TONGO

TONGO. Finding inspiration through connection.

TONGO is a method for teachers that allows the possibility of finding ways to facilitate the convergence of the rational and emotional processes in the learning experience, seeking to give both processes the same level of relevance and recognizing their intimate relationship to strengthen educational processes.

TONGO's strategy works through a web application with narrative content that allows through a series of guided steps and digital boards for inspiration and creation, the construction of a formula composed of academic knowledge, a connecting word and a soft skill, which detonates, through the use of metaphors, similes and analogies, as well as some creative techniques, ideas for the design of a meaningful, relevant and connected (integral) class.

The OECD distinguishes cognitive and metacognitive skills as necessary for 2030, which include creative thinking; social and emotional learning; and practical and physical educational tools, among which it refers to the use of digital and computing tools. To achieve the development of these critical skills, OECD calls for, among other criteria, trained teachers; students who link their learning experiences to the real world and have a sense of purpose in their learning; students discovering how one topic can be linked to others; and an adaptive curriculum.

TONGO method helps teachers: Use creativity as a vehicle to create content that links cognitive and metacognitive skills and social and emotional skills, strengthening learning; Design sessions connected to reality that transcend the educational space, broaden understanding, promote exploration, inspire and motivate; Take ownership of their ICT skills by approaching the digital reality as an integral part of the learning experience. For TONGO, teachers are active subjects in the classroom, on whom rest the responsibility for what, why and how it happens. TONGO seeks to empower teachers so that, through practice, facilitating the ideation and planning of their classes, they make curricula more flexible by designing connected and meaningful learning experiences.

TONGO is a digital interface for teachers that uses creative thinking as a foundation in an easy-to-use form with scientific rigor. By providing a simple guide, TONGO stimulates the development of the teachers' creativity and appropriation of a digital platform while facilitating the design and management of classes that holistically connect the mobilisation of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values.

As a digital interface, TONGO works via a web application that is supported by the interaction between the tools of the application, the online learning experience, examples, formats and templates. In addition, TONGO offers complementary strategies that improve the implementation experience, including:
● Virtual and/or face-to-face creativity courses;
● Learning audiovisual materials;
● Forums where questions and discussion topics are raised to be resolved in a teacher community; and
● Virtual meetings to discuss issues and share doubts, ideas and / or concerns.

TONGO is designed for teachers and tutors of basic and secondary education who want to innovate in their classes, building more creative spaces with a greater impact and meaning, through the connection of the cognitive and metacognitive and the social and emotional dimensions. Initially, it is expected to work with teachers from Colombia, who number around 920,436 (Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares, 2019), but with a view to expanding in Latin America and continuing with Canada, and the United States.

The use of TONGO aims at the comprehensive development of the child and youth population, as well as the development, strengthening and appropriation of creative thinking and digital technology appropriation by teachers.

The idea for TONGO was born from some fieldwork carried out with teachers from the Educational Institution Sebastián de Belalcázar (Medellín, Antioquia) during a process to recognize their needs in the face of the challenge of securing integral development in the educational sessions. Subsequently, a first pilot was developed and a new validation of its use and potential results of the complete method was carried out, with teachers from different parts of the country, of different grades and different subjects, which included, as a prelude, a process of training in creative thinking.

The following needs have emerged from these processes, and our own experience as educators:

●  Difficulty articulating the academic content and developing soft skills at the same time in the classroom, whilst recognizing the teacher’s key role to do so;

●  Lack of having creative tools to design exciting sessions, connected with reality and that transcend the educational space;

●  Strengthening the use of digital technologies; and

●  Having a more efficient class planning, design and management process.

TONGO generates value by attending directly to these needs. For this, TONGO empowers teachers in the exploration and strengthening of their creativity for the design of exciting sessions, connected with reality and that transcend the educational space by facilitating the connection of the cognitive, rational content of the academic knowledge and the development of soft skills as the fundamental basis of any comprehensive learning experience designed using the method. In addition, the project includes complementary resources such as consultancy, courses, templates and forums that allow the teachers to broaden their perspectives and nurture their work with other voices.

On the other hand, TONGO as a web application strengthens the appropriation of digital technologies through a dynamic and simple user experience that allows the development of digital skills in the use of technology tools and interfaces. Additionally, the interface is inspired by recent technological developments, allowing teachers to have an intuitive user experience that allows a recognition of new forms of interaction in the digital world.

Regarding the utility of the TONGO method for the creation of a more connected, integral and impactful learning experience, participants so far have stated that they consider it a very useful tool. For example, Martha, a workshop leader, commented on how she felt using the process: “I liked it, I have been thinking about circular economy for a month and trying to implement this topic in the company, and I wanted to use TONGO to imagine how I would do it. It made me think about a lot of examples, how to deliver a concept to different contexts.” In the same way, Laura, a coordinator of an early childhood education center, said: “I loved it because I found the connections that I didn't think I could find.”

An important result that highlights that the use of the method is not an extra burden for teachers but rather a facilitator that can streamline the design process of classroom sessions, was confirmed with the answers to the question: Do you think using the TONGO method improves the idea and preparation of your class session, workshop, talk? For example, Laura, the coordinator of the children's center answered that it did facilitate her process: “Yes, because I spent 2 to 4 hours planning a session, instead with this method in 1 hour I planned a class, and it was very fluid until which I had to synthesize in more detail, but in 40 min I developed it and before it took me 1 whole day, so I feel that with step by step time is optimized ”. In the same way, Maria Lucia, a high school math teacher, said: “Something similar happens to me, I was going to do this same programming for the Cartesian plane and I have unmotivated ninth-grade students, I didn't do this process before and with it, I was able to enrich a lot and I feel that if I had applied this methodology we would have gotten out of the mess we are in, the demotivation and that we have not handled it well ”.

The TONGO method, through interactive and intuitive tools, creative techniques, guides, templates, formats, among other transmedia content, helps teachers to adapt their pedagogy in such a way that, by strengthening their creativity and skills in the use of digital technology, they can systematically integrate cognitive and metacognitive competencies with social and emotional ones in the classroom.  In addition to inspiring meaningful sessions, TONGO helps teachers connect with the current reality of their learners so that they can create quality learning environments.

The method has been through a process of theoretical validation in which the content and its conceptual support were verified against educational research, existing methods and pedagogies. Afterwards,  the effectiveness of the method was verified through the use of soft models and some virtual sessions where usability and potential results with teachers from different cities in Colombia, that taught different degrees and subjects. This pilot included as a prelude, a training process in creative thinking that was later determined to be a crucial integral part of the method. Finally, TONGO was adjusted and the need for its complete transformation towards a digital platform was identified.  The aim of this prototype phase is to create a minimum viable product of the interface that allows validating the user experience and interaction with the content and the interface.

The main advantage of TONGO is its central component, which is the strengthening and facilitation of the creative process of teachers to make the connection between cognitive and metacognitive skills and social and emotional skills. We consider this process key to guaranteeing comprehensiveness in education and the possibility for the curriculum to be more flexible in its implementation in order to adapt to the contextual needs of its students. Although there are robust platforms that help teachers create virtual courses from their own content, manage course design and administration, including storage, and access templates and methodologies for didactic ideation, these same platforms more than a competition or substitutes can be part of a work ecosystem for the teacher.  The main difference is that TONGO attends a part of the creative process prior to using the platforms mentioned before, which is the process of inspiration, conceptual ideation and connection that results in the content for the sessions that are planned for the classroom.TONGO believes that without a good basic idea, that comes from a narrative thread, that supports, gives meaning and purpose to an educational session, the forms and resources that are used for creating the session can become irrelevant.

The target audience for the Tongo project are the teachers of basic and secondary education, which in Colombia are around 920,436. It is expected to reach 460 new users in the first six months, representing 0.05% of the target audience, and then increase, in the first year, to 0.1% participation (920 teachers) and subsequently grow at a rate of 1% until reaching, in 10 years, 10% of the population of Colombian teachers that would be around 92,000.

Likewise, starting in the second year, we hope to start our penetration strategy in other Spanish-speaking markets such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Spain, initially reaching a participation of 0.1% (2.541) of the basic and high school teachers and 10% (254.142) in 10 years 

By positively impacting 920 teachers in the first year and 63.535 teachers in the fifth year, it will also impact 6.397 children and adolescents by the first year and 1.082.063 children and adolescents by the fifth year.

Data taken from: 

DANE (2019), Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares, 2019

OECD (2021), Teaching staff (indicator). doi: 10.1787/6a32426b-en)

UNESCO (2013), Situación Educativa de América Latina y el Caribe: Hacia la educación de calidad para todos al 2015)

TONGO’s interface design allows the teachers to create their own indicators regarding the learning objectives proposed for the sessions they design. That allows them to measure the students' learning experience and TONGO’s impact. The indicators become statistics for the school, and the government that attends Sustainable Development Goals number 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. 

Further, teachers and schools can measure specifically within this goal:

1. By promoting the connection between the cognitive and social skills in all the subjects, the  schools will be capable of measuring the proportion of children under 5 years of age who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex (4.2.1). 

2. By learning the TONGO method and its courses, governments and institutions will be able to measure the Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex (4.3.1). 

3. By creating an interface that will facilitate the appropriation of the digital tools for teachers, governments and organization will be able to measure the proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill (4.4.1)

TONGO also includes a series of examples of challenges that will support the process of integrating creative thinking competencies for students. The review the impact Tongo will follow the proposed FRAMEWORK FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF CREATIVE THINKING IN PISA 2021.

Full time: 3 (learning experience and content designers)

Contractors: MUVA 3 (digital interface programing and visual design)

The TONGO method was dreamed, designed and created by teachers in love with education, who seek with their work to positively impact society and who believe with all their hearts that giving life to other worlds is possible.

Maria Camila Herrera Palacio

Process Engineer and MBA. She is in love with music, science and neuroeducation.

She has been a professor in the Faculty of Engineering of the EAFIT University and shared her knowledge in projects in rural areas of Antioquia, which includes pedagogical and engineering processes with farmers.

(https://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0001597353): (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-camila-herrera-palacio-6b7a5236/) 

Ana Maria Restrepo Echeverri

Industrial Designer, Marketing Specialist and MBA. She is in love with all expressions of art and language.

She has an experience of more than 10 years working in creative areas and more than 7 leading different types of work teams. She has been an entrepreneur, manager, professor at the Schools of Architecture and Engineering of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and has worked on co-creation projects and the design of products and experiences for culture and education.

Mónica Isabel Gómez Vélez

Environmental Engineer; student of Master of Digital Arts and Humanities at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan; Master of Education Cum Laude mention, with specializations in Creative Intervention, Financial and Tropical Ecosystems Management. She has 8 years of experience as educational consultant and lecturer of creative thinking and sustainability for design and engineering faculties and education. In the last 15 years she has developed various entrepreneurial projects in Colombia, Mexico and Norway.

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicaisabelgomezvelez)

Our team is made up of three women teachers committed to education. We have all worked with different communities, which has allowed us to understand education and its latent needs. Maria Camila, one of the founders, worked for more than five years in education with adult farmers from marginalized areas of Colombia. Mónica Isabel has worked with teachers and students from public and private schools in the city of Medellín. Ana Maria worked on culture and education projects with adolescents in the city of Medellín. The experience of these three founders, accompanied by the feedback from teachers from schools from different economic strata, was combined to create a method that would provide a solution to the needs of teachers.

Our team aims to create a platform that can be accessed by all teachers who want to design their educational spaces combining the cognitive and academic content, with the social-emotional processes and development of soft skills, whilst thinking about the integral education of their students and who want to enhance and work on their creativity.

We believe in the ability of TONGO to transform the classroom into a safe, healthy space, where diversity, equality and inclusion coexist healthily and become foundations for the education of our children.

There are several reasons why we apply to this challenge.

1. Knowledge: Tongo is open to receive all the knowledge that can make it grow and expand to more communities, teachers and students. We believe in the importance of knowledge networks, belonging to SOLVE will give us access to an interdisciplinary group where we can get feedback and guidance from expert peers on education issues and technological platforms to help us improve. 

2. Mentoring: One of the objectives of TONGO is that it can be measurable, for us and each user, in this way we know our audience and the impact our method has, and users will be able to measure the impact on their classes and students. Being part of the MIT and SOLVE community would provide mentorship to create the appropriate indicators.

3. Net: TONGO is a platform in which we would like to embed other platforms that are already designed to plan, measure indicators and generate a flow of shared knowledge, not to create what was created, but to combine it. The MIT and SOLVE network can bring us closer to these platforms to seek synergies.

4. Exposition: Having the possibility of showing our project in the media and conferences can bring us potential investors, contacts and people who believe in our dream and who have the resources (economic, knowledge, human) to help us make it come true.

5. Financial: One of the resources necessary to carry out TONGO is financial, and this call presents the possibility of accessing it.

Financial: Initially we require funding for the minimum viable product. However, business models for social enterprises that impact vulnerable populations should be studied.

Public Relations: TONGO, being a digital platform, will be connected to different platforms, including social networks. Since they are one of the biggest driving forces for brands. By 2020, the most used network was WhatsApp (85% of those surveyed), Facebook (81%), Youtube (70%), Instagram (59%) and Twitter (51%), and finding out (66% of those surveyed) about brands, products and different accounts is one of the main activities (Martínez, 2021). 

Monitoring/Evaluation: One of TONGO's objectives is generating indicators so users can measure their progress and impact. Also, a database will be created for the education community to access information on the impact of fostering creativity in teachers for creating more integral learning experiences. Finally, information needs to be collected for educational research.

Product/Service Distribution: TONGO seeks the creation of an interdisciplinary and global community, where a flow of knowledge helps teachers connect, have ideas and tools for their classes. TONGO dreams of this connection between teachers of different pedagogies, countries, knowledge and ideologies and thus achieving the joint growth of education. So more than a customer database, TONGO looks for members of a global educational community.

Technology: TONGO is a digital platform that requires updates, for maintenance, and responding to market needs and technological advances. This is achieved with the accompaniment of those who work in technology and have the know-how.

One key partner for us is Movemos Marcas (www.movemosmarcas.com), for the design of the platform / web application and its programming, we have the company Movemos Marcas. As a company they support their clients with the strategy, design and technology behind the development of digital products. They have a main focus on supporting the transformation of companies creating visually powerful, measurable and scalable solutions for them. They have experience working with important companies in Colombia such as: Sura, PPG, Arquitectura y Concreto, Cupula S.A, Constructora Conconcreto, Animalista, among others.

Furthermore, they create brands that engage and accompany them from the conceptualization to the development of their visual resources; they design and develop custom websites and applications, aimed at a good user experience and customer acquisition, developed with the best tools; and they tell stories that fall in love through digital animation, ideal for tutorials, launches and startup presentations.

Another key partner is the MIT and several of their faculties that could enrich TONGO with their knowledge and with which we would like to collaborate in the different investigations, this in order to enrich the academy, science and society, some of these faculties are: Brain and cognitive sciences; Institute for Data, Systems and Society; Anthropology: Science, technology and society; and Humanities.

Although TONGO plans to start in Colombia, the USA is a country that can easily include this platform in the professional development programs that benefit primary and secondary teachers. Further, TONGO supports an Equitable Education since its design promotes the development of ICT skills in teachers, and also by design it proposed challenges that teachers can include in their classroom activities that promote digital inclusion by fostering a safe, healthy and nurturing process of digital content creation by students and teachers. 

The US Department of Education mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access (https://www.ed.gov/). Furthermore, a competency definition that we want to highlight due to its impact on the educational policies of the countries in the region is the one proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ”a competence is more than knowledge and skills. It involves the ability to face complex demands, relying on and mobilizing psychosocial resources, in a particular context ”(OECD, 2004 p.3). These competences are compiled in the pillars of education proposed by UNESCO: learning to live together, learning to know, learning to do and learning to be. Tongo's proposal makes it possible to combine these three visions and assume education as a means for each individual to develop fully (Spencer, 1902) and get closer to the possibility of achieving a sustainable society.