Authors:
Marcel Vinicius Medeiros Oliveira
;
Jair Cavalcanti Leite
;
Adrião Duarte Dória Neto
;
Pablo Javier Alsina
;
José Ivonildo Rego
;
Izabel Hazin
and
Jorge Tarcísio da Rocha Falcão
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Keyword(s):
Digital and Social Inclusion, Technical Studies, Information Technology, e-Learning.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Computer-Supported Education
;
Domain Applications and Case Studies
;
e-Learning
;
e-Learning Success Cases
;
Interdisciplinary Programs for Distance Education
Abstract:
The development and the economical growth of a State in the sectors of Industry, Commerce (and e-Commerce), and services are directly influenced by the investments on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Emergent countries like Brazil have an extremely large deficit in qualified ICTs employees. Furthermore, despite being the 6th economy in the world, Brazil currently still presents a large number of citizens below the poverty line even after a considerable improvement in recent years. In 2006, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), developed the Digital Metropolis project, whose main objective is to provide means for the creation of a ICT Development Environment in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Currently, the project’s main supporting activity is the Technical Course on Information Technology. In this paper, we describe the activities involving this course, its results and difficulties so far, and the future challenges we aim to face in a very near future.