Institutional Strategy for Digital Education of Tecnológico de Monterrey

Contents

Introduction 01.

Tecnológico de Monterrey, with a legacy of 80 years in higher education, is renowned in Mexico and worldwide as an innovative and cutting-edge institution; part of this distinction comes from its constant commitment to incorporating new pedagogic methodologies and state-of-the-art technology to enrich its educational model.

In line with this vocation for innovation and the use of technology for teaching, the institution has carried out actions for more than 30 years to integrate Digital and Distance Education into its study plans for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs. Throughout this trajectory, it has implemented initiatives for learning in a full distance modality and hybrid and face-to-face plans enhanced by technology.

Considering the challenges and learnings derived from the Covid-19 pandemic and the latest educational trends, Tecnológico de Monterrey has devoted its attention to re-designing an optimal strategy to ensure Digital Education for a brand-new landscape.

This document summarizes some of the first definitions and conclusions regarding this strategy, which will undoubtedly influence institutional actions on Digital Education for years. These guidelines were built from research on the advancements and achievements reached worldwide and from querying the institution’s students, teachers, and administrators. Thus, this document offers a current and future overview of the institutional projects related to Digital Education within the institution.

02.

Background of Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey

To understand the current path defined by the institution, which considers Digital Education as a strategy to enrich the value offering of the teaching-learning process, it is important to recap the experiences lived over more than 30 years of history of this modality, as well as to assimilate the new learnings obtained from the implementation of digital models that ensured academic continuity, as in the case of the Mexico City earthquake in 2017, or the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Although Tecnológico de Monterrey began experimenting with Digital Education in the 1960s through various projects using video technology to teach distance classes, it wasn’t until 1989 that the infrastructure and the organizational structure to promote this modality were formally established.

The following timeline includes the key moments and projects of the incorporation of Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Taking education to new places through classes transmitted via television

Synchronic,100% Online education is offered, breaking through the time and space limits of access to education.

The Hybrid and Flexible Model was designed and implemented in a record time of two weeks to ensure educational continuity after a devastating earthquake in Mexico City

The Flexible Digital Model is designed and implemented to provide educational continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still operating, enriching students’ experience with the latest techno-pedagogical trends.

Universidad Virtual is created to take education to all of Mexico and beyond its frontiers.

Through MOOCs, education is offered to everyone, managing to impact a larger number of students.

The Hologram Professor is implemented to multiply local and distance teachers’ presence.

Thus, for over three decades, Tecnológico de Monterrey has deployed several strategies based on particular approaches and contexts, always seeking to ensure a quality and valuable digital modality for students.

Below are shown some of the circumstances that today allow us to identify 4 key stages of the evolution of this modality:

Focus

Meeting internal teacher training needs and graduate and undergraduate priorities

Organization

A central area is responsible for coordination strategy with Campuses and Schools.

Stage 2

Focus

Strengthening and diversifying the distance modality offering to achieve a greater impact and widen the coverage in external markets

Organization Rectory with autonomy on operation and offering.

Stage 3

Focus

Strengthening hybrid learning and digital experiences for all modalities.

Organization

Various operating and managerial areas, with a central strategy area.

Stage 4

Focus

Deploying digital education at undergraduate and graduate levels through programs, training units, and learning experiences characterized by their quality and innovation, as well as by ensuring added value for the students’ learning.

Education with digital learning experiences throughout student life.

02. Background of Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey

ETAPA 3

These 4 digital education deployment stages brought forth projects and initiatives that highlighted the value of experiences based on the use of technology. To learn more about the history of Digital and Distance Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey, the eBook: “30 años de Educación a distancia y digital en el Tecnológico de Monterrey” is available.

One of the decisive moments in determining the course of the institution’s Digital Education strategy was the challenge of achieving academic continuity in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Historically, the institution has offered full graduate and continuing education programs in a digital modality, as well as undergraduate and high school courses. The following graph shows the impact of this offering up to the year 2021.

Cumulative number of student-person to 2021

Cumulative number of student-course to 2021

Tecnológico de Monterrey’s experience allowed migrating the complete educational offering to a digital modality, accelerating the use of technologies for learning, new educational spaces, and didactic strategies of hybrid modalities in all its course offerings. Several initiatives supported on digital modalities were also deployed to bring students enriching digital learning

experiences replicable in a face-to-face modality.

The following website includes detailed reports about academic continuity at the Tecnológico de Monterrey: innovacioneducativa.tec.mx/publicaciones/ continuidad-academica

02. Background of Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey

03.

Institutional Strategy for Digital Education

3.1. Why a Digital Education strategy?

3.1.1. Trends and current context

Reinventing education is one of the most significant challenges in recent years. To that end, we must traverse innovative trails relevant to the newest realities of students and the work of the future.

One of the most recent inflection points was the 2020 health contingency, which affected not only society from a health standpoint but also in the ways of working, production of goods, and, without a doubt, education. This challenge brought education through digital means to the forefront, and even though an end to the pandemic has been declared and educational institutions have returned to normal, Digital Education has become a learning modality that is here to stay.

A benchmark carried out on seven QS ranking universities, five of which offer 100% face-to-face modalities and two that offer fully online programs, produced the following results observed from these universities’ strategies:

Five universities stated that their students’ experience is face-to-face and seek to take advantage of the learnings from the pandemic to incorporate new pedagogies and technologies.

The digital offering they have incorporated is hybrid (blended) for graduate programs (exploratory stage) and online for Continuing Education. For undergraduate programs, they use digital modules as educational resources.

At the same time, they mention that incorporating a digital offering requires revising and reformulating several aspects, such as the scope of the role of the teacher and its workload, as well as the technological infrastructure.

In their operation model, three universities have a central unit tasked with incorporating educational innovation in educational experiences and Digital Education; two have a dedicated area for the design, teaching, academic management, and incorporation of educational innovation in educational experiences and Digital Education. They drive top-down and bottom-up innovations. They report to the presidency or rector’s office.

Five universities have pedagogues experienced in the use of technology who advise teachers involved in distance modality courses. Other roles, such as audiovisual producers and tutor teachers, are involved based on the project’s scope. Two universities include web developers, multimedia developers, platform specialists, and administrative roles (attraction, marketing, alliance development, IT support) for fully online programs’ design, teaching, and academic management.

From the above, we can conclude that universities are moving toward integrating Digital Education to democratize education and offer alternatives toward new markets and as a strategy to prepare students and teachers for experiences and competencies that the future world will demand.

3.1.2. Learnings from the Pandemic

Tecnológico de Monterrey was the first Mexican university to declare a contingency for its academic community. To face it, innovative strategies were implemented based on specialized technologies and pedagogy, making efficient use of the available resources.

After a week of preparation and suspension of academic activities for students, the institution resumed classes through a Flexible Digital Model (August-December 2020). This model allowed the institution

to shorten the distance and maintain collaboration and communication. Above all, it facilitated academic continuity to ensure that students and teachers could resume classes and enjoy the best experiences despite a complex situation in a national and international context. For the February 2021 period, and with a partial reopening of campuses, the HyFlex + Tec Model was implemented, which combined real-time participation between distance and on-site students through information technologies. From this model emerges the Hybrid Synchronous Modality (August-December 2021), in which, in addition to repurposing classrooms for this modality, there was a thorough follow-up process for all the sessions carried out under this modality at a national level.

These modalities allowed the institution to achieve academic continuity while maintaining the quality of its programs. Below are some of the best practices implemented during the pandemic:

The evolution of classroom technology. Updating teacher training resources based on incidents detected during sessions. Integrating institutional information bulletin boards to keep track of performance indicators when teaching digital modalities.

Participation from the Tec community in implementing the project.

Decentralization of functions to streamline processes: local “buddies” (people who support teachers during sessions) coordination on campus to maintain closer communication and resolve incidents as they happen, as well as the availability of digital training resources for “buddies” to make training times more flexible, available for consultation at any time.

3.1.3. Institutional vision

Tecnológico de Monterrey Vision Leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship for Human strengthening.

Three main pillars support the institutional vision:

These practices allowed for maintaining the quality and attention of students, as well as strengthening teacher performance.

For more information, consult the academic continuity reports in the Educational Innovation at Tecnológico de Monterrey digital space.

Internationalization: To be a more global institution.

Research: To be a university with more research to create knowledge and social solutions and to develop new entrepreneurship projects.

Innovation: To be an innovative university that prepares its students to meet the challenges they will face in an increasingly digital and ever-changing world.

Considering the three pillars that support Tecnológico de Monterrey’s vision, as well as the demands of the near future for universities to be a part of an interconnected global citizenship, and the learning obtained during the pandemic in terms of educational methodologies, technology use, and teaching competencies, the need arises to redefine the course of Digital Education.

3.2. Which questions are we looking to answer?

The first step was to pose a series of questions that could allow us to define what, what for, and how to implement Digital Education.

Question Answer 1

What is Digital Education, and what are its components?

Description of main elements of Digital Education that define an excellent experience throughout the student’s journey.

Identification and examples of best practices and market trends.

2

What are the diagnostics for Digital Education elements at Tec de Monterrey?

Mapping of starting point and the current situation at Tec de Monterrey.

Identification of main strengths and opportunities for Digital Education. 3

Why do we want Digital Education, and which actions are required to improve our current offer?

Definition of “what for” regarding Digital Education and alignment with Tecnológico de Monterrey’s strategy.

Proposal of strategic projects to integrate Digital Education throughout the student’s journey to ensure a quality experience of high value for learning.

4

How can we define the training programs and units to offer in a digital modality?

Guiding principles to define eligibility of training units and programs to be taught in digital modalities.

Framework proposals to determine eligibility.

5

What are the main implications and enablers of the strategic actions?

6

How can we have continuing education?

Construction of a project implementation roadmap to deploy Digital Education, including activities, milestones, timelines, and impact and follow-up metrics.

Definition of an operational model for adequately implementing the strategy: organization, communication, and followup.

Construction of an innovation framework to generate digital experiences that could improve learning.

3.3. Data collection

To gain a strategic vision, as well as the guidelines and orientation to define the future of Digital Education within the institution, a steering committee made up of strategic areas of the Tec as well as the current leaders of Digital Education was integrated.

To know the current state of the institution and to obtain information regarding the experiences and expectations of its various stakeholders, the following actions were carried out, having the participation of six Schools and 26 campuses:

1. Personalized interviews with teachers and administrators.

2. Focus group with graduate and undergraduate students, teachers, administrators, strategy teams, and parents.

3. Survey with a sample of over 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

4. Work session with the management committee.

5. Benchmark, research analysis, and best practices from other higher education institutions.

Findings

From the analysis of the information collected, the main findings are the following:

1. Integration of Digital Education in the university

The digital modality is positioning itself as a crucial element in universities that traditionally offer face-to-face programs when it offers added value for students.

The mix of digital modalities preferred by students and teachers is 80% face-to-face and 20% digital.

2. Expectations of application of Digital Education by students and teachers

Flexibility is highly valued in the last third of undergraduate programs and throughout the entirety of graduate programs.

Digital learning experiences should be distinctive for integrating high-quality content, multimedia and virtual reality resources, accompanied by a didactic active learning strategy.

Students expect digital learning experiences to help them personalize their journey.

The teaching and design of digital learning experiences must meet quality criteria and be implemented with the appropriate processes, educational spaces, and structures.

An essential element for the success of digital learning experiences is having a faculty with the appropriate teaching and digital competencies.

3. Comparison between distance, hybrid, and face-to-face modalities

Research carried out by the Institute for the Future of Education, in which the learning benefits and the students’ perception of face-to-face, hybrid, and distance courses during the pandemic were compared, found the following:

1. Although there are differences among the three modalities, it is not possible to assert that students learn more in one modality over the other. Further research is needed to determine the influence of the various teaching practices in their learning process.

2. Students favorably perceive the three modalities analyzed since they reported that none hindered their learning process.

3. No statistically significant differences were found between the students’ perceptions for the categories of positive emotions, negative emotions, learning community, and teaching process. However, there were statistically significant differences in the social relationships and learning process categories favoring the face-to-face modality.

3.4. Definition of Digital Education

From these findings and after meetings with the Management Committee, the following definitions were reached:

At Tecnológico de Monterrey, Digital Education is the intentional, systematic, and conscious application of innovative techno-pedagogies on digital learning experiences generated throughout the student’s journey. Digital Education goes beyond distance courses, as it also integrates digital learning experiences into face-to-face courses and various moments of the student life, in which the student learns using technology.

Vision

Tecnológico de Monterrey will be nationally and internationally renowned for its leadership in quality Digital Education.

To this end, we must ensure the best technology-based digital learning experiences that can offer value to the learning of all students throughout their student life.

Strategic objectives

To be renowned for its quality education

By developing disciplinary, transversal, and digital competencies and creating agents of change that transform society by leveraging pedagogical innovations based on technology.

To strengthen and increase the digital learning experiences within the Tec community

By enriching the student experience and creating memorable experiences in physical and digital ecosystems, achieving an integral experience.

To offer a personalized digital learning experience

Flexible and convenient to students during the teaching-learning processes, leveraging technological tools throughout their whole journey.

To expand its global presence

By widening the scope through our new digital products adapted to different markets and generating digital learning experiences with teachers, students, training partners, and national and international companies.

To foster inclusivity and accessibility

By creating and increasing educational opportunities for multiple population segments, adapting education to students’ various contexts and needs across all campuses, applying digital solutions.

3.5. Strategic projects

To deploy the new Digital Education strategy in the institution, 10 strategic projects were designed:

1. Defining the offer of programs, training units, and digital learning experiences with international quality standards

2. Having a faculty with teaching and digital competencies, as well as ensuring the necessary processes, tools, and support to teach class in digital modalities.

3. Designing and enabling the conditions on each campus to offer digital learning experiences in digital modalities.

4. Enriching each student’s educational experience by including the best pedagogical innovations through digital solutions.

5. Enabling experiences and unique national and international collaboration networks through digital technologies.

6. Personalizing the academic path and global educational resources according to the needs of each student.

7. Using digital education solutions, offering processes for leveling, evaluation, feedback, and training to enter the workforce.

8. Fostering accessibility and inclusion through digital education solutions.

9. Offering students timely and personalized feedback through educational technology.

10. Expanding the educational offering and digital products.

These projects were prioritized to be deployed in stages, thus ensuring that focus could be given to the more important needs. The four projects defined to start the deployment of the strategy were the following:

Planning and building a portfolio that integrates learning experiences, face-to-face, mixed, and distance training units and academic programs in digital modalities.

Supporting teachers to develop the necessary competencies to deploy the portfolio of training units, programs and digital experiences offerings.

Choosing the technologies and innovative educational solutions that would ensure the learning processes and the delivery of the experience.

Designing and implementing the spaces and processes enabling this Digital Education in all Tecnológico de Monterrey’s campuses.

04.

Deployment of the strategy

Introduction

This axis will allow the Tecnológico de Monterrey to be an institution with a multimodality educational offering renowned for its quality and innovation, integrating Digital Education as a valuable element for its educational model, ensuring that all students can live different experiences throughout their journey in which they learn using relevant techno-pedagogical solutions.

The deployment of the new digital education strategy starts with the first definitions that will guide the actions to be carried out in the coming years. These are described in the following sections.

Undoubtedly, educational innovation is the central axis that drives the design and implementation of initiatives and impact.

4.1. Teaching modalities at Tecnológico de Monterrey

Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey is deployed both through digital learning experiences throughout the student’s journey, and through academic and LiFE training programs, in training units (TU) / face-to-face modality courses, and training units /digital modality courses, blended or distance, as shown in the following figure.

As a starting point, digital learning experiences were defined, as well as the various teaching modalities the institution offers to carry out the teaching-learning process and tend to the purposes of their academic programs.

Digital learning experience

A digital learning experience is the result of technology-mediated activities that offer students the opportunity to develop or strengthen competencies. This experience can be (or not) intentional, systemic, and planned and occur in any environment or context.

Teaching modalities

They are the modalities the institution offers to carry out the teaching-learning process and fulfill the purposes of its training programs.

Face-to-face modality

Modality in which students and teachers/trainers interact in real-time and coincide physically in the same learning space (classroom, laboratory, workshop, among others) both in learning experiences throughout the journey, and in the training units/courses from an academic or LiFE training program.

Digital modalities

Mixed modality Distance modality

Modality in which students and teachers/trainers devote part of the contact time to face-to-face synchronous interaction in the same physical space and the rest to distance interaction mediated by technology (synchronous or asynchronous). It is relevant that both environments (face-to-face and distance) are planned to be connected and not excusive to provide an integral learning experience.

Students and teachers/trainers interact exclusively in digital environments synchronously or asynchronously.

Modalities of delivery of training units / courses

Besides the definitions of teaching modalities, below are shown the modalities of delivery present in the various training units/courses that make up the academic and LiFE training programs.

Face-to-face modality

Courses are designed for an experience in real-time in the same physical learning space. It is enriched with digital learning experiences.

Course that intentionally integrates technopedagogical solutions for an experience that combines interconnected face-to-face and distance moments (synchronous or asynchronous).

Digital modalities

Course that intentionally integrates technopedagogical solutions for an experience fully in real-time using technological videoconference tools.

Course that intentionally integrates technopedagogical solutions for an experience in a fully digital environment without the need to meet in realtime.

4.2. Premises for the deployment of Digital Education at Tecnológico de Monterrey

Tecnológico de Monterrey is a higher education institution that integrates Digital Education permanently and intentionally to enrich the educational experience throughout the student’s journey. Some of the premises that make it possible to achieve this objective are the following:

Digital learning experiences are guaranteed, sufficient, and permanent to assure mixed and distance modalities and enrichment of face-to-face modalities.

Digital learning experiences are characterized by meeting quality standards that ensure the relevance and value of the students’ learning.

The institution has the appropriate processes and tools to enable digital learning experiences.

The digital learning experiences that enrich the face-to-face experience and the relevant training units to be taught in digital modalities are designed according to the academic curriculum.

4.3. Scope of the strategic programs

The general scope of this first stage of the Institutional Strategy for Digital Education is shown in the following figure. The portfolio of digital learning experiences, courses, and programs with digital modalities is defined as the center of the strategy since it will integrate all the implementation moments of digital education throughout the entire

student’s journey. From the portfolio, we can then define the teachers’ competencies and profile needs, the technology conducive to an innovative digital experience, and the technology spaces and the processes that must be enabled on campuses to create digital learning experiences.

General scope of the Institutional Strategy for Digital Education

Advisory committees were created, comprised of the Department of Educational Innovation and Digital Learning, representatives from the Schools, and representatives from various areas at a national level, for the design, development, and deployment of the strategic projects. Their mission is to make proposals that are jointly analyzed, reflected on, and submitted to a vote until the committee reaches a consensus. Afterward, the decisions are validated with relevant areas and roles from the institution, who serve as strategic advisors.

4.3.1. Project 1: Portfolio of digital learning experiences, courses, and programs in digital modalities

Objective

To define the institutional framework that will guide the deployment of Digital Education in undergraduate and graduate programs by constructing a portfolio that integrates training units (TU), programs, and digital learning experiences characterized by their quality and innovation and for ensuring an added value to learning.

General scope of the project 1

Guidelines and premises to guide Schools through the deployment of Digital Education.

Criteria to integrate digital learning experiences into study plans and the student’s journey.

Quality criteria to design, teach and operate Digital Education.

Quick hits or pilots to try out innovative techno-pedagogies in undergraduate and graduate programs.

Milestones that will allow achieving the project’s objective

Definition of guidelines and premises that could guide Schools to deploy digital education through digital learning experiences, training units, and academic programs for undergraduate and graduate programs.

Development of a framework that allows, from a curriculum structure, the identification of the eligible TU for digital modalities according to their relevance, quality, and value of the modality for the learning of each academic program for undergraduate and graduate levels.

Development of a framework to define the eligibility of graduate academic programs that can be offered in digital modality, according to their relevance, quality, and value of the modality of said program.

Elaboration of criteria (framework) that ensure the planned, conscious, and intentional integration of digital learning experiences within study plans and throughout the student’s journey.

Definition of quality criteria to guide the design of training units and digital learning experiences and their teaching and operation under digital modalities.

Construction of a training unit, digital learning experiences, and digital programs portfolio that could enrich students’ experience throughout their journey. This portfolio, from the planning stage, will meet the quality and innovation criteria to provide added value to our undergraduate and graduate students’ learning.

Analysis of pain points and distinctive elements of the digital modality to propose a series of quick hits or pilots to try out innovative techno-pedagogies that enrich the experience of undergraduate and graduate students.

a.

b.

c.

d.

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04. Deployment of the strategy

4.3.2. Project 2: Teaching competencies for the teaching-learning process

Objective

To define the teaching and digital competencies and align them with the faculty development plan to ensure the teacher’s profile and the processes that support the correct application of digital learning experiences

General scope of the project 2

Institutional teacher development plan

Milestones that will allow achieving the project’s goal

Documentation of the current state of teaching and digital competencies, internally and externally:

i. Tecnológico de Monterrey’s current state.

ii. Current state of various frameworks of international digital teaching competencies.

Diagnostic instruments of digital teaching competencies:

i. Self-diagnostic: to know the level of mastery of digital teaching competencies.

ii. Focus groups: to validate the pain points and obtain qualitative information on the self-diagnostic.

Report of the level of mastery of the teachers’ digital competencies based on the analysis of the results from the diagnostic instruments and the report of teaching training of the base courses during the February-June 2023 period.

Digital teaching competencies aligned with the teacher development plan, level of intervention, and implementation prioritization.

Training experiences of digital teaching competencies to be designed and

developed to enrich the current teacher training plan.

Training (courses, resources, or digital learning experiences) that teachers who design and implement digital learning strategies must develop or accredit, aligned with the faculty’s development and wellbeing model.

Accreditation process of digital teaching competencies.

Evaluation and follow-up process for the implementation.

Communication plan of the digital teaching competencies.

Model for teacher accompaniment to develop digital teaching competencies.

The project’s efforts and the expected results are closely aligned with the portfolio project, since their definitions, along with the data obtained from the various diagnostics instruments, will allow the definition of the digital teaching competencies and the training aligned with the institution’s training plan. Likewise, it relates to the rest of the initiative’s projects since training will integrate what teachers from the institution require to know, use, or master regarding the use of spaces and the definition of innovative digital learning experiences.

4.3.3. Project 3: Digital learning experiences and innovative technologies

Objective

To define the technology requirements for the needs stated in the Digital Education strategy portfolios, ensuring that the functional areas and enabling processes can focus on and prioritize analyzing, validating, updating, and incorporating technologies relevant to digital learning experiences within digital or face-to-face TU. It would also ensure that innovative solutions can be integrated into these needs stated in the portfolio, guaranteeing cuttingedge digital education.

General scope of the project 3

of the student’s learning process, be it in face-to-face and digital courses/TU and other practice sessions, laboratories, communities, etc.

Focus of Project 3 of the DE Strategy

the delivery of digital experiences, as well as the enabling of these experiences in the

Focus on other processes and projects outside of the DE Strategy

Milestones that will allow achieving the project’s goal

Definition of technology, digital services, and educational spaces requirements for their application in digital learning experiences within the student’s teachinglearning process, be it for digital or faceto-face courses or TU of 2019 and 2026 undergraduate and graduate programs.

i. Inventory of technology, digital services, and spaces that currently exist in the institution to support the teachinglearning process.

ii. Integration of current needs and pain points to enrich digital and face-to-face modalities of undergraduate (2019 plan) and graduate programs.

iii. Identification and selection of educational trends based on technologies, digital services, and educational spaces for their future application in digital learning experiences.

iv. Catalogue of technology and digital services requirements for 2019 and 2026 undergraduate and graduate programs.

Follow-up to the implementation plan of technologies, digital services, and educational spaces solutions defined by the functional areas and enabling processes.

The innovative digital learning experiences project is closely linked with the various projects defined in the Institutional Strategy for Digital Education, as they will provide support to define, select and integrate the technological solutions relevant to the needs stated in the portfolios defined in Project 1 for their incorporation into the digital learning experiences, as well as for the definition of the digital solution training strategies for teachers in Project 2, and the enabling of campuses spaces of Project 4.

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04. Deployment of the strategy

4.3.4. Project 4: Campus enabling for digital learning experiences

Objective

To design and enable the necessary conditions of each campus to offer digital learning experiences, as well as the general processes of innovation management and incorporation.

The campus enabling project supports the rest of the projects to deploy the offer of predefined training units and digital learning experiences, providing the faculty with virtual and physical spaces with the appropriate technology and software for the learning process.

General scope of the project 4

Catalog of technologies, software and spaces for classes/TU that enable digital learning experiences

Catalog of transversal spaces to support learning

Catalog and plan of spaces deployment

Spaces for face-to-face learning. Other spaces

Focus of the initiative

Process to innovate with technologies and evolve the catalog

The educational spaces for digital modalities are environments designed to encourage active, experiential, and memorable learning in students. The use of educational spaces enriches the digital experiences when required, for example:

Prototype design.

Laboratory practice.

Use of specialized equipment.

Interaction activities among students that require a face-to-face experience.

Social presence of the teacher when he’s based on a different campus than their students.

Humanizing the distance experience.

Milestones that will allow achieving the project’s objective

Documentation of the current state of tools, software, and spaces with technology to enable digital learning experiences on campuses.

Process of adoption and enabling integral solutions (space, technology, operation, and resources) of each campus’ digital learning model.

Digital learning experiences deployment plan in the campuses’ spaces with technology.

Current state of the implementation of enabling spaces with technology, tools, and software on campuses.

Evaluation process of the implementation of integrated solutions on campuses.

04. Deployment of the strategy

05.

Where we are headed

There are multiple aspects each university must consider when designing a Digital Education strategy for the future. Tecnológico de Monterrey has redefined its strategy based on the context, learnings, previous experience, and greater knowledge of the needs and expectations of students, teachers, administrators, employers, and parents.

However, beyond each institution’s internal actions, Digital Education can be a bridge between various institutional strategies to create a regional-global training platform. This opportunity to create content, collaborations, exchanges, and joint projects to tend to the training needs of different markets throughout their life is a topic that can be addressed by creating interinstitutional networks supported by using technologies and strategies based on digital modalities. Furthermore, the result can be enriched through continuous work with other social sectors to help identify and narrow down answers to different training opportunities.

Digital Education has the potential to be a lifelong tool, but it would be severely limited if this approach only came from internal

proposals from each institution. The value of the proposals would only be realized when built collaboratively. We must leverage learning and take advantage of the fact that geographic limitations have vanished, and we can have a “global virtual university.”

On the other hand, incorporating educational technology to enable innovative didactic strategies is part of Tecnológico de Monterrey’s essence. The knowledge acquired over decades in digital educational experiences, in addition to what was learned during the transformation of teaching during the pandemic, has been a catalyst to enrich the digital learning experiences of our students from various perspectives. The traditional face-to-face courses will integrate digital experiences to generate deep, lasting, and valuable learning for each student. Because of this, the different teaching modalities (enriched face-to-face, hybrid, and online) will integrate organically into the institution’s educational offering.

Nowadays, we know that digital learning experiences are actually “multi-experiential”: they occur in the classroom, but also in industry, in the community, at home, at a physical or virtual laboratory, as well as in immersive spaces with extended reality, including Tec Virtual Campus, Tecnológico de Monterrey’s educational metaverse. This variety of experiences allows for the generation of significant learning for the student, applicable to multiple contexts.

The vanishing of borders represents an opportunity for those students who couldn’t study at the institution to do so now. This globalization will also allow our faculty to share their knowledge with students from other countries and work on collaborative projects with peers from other educational institutions and the industry in general through virtual environments. Collaboration between higher education institutions, businesses, and organizations will be vital in transforming education.

Likewise, integrating artificial intelligence and using learning analytics to make decisions will be handy tools to improve teaching-learning processes. Thanks to adaptive technology and planned and effective didactic strategies, instruction will focus more on the personalization of learning based on the student’s experience, grades, curriculum, and interests, among other essential aspects to enrich their education. Individualization and personalization could include different paths for each student, different contents, different tests, and even different formats to gather learning evidence based on the student’s needs.

At Tecnológico de Monterrey, we are convinced that quality training should not be only face-to-face but that Digital Education must be formally integrated into the educational offering to enrich the learning experience of our students and ensure deep, lasting learning for them.

06.

What challenges and opportunities will there be in education?

The future of Digital Education represents not only the opportunity of assimilating and integrating all the new technologies on the market but also an opportunity for education experts to design innovative solutions, pedagogically relevant and that consider technology not as an end but as a means to enhance experiences and accelerate personalized and flexible learning processes.

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08.

Credits and acknowledgments

This publication was created by Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Department of Educational Innovation and Digital Learning of the Office of the Vice-Rector for Educational Innovation and Academic Regulations, the Executive Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, Finance, and Internationalization.

Executive Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, Finance and Internationalization: Ignacio de la Vega García

Vice-Rector for Educational Innovation and Academic Regulations: Joaquín Alejandro Guerra Achem

Department of Educational Innovation and Digital Learning: Elsa Beatriz Palacios Corral

Department of Digital Education: Maribell Reyes Millán

Department of Pedagogic Design and Architecture: Myriam Villarreal Rodríguez

Department of Digital Continuing Education: Noemí Villarreal Rodríguez

Department of Innovation and Learning Experiences: Laura Patricia Aldape Valdés

Department of Strategic Planning: Silvia Catalina Farías Gaytán

Department of Content Dissemination and Channels: Norma Angélica Lara Uribe

Contents Editing: Alfonso de León Medina

Editing and proofreading: Perla Téllez Garza

Graphic Design: Lucía Elizabeth Villanueva Vázquez

Document editing and coordination: Ana Margarita Fuster Montiel

For their valuable contribution to the Institutional Strategy for Digital Education, we extend special thanks to the strategic advisors, advisory committees, leaders, and the main and support teams of the Strategy. All of them actively participate in the definition, design, enabling, and scope of the initiatives, to ensure the best digital experiences that offer value to the learning of all students.

Amanda Gabriela Ortíz Terrazas

Ana Gabriela Rodríguez Mendoza

Aramis Arturo Meza Lara

Blanca Ruth Benavente Vázquez

Carla Victoria Ramírez López

Carmen Verónica Ortiz Torres

Carolina Ramírez García

César Alberto Núñez López

Claudia Erika García López

Cynthia Elena Elizondo Alanís

David Garza Salazar

Diana Beatríz Estrada Beltrán

Eder Estrada Villalba

Elia Esther Mendoza Carabeo

Emmanuel Arturo González Anaya

Ezequiel García Béjar

Fernando Reyes Pedroza

Gabriela Sánchez Castillo

Gonzalo Reza Jiménez

Guillermina Rivera Hernández

Héctor Jacobo Ríos Quiroz

Ileana Alejandra Ochoa Arias

Ingrid Gabriela Benavides García

Jaime Fernando Dorantes Cabrera

Joaquín Acevedo Mascarúa

José Alberto Herrera Bernal

José Antonio González Orta

José Antonio Rentería Salcedo

José Carlos Miranda Valenzuela

José Humberto Cantú Delgado

José Rafael López Islas

José Vladimir Burgos Aguilar

Juan Carlos Enrríquez Gutiérrez

Juan David Jasso Zermeño

Juan Manuel Novoa Ramírez

Juan Pablo Murra Lascurain

Juan Pablo Nigenda Álvarez

Karla Margarita Banda Martínez

Laura Esther Zapata Cantú

Laura Patricia Zepeda Orantes

Leticia Castaño Sánchez

Lorena Quilantán García

María de los Ángeles Domínguez

Cuenca

María del Socorro Jaqueline Marcos

Marcos

María Robertha Leal Isida

María Vianney Martínez González

Mark Williams Wood Caballero

Martha Elena Moreno Barbosa

Mónica Gabriela Duarte Domínguez

Odila Nathaly Garza Ayala

Olaf Ramiro Román Jiménez

Olga Rosi Ballin Bernal

Oscar Alberto Bojórquez Gutiérrez

Óscar Gerardo Barraza Lanzarín

Rafaela Diegoli

Ramón Eduardo Rodríguez Medina

Raquel Minerva Castaño González

Raúl Rubén De Santiago Contreras

Rebeca Elizabeth Alvarado Ramírez

Rosario Urzúa Soto

Silvia Lizett Olivares Olivares

Verónica Alejandra Pérez Aguirre

Victor Eduardo Gutiérrez Aladro

Yara Elena Rivera López

Yolanda Domínguez Medina

Vicerrectoría Ejecutiva de Asuntos Académicos, Facultad e Internacionalización del Tecnológico de Monterrey

© Tecnológico de Monterrey, México, 2023

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