MIT Solve

Solution overview

Our Solution

Ergative, Systems Engineering, and Programming Skills

Tagline

Students can learn the foundation of systems engineering and computer programming skills by means of utilizing the methods presented here.

Pitch us on your solution

Problem:

A gap between skills and the demand for skilled labor in Latin America.

Latin America has a variety of indigenous communities that are often at a greater disadvantage than the country in Latin America or the Caribean.

Solution:

Offering online education to indigenous people. Specifically, the goal is to use the aspect of the ergative found in many indigenous languages as a means to teach technology based on something the students are already familiar with.

Systems engineering and programming skills are the main technologies that would be taught. The goal is to bridge the gap in computer skills by means of online programs that teach systems engineering and basic programming skills.

This will enlighten children with the ability to program as well as create jobs.

What is the problem you are solving?

In terms of Latin America, the skills gap in Argentina, Peru, and Columbia alone is estimated at affecting 62.5 million people. However, the demand for technology skills is part of the equation. The greater demand increases the likelihood of a skills gap. Less demand decreases the probability of a gap.

As mention in an article in MIT Technology Review "The Myth of the Skills Gap", some of these skills are actually verbal skills needed at jobs such as those found in software support centers and so on(https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608707/the-myth-of-the-skills-gap/).

Rural areas often having greater difficulty providing high technology education; whereas, urban areas tend to have universities and colleges that provide this type of education.
As will be shown in the link provided, the goal is to actually use rural settings as a resource for closing the skills gap.

Who are you serving?

The main population would Latin American elementary schools, especially schools in the Native American communities. The goal is to work with the need to have the necessary job skills for the technology industries. For the Native American communities, this would accomplished with courses presented using the cultures use of the ergative in their languages. The ergative can be used to teach aspects of systems engineering and computer programming.

What is your solution?

-Teaching HTML by means of tangible letters and characters that can be placed on a table as layout for the code for a website. The children would then see what their site would look like based on the code they created with plastic letters on a table.

Other methods introduced as a means to closing the skills gap:

-Using the ergative found in many Native American languages to create a means to explain agent in native languages.

-Using technology found in systems engineering in order to introduce systems engineering to early learners.

-Using alternative energy sources found in rural regions. For example, Costa Rica is 100% powered by alternative energy, Mexico has the largest geothermal plant in the America.

-Using manufacturing technology for factory workers as a bridge to understanding and gaining information technology skills.

Select only the most relevant.

Deploy new and alternative learning models that broaden pathways for employment and teach entrepreneurial, technical, language, and soft skills
Provide equitable access to learning and training programs regardless of location, income, or connectivity throughout Latin America and the Caribbean

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

Our solution's stage of development:

Prototype