Self-Development on campus: A case study on MIL Development in Teacher Education in Colombia.

Abstract

To address the human capital and education challenges of today’s societies, Colombia needs to train citizens capable of generating changes in a globalized society where information and media are key. A research project aimed at providing MIL training to teachers was proposed by the Corporación Unificada Nacional de Educación Superior (Unified National Corporation of Higher Education) - CUN, a representative educational actor that provides access to tertiary education at a national level (both online and face-to-face). The objective of the project was to improve actions regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strengthen knowledge networks among actors involved in training processes in different regions of the country that have been affected by years of violence. This article reports a case study on a first-time experience launched in 2017. The experience aimed to establish—through the application of a mixed approach online survey—the potential and limitations of MIL on the different university campuses and respond to the training needs of teachers through the design of an MIL teacher training course. The results showed that MIL has numerous possibilities in the regions in terms of individuals’ self-development and teacher qualification. Although the surveyed teachers were unaware aware of this, their answers demonstrated skills related to MIL. This indicates that increasing MIL teacher training at the university level can result in better organizational culture and better teaching practices among the CUN community. Currently, these first analysis outcomes are being applied in the Bogotá campus to create an MIL training course and formulate an MIL institutional policy.