources to use as support for
working in the classroom, teachers state that their conduct increases after participating in the project (pre-test = 6%, posttest = 24%).

4.2.3. Knowledge management

Two side analysis of results shows that teachers who participate
on the project use more the virtual settings to manage knowledge
sharing professional achievements or difculties between during
the exercising of the profession (beginning of project M = 3.18,
SE = 1.43; end of the project M = 4.02, SE = 0.92) and there are signicant differences between them (t(50) = 5.754, p = 0.000) (see
Table 2).
In relation to the way of demonstrating control of knowledge,
and how they share the learning achievements of their pedagogical
experiences, like the development of reections of their professional duties using ICT, it can be seen that there was an increase
between both tests especially in those that stated that they used
it almost always (pre-test = 10%, post-test = 47%) and sometimes
(pre-test = 33%, post-test = 41%) (see Fig. 7).
The teachers indicate that after participating on the project,
they know more profoundly related aspects with the inclusion
ICT in the knowledge society (pre-test = 4%, post-test = 37%).

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M.C. Butter et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014) 442451

Fig. 3. Evidence of the four phases of the knowledge management model developed by participants of one school.

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449

Fig. 4. Evidence of the celebration of a traditional celebration called Wetripantu, in Mapudungun tongue, in one school of Araucana Region.

Table 2
T-test results in the ve dimensions of the ICT competences among teachers.
Variable

Mean pretest (SD)

Mean posttest (SD)

Basic notions of ICT

Pedagogical
standards
Knowledge
management
Deepening of
Knowledge
Social, ethical and
legal aspects

51
51

3.22 (1.04)
1.86 (0.74)

4.08 (0.74)
4.00 (0.72)

10.258
17.056

.000
.000

51

3.18 (1.43)

4.02 (0.92)

5.754

.000

51

1.92 (0.97)

3.27 (0.66)

11.443

.000

51

2.73 (0.91)

3.76 (0.71)

8.522

.000

Note: Statistical signicance legend *p < .001.

Fig. 5. Frequency of use of the computer among teachers.

Fig. 6. Usability of technologies in different pedagogical activities.

4.2.4. Deepening of knowledge

Two side analysis of results shows that teachers show an increase in the frequency of use of virtual simulator in the exercising
of their profession, such as educative software, and virtual games
(beginning of the project M = 3.19, SE = 0.97; end of the project
M = 3.27, SE = 0.66) and there are signicant differences between
them (t(50) = 11.443, p = 0.000) (see Table 2).
In relation to the exploration of the use of ICT as a mean of specialization, by being informed and accessing different sources to
improve their practices and make easier the exchange of experiences to contribute to improve the teaching and learning process,
the results show that there was an increase between both tests
especially in those that stated that they used it almost always
(pre-test = 5%, pos-test = 41%) (see Fig. 8).
When being asked about the level of exchange of educational
experiences related with integrating ICT to the classroom, teachers
stated more interest in make known their pedagogical innovations
(pre-test = 0%, post-test = 35%).
4.2.5. Social, ethical and legal aspects
In relation to the social, ethical and legal aspects, two side analysis of results shows that teachers who participate, work collaboratively more frequently with their colleagues using ICT
(beginning of project M = 2.73, SE = 0.91; end of project M = 3.76,
SE = 0.71) and there are signicant differences between them
(t(50) = 8.522, p = 0.000) (see Table 2).
About knowing, make their own and spread the ethical, legal
and social aspects connected to the use of computering resources
and content available in the Internet, it is possible to see that there
was an increase in both tests, especially in those that expressed
that they use it always (pre-test = 0%, post-test = 51%) (see Fig. 9).

Fig. 7. Usability of technologies in different pedagogical activities.

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M.C. Butter et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014) 442451

Fig. 8. Use of ICT to demonstrate knowledge.

Fig. 9. Permanent integration of ICT in quotidian activities.

Finally, when being asked about the frequency that they worry
about learning and about the physical and mental risks of using
technology, in a personal and professional level, the teachers answer that it is higher (pre-test = 4%, post-test = 27%).

5. Conclusions
According to this research, the main theoretical conclusions associated with the contextual change tell us that Information and
Communication Technologies have changed the social organization
and culture. The daily routine of people and the forms in which
these human organizations relate and communicate to solve their
problems have radically changed in the last decades. The forms of
intelligence, information access and knowledge management have
incorporated a new epistemological dimension that changes our
understanding of the administration of information sources and
the creation and transference of knowledge. These processes have
occurred faster in social structures that have greater dynamism
than education.
Technology has become a part of the quotidian life faster than in
the schools, colleges or universities; this happens even in remote
areas that have unsatisfactory level of basic services.
Paradoxically, comparing with other knowledge areas, modern
society has not been able to match the rhythm to the changes happening in education. It is because of this, that it was relevant to
form school networks in intercultural contexts to implement the
use of virtual platforms by applying knowledge and talent management for the development of ICT competences among teachers
exercising the profession, and students doing their internship.
Information and communication technologies have a known
potential to support learning, the construction of social knowledge
and the development of abilities and competences to learn autonomously. However, it is important to mention that the introduction

of the information society is still low among schools; a new educational outlook is appearing for the initial years of the teacher training programs, where it is needed a constant and lifelong update of
knowledge, abilities, and learning guidelines. Potentiate ICT allow
teachers to achieve and/or develop competences not only in a technologic use of tools, but also to be able to integrate them in a natural and permanent way to activities in the classroom, so they can
be a real contribution to the teaching-learning processes of the
students.
It is also needed to give a bigger relevance to the knowledge of
processes, and cognitive and meta cognitive strategies; this means
that the students learn to learn, and that the teacher is a facilitator
of processes where the role changes and the teacher has to stop
being a orator or instructor that has the knowledge to be an adviser, a facilitator and mediator of the teaching-learning process.
Finally, it is important to recognize a new concept of literacy,
which broadens to new elds, such as the mediated communication, online multimedia, new screens. Literacy is now recognized
as a complex concept that changes in time, as a lifelong learning
process and its uses and application are in constant revision. The
option of generating virtual learning environments based on ICT
makes possible the overcoming of spatial and temporal barriers
and makes easier the individual learning methods and collaborative learning.
Because of the aforementioned elements, it can be concluded
that the educational systems face the challenge of using ICT to give
their students the tools and knowledge needed, which entails that
teachers and future generations of teachers have to be able to work
with these tools in a pedagogical way, and that they allow them to
optimize, motivate and interact with their students and colleagues.
Knowledge Management Models are needed to pregure postmodern educational paradigms, based on a new virtual epistemology. These ndings were relevant and were the basis for the
creation of intercultural school networks. In these networks the
creation of individual intellectual capital depends on the implementation of Talent Management models. The generation of collaborative and social capital depends on the implementation of
Knowledge Management models.
The evidence of this investigation shows that teachers develop
their ICT competences after being part of the intervention where
school networks between intercultural teachers exercising the profession and future teachers for a year in the virtual platform applying the knowledge and talent management, promoting
collaborative working, pedagogical innovation, an intercultural
dialogue.
The main empirical conclusions, based on the evidence provided
by this research, are that teachers develop higher ICT competences
when they complement their classroom education with virtual
teaching models supported by Talent Management and Knowledge
Management. In each of the evaluated dimensions, basic notions of
ICT, pedagogical standards, knowledge management, deepening of
social, ethical and legal knowledge, the teachers increased the frequency of use, show more interest and closeness with technological tools, to nally, appreciate the potential of technologies in the
teaching-learning processes.
To carry out teaching practices, forming school networks among
practicing teachers, future teachers and students in intercultural
contexts, allow access and representation of information in active
and autonomous ways. Moreover, it enables the generation and
transference of knowledge based on the pedagogical work of the
students talents in intercultural contexts.
In the evaluated areas: basic notions of ICT, teaching standards,
knowledge management, and socio-ethical and legal knowledge, it
can be said that both practicing teachers, and teachers in training,
increased the frequency of ICT use. They showed higher interest
and proximity to the technological tools, and diversied their use

M.C. Butter et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014) 442451

of digital learning resources. The teachers role was a dynamic

counselor and facilitator of the whole education process. Among
teachers and students, the use of Talent Management Models and
Knowledge Management to guide the pedagogical use of ICT promoted participation in the virtual learning environments. Increased multimedia resource use functioned as a supporting tool
to combine classroom teaching with virtual learning. Communicative interactions among students increase, because they talk about
their talents and schoolwork within peer groups and with students
from remote schools. They communicate through a virtual learning
platform. At the same time, practicing teachers show greater interest in showing their pedagogical innovations associated with the
use of ICT. Finally, knowledge, integration, and appropriation and
dissemination of ethical, legal and social issues increased due to
the use of technological resources and available content on the
Internet by the practicing and prospective teachers who served
as Virtual Tutors.
Acknowledgments
This research is carried out thanks to the support of CIECIIMILENIUM, Centro de Investigacin en Educacin en Contexto Indgena e Intercultural and Universidad Catlica de la Santsima
Concepcin.
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