Notes from my first day at Porvir

My project at Porvir is to create a compilation of the “top 100” innovations in education. Many of these articles will come from existing publications from the website and sources that we are already familiar with, but my job will also be to search new sources for developments in this field. Porvir is already a respected source for education news and innovation in Brazil, but we are working to gain international recognition and make global partnerships. The goal of this publication is to share with an international audience at a world-wide conference on education in Qatar this November.

The first step in this project is to develop an action plan for my eight weeks at Porvir, and beyond. Tomorrow, I will go over the existing sources and begin to scan the articles that have recently been published on the site. My role as an English speaker will also be helpful in finding many sources that the existing Porvir team may not be aware of… although most of them either speak or are learning English as well!

I’ve already delved into the online education world, but even after four hours of serious web-surfing, I feel like I have just touched the surface of this vast world. There are many sources and innovations taking place all over the world. The challenge will be to collect this information in a way that will be organized, visually comprehensible and coherent to the topic of the research. Anna made note for me to keep in mind that “Top 100” should not be a hierarchical categorization, but actually a representation of the variety of forms that innovation can come in. The pieces selected for the publication are not devaluing those that were not selected. This is where the process of categorization for the series of pieces selected will be very important so that the project is cohesive as a whole.