INTERNET AND IT IN THE TMAD REGION

A Methodology to Promote their Use by General Communities

Gina M. M. C. Santos, Maria G. A. D. Reis, Nuno M. V. Vieira

Dept. Engenharias / CI, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal

Manuel J. C. S. Reis

Dept. Engenharias / CETAV, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal

Keywords: Teaching/learning strategies; country-specific developments; learning communities.

Abstract: This paper summarises our experience in furthering the use of the Internet and IT by general communities of

northeast Portugal. We discuss the problems and constraints that we faced and the approach taken. Some of

the resources made available and the most relevant results achieved are described and discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 2004 the Portuguese government approved,

through the Operational Programme for the Society

of Knowledge (Programa Operacional para a

Sociedade do Conhecimento), the funding of the

Basic Skills Teaching and Certification project

(Formação e Certificação em Competências Básicas

– FCB). Its goals included motivating and increasing

the general level of awareness of all citizens in the

Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (TMAD) region, in

northeast Portugal, to the potential of Information

Technologies (IT) in general, and the computer and

the Internet in particular, thus lessening and

counteracting the lack of information that existed in

the region at the time.

The project has two main objectives (two

different actions) intended for the general

community: promoting, training and raising

awareness towards the use of IT, and the Internet in

particular; and award a Certificate in Basic Skills in

Information Technologies to individuals.

The need to train, motivate and involve the

community in general towards a correct use of IT

tools entails a number of technical and cultural

difficulties.

The sensitization and preparation to a new

Digital Culture of the TMAD population is the main

aim of the project. To this end two different kind of

actions were implemented: one that teaches and

certificates IT use by individuals (citizens), and

another that only certificates IT use by individuals

that already know how to use it.

Consequently, there exist two different sets of

actions working simultaneously: one of teaching,

where the fundamentals of informatics and IT are

mastered (Fundamentos Gerais de Informática); and

one of certification, where only a final exam is

applied to the individuals (Atribuição de Diplomas

de Competências Básicas).

The new challenges shaped by the Information

and Communication Society demand the preparation

of individuals with the right skills to the moment. So

we have implemented a programme that tries to

teach and certify directors, technicians, public

employees, students, un-employees, and the civil

society in general, trying to democratise the access

to digital information sources and new digital

services. We think that this constitutes an important

contribution to the information society programme,

because without the necessary skills the individuals

cannot use the new digital services and reach the

digital information. In an abstract way, we want to

contribute with the formal validation of basic skills

in IT that may add to a complete exercise of

citizenship.

It is around these problems and the solutions

found to circumvent them that this paper turns.

121

M. M. C. Santos G., G. A. D. Reis M., M. V. Vieira N. and J. C. S. Reis M. (2007).

INTERNET AND IT IN THE TMAD REGION - A Methodology to Promote their Use by General Communities.

In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Society, e-Business and e-Government /

e-Learning, pages 121-128

DOI: 10.5220/0001272101210128

 SciTePress

2 CONSTRAINTS

The physical and human geography of the TMAD

region had a major impact on the project, and in a

sense determined some of the directions that we

followed. The brief outline of the relevant

characteristics of the region is necessary to fully

understand how the project evolved, and the extent

to which it was shaped by the constraints and

challenges raised by the characteristics of the target

region.

The TMAD region is located in northeast

Portugal, and consists mostly of steep hills (slopes

reaching 15%) and narrow valleys that flatten out

into plateaux above 400m. The Douro river dug

deeply into the mountains to form its bed, and the

dominant element of the landscape are the

vineyards, planted in terraces fashioned from the

steep rocky slopes and supported by hundreds of

kilometres of drystone wall. The region includes one

of the most ancient winemaking regions in the

world, and has been recognized by UNESCO as a

World Heritage Site.

Despite its unique beauty, the terraces and steep

slopes of Alto Douro do not contribute to make the

transportation across the region easier. The distances

between towns are usually long, and the roads

connecting them are twisty and difficult to travel,

especially in the winter. It is the vine that drives and

sustains the economic activity in the region, which

remains deeply rural and sparsely inhabited to the

present days. The region covers over 60% of

Northern Portugal, yet it contains only 13% of its

population. The population density of Northern

Portugal is approximately 173 people per square

kilometre, whereas that of the TMAD region is close

to 38. In fact, the least densely populated areas of

the TMAD region average only 10 to 15 people per

square kilometre.

The climate is characterised by the scant rainfall,

long cold winters and very hot summers (“nine

months of winter and three months of hell”). Neither

the climate nor the landscape of the TMAD region

invite human settlement, but their combined

potential for winemaking has attracted people for

centuries. At the present time, however, the region is

no exception to the generalised population decline

and ageing that has been felt in the inland regions of

Portugal in recent years. According to the

Portuguese Institute of Statistics (http://www.ine.pt),

the largest decrease in population in the period

between 1991 and 2001 was registered in the TMAD

region (about 6%). On the other hand, the fraction of

the population aged 65 and over has been steadily

increasing, and in the TMAD region it increased by

more 20% in the same period, in sharp contrast with

the 33% decrease in the age group 0-14. These facts

have further aggravated the isolation in many

communities.

We were aware of these constraints from the start

and soon realised the impossibility of regularly

bringing a large group of citizens to the University

for training sessions. It would have been impossible

to work with the many hundreds of citizens in the

TMAD region in this way.

Being deeply rural, relatively isolated, and with

an ageing population, the communities of TMAD

were largely unaware of the full potential of IT in

general, and the computer and the Internet in

particular. To promote and encourage an effective

use of IT by the community in general, we felt the

need to shift the centre of the training effort from the

University Campus to the communities themselves.

The method that we employed, discussed in the

next section, was shaped by the constraints so far

mentioned, and follows in a natural way from them.

3 METHODOLOGY

Setting-up infrastructures is a relatively simple

process in comparison with their actual usage, since

both the necessary training and the change of habits

that lead to routine usage are the result of slow and

gradual processes.

We decided to centre the training process in the

communities themselves. The methodology

implemented is distributed rather than centralised,

and consists of a series training and awareness

raising sessions.

Bearing in mind some social, economic and

geographic factors that we faced in the TMAD

region and the goals we wanted to achieve, we have

tried a methodology that would allow every citizen

to access the formation and certification sessions.

Consequently, we have contacted the Town Halls

and Board of Villages that have been our partners

during the Trás-os-Montes Digital project (please

visit http://www.espigueiro.pt for details), as well as

some priests that have announced these sessions by

the end of the mass, charitable institutions, fire-

brigade volunteers, recreation and social

associations, medical care centre, prisons (jails),

teachers and schools from the first-cycle of teaching,

etc.. As it can be seen, we have tried to contact as

many as possible different types of institutions, in

order to reach different groups of citizens.

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Although our strategy was also shaped by the

human and physical geography of the region, as

explained in the previous section, it has a number of

other advantages that we now discuss.

One of the advantages is that it allows working

with the people in their “natural habitat”, i.e., in the

places they used to know.

The possibility of increasing or decreasing the

frequency of the training sessions to meet the needs

of each community or to adjust the workload to the

available human resources is another advantage of

the approach. Because the communities have

markedly distinct backgrounds on the use of IT,

there was a pressing need to adjust the schedule of

the training and awareness raising sessions to the

demands, as these varied from one community to the

other.

Because the communities are often located in

remote and sparsely inhabited areas, as it follows

from the human and physical geography of the

region and the population drainage felt in the inland

areas of Portugal in the past years, the training and

awareness raising sessions allow for some outside

contact, thus breaking the daily routine and isolation.

A centralised solution, involving training at the

University campus, would not make that possible.

3.1 Training and awareness raising

sessions

The main goal of the training and awareness raising

sessions is to make the ordinary individual aware of

the potential of the computer and the Internet as a

source of information and knowledge and as a

means of communication. In so doing we are

contributing to the development of an information

society in the TMAD area. Therefore, one of the

noblest objectives of any higher education institution

was accomplished – that of making knowledge

accessible to the community at large.

The “learning-by-doing” approach was present

throughout the whole process, and all sessions were

of a practical nature. According to Georg

Kerchensteiner, “(...) theory comes naturally out of

practice, or rather, both are involved in a process of

continuous reciprocity and exchange (Savioz, 1956,

p. 268)”.

The training and awareness raising sessions were

divided into groups. The type of language, material,

strategies, and so on, employed for each group was,

therefore, adapted to meet its specific needs. These

sessions were supported by Netmobiles

(Netmóveis). A Netmobile consists mainly of two

trainers, one technician and a van, adequately

identified and equipped with twelve laptops, a

printer, a digital camera, a Router, a Hub, a

multimedia projector, a screen projector and a video-

conference system among other equipment. Further

details can be found in (Reis et al., 2002a, p. 1494).

One of our aims, as already been mentioned, was

to promote basic skills training and awareness

raising in informatics, in order to set up some

practice using computers to the general citizens.

These sessions tended to be 12 hours practical

sessions, during the working hours or not, and were

free of charge. The contents usually introduced were

Windows, Word and Internet (Internet Explorer and

Outlook Express). By the end of the sessions a final

exam was applied in order to certify (or not) the

citizens in their Certificate in Basic Skills in

Information Technologies (CBIT).

3.2 Certification sessions

At this stage the emphasis was placed on the training

and awareness raising of the community in general

towards the possibility of obtaining a CBIT

(www.diploma.umic.pcm.gov.pt). This certificate is

part of the national policy towards the increment of

widespread access to IT. The certificate represents

an official recognition of the individual’s acquisition

of skills in word processing, Internet browsing and

the use of e-mail.

These certification sessions have a maximum

duration of one hour, during the working hours or

not. These sessions are intended to certify (or not)

the citizens in their CBIT. Any citizen may apply to

this exam. The citizens that do not pass this exam

can apply to another exam.

During this exam the citizens are asked to answer

correctly all the following questions: create a new

folder in the desktop and rename it; tape, save and

print some given text; browse the internet, search

and print some specific contents; electronic mail –

email (print, read and send messages with and

without attaches).

This exam can only be applied by government

certified entities.

3.3 Other type of sessions

Also using the Netmobiles, the research team

participated in several events organised by the Town

Councils, such as Book Fairs, Home-Grown Produce

Fairs and Arts and Craft events among others. This

enabled further promotion of the computer and the

Internet and their use amongst the community in

general. It should be stressed that the presence of the

INTERNET AND IT IN THE TMAD REGION - A Methodology to Promote their Use by General Communities

123

Netmobiles and their teams in such cultural events

was intended to raise awareness and to familiarise

the communities with the computer and the Internet.

The response was very noticeable, with active

participation of people from all ages and

backgrounds in both the events and the sessions. The

aim was to reach as many people and entities as

possible.

In cooperation with the University of Trás-os-

Montes and Alto Douro university and the project

Utilização Educativa da Internet no Distrito de Vila

Real (Educative use of the Internet in the Vila Real

district) we have organized the Cibersemana (cyber-

week). This activity had a duration of one week, as

the name suggests, in the morning or afternoon, and

was aimed at children raging from 6 to 18 years old.

The children were organized in groups of 10,

according to the following ranges: 6 to 10 years old;

11 to 14 years old; 15 to 18 years old. They were

invited to the University Campus, where they

participated in a set of activities, not exclusively IT

ones, but also guided tours to the Geology Museum,

Veterinary Hospital, and University Gardens. Other

activities also include the Docelândia (a kind of

pastry making), Transformex (where some materials

were transformed), painting, drawing, and some

other basic experiments.

4 RESOURCES

There are some resources developed during the

execution of other projects, namely SCETAD–AEP

project in 2000 (Santos and Reis, 2001), Trás-os-

Montes Digital–AE project in 2001-2003 (Reis et

al., 2002a), and Utilização Educativa da Internet–

UEI in 2003-2005 (Vieira et al., 2005). These

resources were used during the training and

awareness raising sessions, especially the ones

involving teachers and students, but there is also a

resource especially devoted to the general

community, namely the site

http://www.espigueiro.pt/fcb.

In these resources it is included a site intended to

make web browsing easier for teachers in the

TMAD, named “Espiguinha”, and can be found at

http://www.espigueiro.pt/espiguinha. The site

consists basically of a set of links to useful sites and/

or services of interest to teachers and pupils, tutors

and the whole educational community as potential

users. This site was used by teachers and pupils as a

starting point to the web. The site was accessed

more than 673 500 times since its creation in

September 2000. This figure is highly significant

when compared with the total number of teachers

and pupils in the TMAD area — 29 200). The site

contains a series of links organised according to

topics/areas of interest, including “Teacher’s

Support”, “Resource Centre”, “Christmas at

Espiguinha”, “Carnival at Espiguinha”, “Father’s

Day”, “Easter at Espiguinha” and “Mother’s Day”.

In creating the site/link “Teachers’ Support”, for

example, the aim was to compile and gather a series

of links covering the three major study areas of the

first cycle (primary school): Portuguese Language,

Mathematics and Social Studies.

The web site “The Barn of Espiguinha” (Celeiro

do Espiguinha) which can be found at

http://www.espigueiro.pt/celeirodoespiguinha

represents an attempt to develop knowledge and IT

skills, and has been crucial for support teachers,

pupils and parents throughout the educational

process.

Barns were very important in the TMAD region

in bygone years. They were used mainly to store

cereals, which were a major part of the wealth of the

region. The “Barn of Espiguinha” stores information

rather than cereals, and offers a number of activities

useful to teachers and pupils alike.

The goal was to contribute with content which

would enable pupils to learn by playing. The

entertainment is designed to be educational, so that

the pupil might develop skills either with the help of

the teacher in the classroom or with the parents or

tutors at home or anywhere else.

Time constraints to cover the whole curriculum

were one of the most frequent reasons advanced by

teachers for not using the computer and the Internet.

The site meets the requirements of the school

curriculum set by the Ministry of Education, and

renders the task of the teacher easier. The site offers

several activities and interactive exercises that cover

the various study areas in each of the four years of

primary school teaching. It has become extremely

useful to the teachers, who have since contributed to

its updating (Resource Centre). The content

contributed by the teachers includes a set of

worksheets for the pupils.

This site is structured according to a series of

topics of interest to the whole school community,

organised in “pages”. There are pages directed at the

teachers, and pages aimed at the pupils, which

renders the navigation easier for both. The contents,

the approach (pedagogic component) and the

language meets the needs of the readership, either

teacher or pupil. The pages intended for teachers and

those targeted at the pupils may share content, but

that content is likely to be described by distinct

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expressions, such as “exercises” or “games”.

Whereas the word “exercises” draws the teachers’

attention, the word “games” appeals to pupils.

The Barn also allows for the creation of links of

interest for the primary schools—like those in

“Espiguinha”. To encourage the exchange of

experiences, ideas, opinions, etc., among the virtual

community, an opinion forum and the site “e-

@migo” (is-@-friend) was also developed.

Bearing in mind the targeted audience, i.e.,

children aged between six and nine years old, four

characters were created. These characters, which

appear throughout the site, represent the children’s

imaginary world. Empathy between children and the

characters is consequently established. The fact that

the characters have different interests, personalities

and nationalities attempts at making children aware

that being different can actually constitute a positive

and enriching experience.

Given the teachers’ contribution and feedback as

well as the number of accesses, the site “The Barn of

Espiguinha” can certainly be regarded as highly

accepted by the school community. From November

2003 the site has been accessed more than 96 600

times, and the rate of access has been increasing

steadily. The exceptions are the months of July,

August and September during which the number of

accesses falls sharply due to the summer holidays.

Aiming at support and elucidate the general

community of TMAD about the Basic Skills

Teaching and Certification project we have

developed the site http://www.espigueiro.pt/fcb. So,

this site contains introductions about the projects’

objectives, certification and training and awareness

raising sessions in IT, the contents to be learned

during these sessions, the final exam model,

subscription model, contacts, FAQs, legislation,

useful links, etc.. These links are grouped according

to thematic areas.

Also, the handbook “The Internet ABC” (B-A-

B@ da Internet) was written (Reis and Santos,

2002b) to consolidate the topics dealt with in the

training and awareness raising sessions. It presents

the topics in a simple and clear way so that it may

serve as a support tool for teachers, parents and

tutors in their first attempts at using the Internet.

The Internet ABC is divided into three chapters:

The World Wide Web, Electronic Mail and

FrontPage Express. The programs discussed in the

handbook can be downloaded free of charge.

The first chapter defines the Internet, its services

and some of the advantages of using it as an

educational resource. Web browsing with Internet

Explorer 5.0 is also explained with the help of

pictures depicting various functions of the program.

The chapter also includes examples, a set of

exercises and a list of useful addresses.

The second chapter deals with e-mail. It explains

it clearly and concisely and teaches how to use it

through Outlook Express 5. The topics are illustrated

with pictures depicting the functions of the program.

The chapter also contains examples and exercises,

including the use of e-mail with Megamail services.

The third chapter focuses on the use of

FrontPage Express and the construction of web

pages. It makes use of pictorial representations,

illustrating the various commands, menus and steps

that are necessary to create a web page. The chapter

also includes a section on WS_FTP.

5 SOME RESULTS

In order to facilitate the interpretation of the data

that follows, table 1 presents a comparative analysis

of the educational systems in two different countries:

Portugal and United Kingdom. A systematic

representation of how the educational system is

organised in Portugal can be found in

http://www.eurydice.org (EURYDICE, 2003).

5.1 Training and awareness raising

sessions

A vast number of sessions were conducted: 359

training and awareness raising, reaching 4172

citizens from TMAD region. From these 4172

citizens, ranging from 5 to 92 years old, 1133 are

less than 15 years old, 712 are between 35 and 44

years old, and 699 are between 25 and 34 years old

as can be seen in table 2. In what concerns to gender,

2350 were females and 1822 males.

From the grand total of 4172, 3464 have been

succeed in the CBIT, 292 already awarded the

Certificate, 14 are still waiting for identification

documents, 348 were not present in the final exam

or quit and 46 have not been approved in the final

exam. Note that all these 46 citizens have more that

65 years old, and that some cannot even write or

read.

In what concerns to the scholar studies (grade)

we have noticed that 1176 citizens have the 3rd

stage of the first cycle, 941 the 2nd stage of the first

cycle and 849 only the 1st stage of the first cycle

(table 3). As for professional qualifications we may

see, table 4, that 1673 were students, 734 unqualified

workers (that do not have a skilled profession), 227

INTERNET AND IT IN THE TMAD REGION - A Methodology to Promote their Use by General Communities

125

house-wife, 221 administrative personal, and 208

unemployed.

Table 2: Groups or ranges of age.

Less than 15

1133 27,2%

15-19 522 12,5%

20-24 278 6,7%

25-34 699 16,8%

35-44 712 17,1%

45-49 330 7,9%

50-54 199 4,8%

55-64 215 5,2%

Older than 64 84 2,0%

TOTAL 4172 100%

Table 3: Scholar studies (grade).

Less than 4 years

63 1,5%

1st Stage (1st Cycle) 849 20,3%

Stage (2nd Cycle) 941 22,6%

Stage (3rd Cycle) 1176 28,2%

Secondary education 745 17,9%

Diploma or BA/BSc 392 9,4%

Master or PhD 6 0,1%

TOTAL 4172 100%

We have reached 33 councils of the grand total

of 38 in the TMAD region, reaching 190 institutions.

5.2 Certification sessions

Since January 2004 until September 2006 we have

fulfilled 23802 certification exams, and form these

21018 citizens have been succeeded. From the

remaining 2532, 252 are still waiting for personal

identification (such as identity card) and 2532 had

already a certificate or they have failed the final

exam or they have desisted during the exam. From

the 23802 citizens that have applied to the final

exam 13401 have less than 15 years old and 6297

have between 15 and 19 years old (table 5).

In what concerns to the scholar studies (grade)

we have noticed that 9311 citizens have the 3rd

stage of the first cycle, 6781 the 2nd stage of the

first cycle, 1817 only the 1st stage of the first cycle,

and 42 less than 4 years of scholar-ship (table 6).

In what concerns to gender, 12233 were females

and 11569 males.

As for professional qualifications we may see

(table 7) that 20154 were students, 851 unqualified

workers and 636 teachers.

Table 4: Professional qualifications.

Administrative people 221

5,3%

Agriculture and Forestry 117 2,8%

Building construction 135 3,2%

Entertainment 7 0,2%

Firemen 16 0,4%

House-wife 227 5,4%

Medical/ health professional 87 2,1%

Middle range professional 14 0,3%

Others 31 0,7%

Preschool teacher 54 1,3%

Protection and safety 141 3,4%

Qualified professional 48 1,2%

Retired 122 2,9%

Services 173 4,1%

Student 1673 40,1%

Teacher 164 3,9%

Unemployed 208 5,0%

Unqualified professional 734 17,6%

TOTAL 4172 100%

We have reached 46 councils, reaching 570

institutions (primary schools, secondary schools,

recreation and social associations, medical care

centre, prisons (jails), Town-Halls, etc.).

Table 1: Portuguese (PT) and United Kingdom (UK) teaching systems (EURYDICE, 2003).

Years (PT and UK) Æ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Basic teaching

Secondary

teaching

Portugal

Pre-scholar

teaching

1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle

Superior teaching

Years old 3 – 5 = 6 = 10 = 12 = 15 = 18

Primary school Secondary School United

Kingdom

Pre-primary

school

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

Superior teaching

Years old 0 – 5 = 6 = 8 = 12 = 15 = 17

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Table 5: Ranges or groups of ages.

Less than 15

13401 56,3%

15-19 6297 26,5%

20-24 780 3,3%

25-34 1199 5,0%

35-44 1014 4,3%

45-49 486 2,0%

50-54 304 1,3%

55-64 237 1,0%

Older than 64 84 0,4%

TOTAL 23802 100%

Table 6: Scholar studies (grade).

Less than 4 years

42 0,2%

1st Stage (1st Cycle) 1817 7,6%

Stage (2nd Cycle) 6781 28,5%

Stage (3rd Cycle) 9311 39,1%

Secondary education 4738 19,9%

Diploma or BA/BSc 1090 4,6%

Master or PhD 23 0,1%

TOTAL 23802 100%

6 CONCLUSIONS

According to the evidence gathered throughout the

last few years the introduction of IT in the

communities of the TMAD region has been a

success. As far as we can tell, the methodology used

proved to be highly adequate in the achievement of

our goals. The transfer of the training process from

the University Campus to the communities

themselves allowed for a very high degree of

participation. Our efforts to put theory into practice

were rewarded by a quicker rate of acceptance by

the community in general.

The social role of the visits was important, and

grew with the isolation of the communities being

visited. The prompt availability of the trainer and the

ability to support the citizens by telephone, mobile

phone, fax, e-mail or any other means was also an

important aspect.

The methodology discussed may represent a new

concept in training and a new training model highly

suited to regions sharing the characteristics of the

TMAD region.

According to the results obtained during the

teaching and certificating sessions we can see that

people having less than 19 years old are more

motivated to these kind of actions in the informatics

field. Also we note that people under 19 years old

apply directly to the final exam more frequently than

the older ones, which want first the teaching

sessions.

Having in mind the number of schools were

certification and teaching sessions were organized,

approximately 410 schools from the various levels

of teaching, we may say that the schools in the

TMAD region are motivated to promote this actions

close to their teachers, students, and auxiliary

people. We think that by doing so they recognize the

importance of IT.

The use of the Internet, namely of web services

and e-mail, was addressed through various training

and awareness raising sessions (supported by

Netmobiles) directed at the community in general.

Such sessions enabled many individuals in the

region to have their first contact with and experience

of ITs. This constitutes a sound and valuable

contribute in terms of awareness raising, training

and development towards IT in the region.

Several factors played a very important role in

the achievement of these goals: The training team

was always present or could be easily contacted;

There was a continuous exchange of experiences; A

vast number of individuals and entities participated

in the project. As a result, the process appears to

have become self-supporting, and there is already

some evidence that IT would continue to be used in

the schools and communities even if our efforts were

discontinued at this point. Nevertheless, as it is well

known, education is a complex, lengthy and gradual

process, and persistence and more fieldwork may

well be required before the educative use of IT

Table 7: Professional qualifications.

Administrative people 414 1,7%

Agriculture and Forestry 107 0,4%

Building construction 158 0,7%

Entertainment 30 0,1%

Firemen 16 0,1%

House-wife 233 1,0%

Medical/ health professional 94 0,4%

Middle range professional 62 0,3%

Others 53 0,2%

Preschool teacher 91 0,4%

Protection and safety 166 0,7%

Qualified professional 211 0,9%

Retired 114 0,5%

Services 189 0,8%

Student 20154 84,7%

Teacher 636 2,7%

Unemployed

223 0,9%

Unqualified professional 851 3,6%

TOTAL 23802 100%

INTERNET AND IT IN THE TMAD REGION - A Methodology to Promote their Use by General Communities

127

gathers sufficient momentum throughout the entire

TMAD region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Work partially supported by POS_Conhecimento

and FSE.

REFERENCES

EURYDICE – The Information Network on Education in

Europe. [On-line]. Available at

http://www.eurydice.org [visited at 16/12/2003].

Reis, M., and Santos, G., and Teixeira, C., and Vieira, N.,

and Peixoto, S. Internet as a learning tool in the ‘Trás-

os-Montes e Alto Douro’ region. (2002a) In:

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