In Global Peace Through The Global University System

2003 Ed. by T. Varis, T. Utsumi, and W. R. Klemm

University of Tampere, Hameenlinna, Finland

DEVELOPMENT OF E-LEARNING AND
E-HEALTHCARE COMMUNITY NETWORK FOR CUBA AND THE CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES

Miguel A. Garay, Jose A. Amador, Armando Cuesta,
Alejandro Rosete, Amnia la O

Havana Institute of Technology

Pasan las obras de la fuerza,

Permanecen las de la Inteligencia;

Cesan los bienes que produjo el poder,

No se extinguen los del talento.

Felix Varela

The fruits of force will pass;

it'll remain the fruits of intelligence;

the goods produced by the power it'll be extinguished;

but the goods produced by the talent they'll not disappear;

Abstract

The main characteristics of successful e-learning will be introduced, based in the educational research and the best international pedagogical experiences that take into account the historical, cultural and social traditions of each country. E-learning offers opportunities for informal and formal learning through the development of online communities of practice. E-learning provides many new opportunities for developing schools, high schools, universities, hospitals, professional training, nursing and postgraduate institutions practice, and for sharing best practices in each country and around the world. Computer networks and Internet technologies promote creation of educational online communities by online discussion, document sharing, teleconferences, e-mail, and real-time chatting.

UNESCO, IFIP, IEEE, GUS and other international organizations have understood the importance of computing applications in education and health systems. The Global University System (GUS) is playing an important role in its development of general conception and e-learning/e-health projects that will involve schools, high schools, universities, hospital and re-qualification institutions. Our interactions with GUS have led to the possibility of developing a pilot project title "Establishment of Havana Community Development Network (HCDN) for E-learning and E-healthcare," which is herein described.

Introduction

Teaching and learning processes can be analyzed as a set of activities, which has a long and complex improvement process throughout history in which in ancient times knowledge was passed by oral tradition to today's era of computer-assisted learning. Teaching and learning processes are complex and dynamic. The fundamental elements are: the teacher and the student. Their relations are dynamic. Feedback between teacher and student plays an important role in learning process. This feedback is associated to observation of behavior and knowledge control of students. These elements can be analyzed as parts of a cybernetic system. From one part, the teacher transmits the knowledge, skills and habits to student. From the other side, the student catch the transmitted information, selects and saves it in his memory. In these conditions, we can define the education as a process of interaction between a subject and an object, in which are developed in the object (student) and improved in the subject (teacher) knowledge, skills and habits.

Figure 1. Cybernetic System.

Since ancient times human being has used media to show new ideas, to provide evidence, and to persuade. Learning and teaching media permit: 1) optimal comprehension of transmitted information, 2) improved knowledge control, and 3) the automation of complex and laborious processes. On this basis, the cybernetic diagram can be completed by addition of learning and teaching media. In this connection, we have the following figure:

Figure 2. Teaching development in different stages of history

Every day, the conflict between the time dedicated to prepare a professional and the information volume is more important and sharp. To increase the study time in each career would be irrational. It is therefore necessary to improve the efficiency and quality of teaching and learning process at universities. Computer-based education presents some advantages, among them are: 1) the development of modeling and algorithms of subject matter; 2) more efficient knowledge transmission; 3) the possibility of analyzing and modeling complex and dangerous phenomena; 4) more robust visual representation of objects; 5) dynamic interaction with the information source, which permits the selection of multiple decision alternatives; and 6) enhanced the collaborative learning.

Figure 3. J.A. Comenius and Didactics

Pedagogic sciences have studied for many years the problems associated to relations between teachers and students in different levels of instruction. In this relation, Comenius made serious contributions to development of Didactics. He defended with great talent the dynamic interaction of ideas between students and teacher and on the visual representation of objects. He said that: "A graphic is more efficiency than discourse" (Comenius, 1657).

The modern world advances step by step to a new Information Society, covering all industrial, scientific, economical, cultural and social areas, particularly the education and health services. New information and communication technologies (NICT) are exerting considerable influence on education and health services, in all its functions and activity areas. NICTs introduction and application into education and medicine have promoted the fast development of virtual universities, e-learning and telemedicine. Higher education constitutes the main element in developing and managing knowledge in all segments of information cycles, because universities have multifunctional and multi-objective structure and can generate, capture, conserve, interchange, and transfer knowledge. This, coupled with university decision making processes, can help solve the main problems associated with the sustainable human development.

Currently, it is an historical necessity to increase systematically the access of Latin-American and Caribbean people to a quality education and health services. This is the fundamental way to improve the quality of life and to accelerate the social, cultural and economical development of our countries.

The World Conference on Higher Education organized by UNESCO at Paris in 1998 recognized the important contribution of new information and communication technologies in helping educators learn how to develop and manage knowledge. More recently, the Seminar on Virtual Universities in Latin-American and Caribbean countries, was organized by UNESCO, UNIVERSIA and the Government of Ecuador and held in Quito, Ecuador on February 13-14, 2003. The seminar recognized that:

• It is necessary to socialize the technology used in education, in order to reduce costs and to create rational conditions to apply creatively and efficiently the best pedagogical technologies and to increase the access of student as active element in the educational process to these technologies and learning methods.

• It is an essential task with the promotion of new projects to increase the connectivity levels by means of the development of rational technical infrastructure and of promotion of an adequate scheme of economical communication tariffs with the objective to contribute to educational development.

• It is necessary to increase the institutional relations and to preserve the diversity and multicultural development of Latin-American and Caribbean countries.

What is E-learning?

The fast rise of information and telecommunication networks, and particularly Internet and its rapid diffusion, implementation and introduction into schools, high schools, universities, hospitals, professional training and postgraduate institutions, have highlighted the need to define the most effective ways of realizing the teaching and learning potential. Without any doubt, the benefits that new information and telecommunication technologies may bring to educational and health services is intimately associated to how they are used and implemented in practice. Trying to avoid repeating some of mistakes that accompanied the introduction of other technologies into education and medicine, we must first of all consider the Internet for what it really is:

"A powerful resource used for generation, accessing, captures, conservation, interchanging, sharing, processing, transferring information and for making of interpersonal/group/institutional communications."

The real possibility of the Internet becoming an effective teaching and learning resource is strictly dependent on the adoption of the most suitable approach to the application of information and telecommunication technologies in order to produce a real social effect for educational and health services. See Balbin et al. (2003), Buela, (2003), Fern·ndez et al. (2003), Gonz·lez and David y PeÒa Escobio (2003), La O et al. (2003), Murray (2003), Yoadis (2003).

The main characteristics of successful e-learning will be introduced, based on educational research and the best international pedagogical experiences taking into account the historical, cultural and social traditions of each country. It seems that, despite the amount of implementation of e-learning that has been undertaken by educational and health institutions around the world, few concrete results have emerged to indicate the best approaches. There is little evidence that much of the research on offline learning has had any widespread impact on teaching practices. It seems clear that there is still a lot of work to do in determining the best forms of e-learning for different situations, and this might provide the basis for a substantial research agenda for educational institutions in each country and in the world. We pose several questions that arise from the development of e-learning:

• Is the implementation of e-learning simply the transfer of actual classroom into the online and virtual environment?

• Can we develop e-learning using the traditional pedagogical methods?

• What is the economical and social effect for using e-learning?

Pedagogy and E-learning

Virtual learning environments can be used to transmit information, hold discussions, and exchanges files, but e-learning is not necessarily easier than other forms of education, from a teacher or a student point of view. It can certainly be different and can enable things to happen that would not otherwise be possible. Much e-learning seems to replicate classroom approaches and techniques to education, but one of the future research areas will need to be whether this is the best use, or whether we should be exploring new ways of facilitating learning. Pedagogy, and particularly the didactics implemented in e-learning, is based on historical development of pedagogical sciences and must take into account the main successes obtained in the development of teaching and learning process. In many cases, research groups, software designers, and organizations have adapted thoughts, concepts and ideas from pedagogy, and converted and adopted these in order to implement them for e-learning. They apply the pedagogical sciences in new conditions and develop new conceptions, methodologies and ideas. The facilitation of online discussions is the main area in which many see the real potential benefits of e-learning, especially discussion forums that allow students to contribute at times convenient to themselves.

Traditional Educational Paradigm

The traditional education model is based on verbal lecture, textbooks, classroom notes, papers, problem solving methodologies, drill and practice sessions, well-structured classroom activities, and consultations. In its pure form, this model is based on the belief that knowledge is objective and the purpose of the teaching process is to transfer this static body of knowledge from its source (teacher, textbook, etc.) to the student. The student in this model is viewed as a passive learner. This traditional model causes several problems in the teaching and learning process. Some of these problems are the following:

• Students who miss class will have different kinds of difficulties associated with the fact that the instructor cannot repeat his explanation;
• Students who miss class when projects are assigned will not receive the detailed explanations and project instructions;
• Classroom printed handouts are time-consuming to produce and distribute;
• Consultations hours are not always held at a convenient time for students;
• Class time is severely limited and tends to neglect some kinds of students;
• Some students may need to solve extra problems to understand better the subject matter; others may wish to research a topic further; in both cases, the instructor's time may be too restricted to help them;
• Group projects are difficult to guide and control because students have difficulties in coordinating and communicating between them and with the instructor.

All these problems may occur because teacher is considered as the main source of knowledge. In effect, the communication between teacher and student is difficult and the sources of knowledge are restricted. Under new conditions, it is necessary to change the student role, giving him the real possibility to participate actively in the learning process. In this relation, he must interchange with multiple knowledge sources, he must search, access and process information available. He can change problem parameters. He can consider new facts and events. He can propose new hypotheses and alternatives in the decision processes under study. He can interchange opinions and ideas with other students and specialists. It is necessary to create and implement new problem situations in which the students can participate actively in the cognitive process.

E-learning paradigm

The underlying difficulty in the traditional learning model is that it expects students to be passive learners. Knowledge is not static, there are multiple sources of knowledge, and students should not be passive learners. Students should be active participants in the learning process. The problem associated with the active participation of students in the learning process is not a new pedagogical problem. See Comenius (1657), Descartes (1628), and Luz y Caballero (1948).

In this relation, Cuban educator and philosopher Luz y Caballero (1948) argued: "... It's necessary to round the nature to domain it. If we concentrate our efforts in the guess more than in the observation, the phenomena essence slips away, and if we want to limit our analysis to a simple observation without all possible elements, comparisons and evaluations, never we'll reach to comprehend the inside of the phenomena and never we could to understand certain complex laws: the nature require and encourage us: Divide et Impera." Then he says: "To well synthesize it's necessary to analyze firstly" and "When decomposing I become to compose, or to see the thing in the all and its parts, that it is just we can define as science".

Varela and Luz fought intensively against the passive role of students and against the mal-usage of memory in learning process. In this relation, Luz indicated in 1831: "... We know by experience that happens to the memory respect to the reflection, which happens to a sense with respect to another one, we can say, that never gains the one but to expenses of its neighbor. Student that uses the reflection more than the memory can relate without a doubt less histories, but, in spite of everything, he have penetrated better in the main essence of them." See Luz y Caballero (1948).

In its pure form, the new paradigm considers the teacher and the students as partners cooperating in the task of building and discovering new knowledge. The student can use multiple and different information sources. Teacher must play the role of the leader or guider for students in learning process. All opinions are considered and analyzed by the group. The system formed by students, teachers, and media can use multiple communication lines in order to improve the learning and teaching processes.

Discipline Web Sites

Discipline Web sites provide a rational way of enhancing previously analyzed problems. In this way, the best traditions of teaching and learning can be introduced creatively in the development of e-learning environments.

Discipline Web sites can be considered to be a virtual classroom where time and distance are suspended. This allows communication from remote points. For example, lectures and their associated slides can be digitally recorded and placed on the Web Page. Students can then listen to these lectures at any convenient time regardless of their location. This allows students who miss a lecture to keep up with the material and provides a valuable study tool. Other examples of the potential uses of Discipline Web sites are the following:

• Projects can be distributed from the Discipline Web sites so students can download them from any computer connected to the Intranet and Internet at any time;
• Class handouts can be distributed via the Discipline Web sites. If changes are needed, they can be updated online and made instantly available to all students;
• E-mail can be used to turn in assignments and return the corrected results;
• Consultations hours can be augmented with e-mail;
• In-depth discussions can be held in web-based discussion groups where all students are free to participate when it is convenient. This has the advantage of providing a forum for shy students and additionally generates a complete record of the discussion for the course knowledge-base;
• Testing software and simulations can be placed on the Discipline Web sites to give students the opportunity to solve problems and practice skills;
• Discipline Web sites can contain papers, thesis works, slides, courseware of each discipline and another complementary materials;
• Group projects will be easier to manage because communication between group members and the instructor is facilitated; the students can interchange opinions and criteria between them and the teacher.

All of this leads to an increase in the communication bandwidth of the classroom and additional sources of information for the course. In other words, using Discipline Web pages and sites allows the e-learning to be implemented and surpass the difficulties of the traditional learning courses.

Modern university education is becoming more and more dependent on computer networks and Internet. Effective teaching almost requires that teachers and students be "connected". This trend has appeared rapidly and is likely to continue (and accelerate). To a certain extent, this is unfortunate because most university professors have a little or no experience designing web pages. Consequently, most professors have been forced to begin at the beginning and learn through their mistakes.

Cuban Experience and Practice in E-learning

Computers have been included in university instructional programs since the 1960s. In 1970, Cuban engineers designed and constructed their first mini-computer. Many industrial, transport, agricultural and management computer applications were developed. In several years the emergent Cuban electronic industry was developed. In this relation, the Research Center for System Engineering (CEIS) at Faculty of Technology of Havana University was created. Its objective: the development of Analysis, Design and Programming Master courses. There were imported several minicomputers IRIS from France. Many Cuban professors participated in M.Sc. and Ph.D. courses in Informatics and Computer Science in France, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Soviet Union and other countries. In the 70s were organized the Computer Science and Informatics Career at Havana University and Havana Institute of Technology respectively.

In 1984, NEC microcomputers were imported from Japan for use in education and health services, enabling a real scientific and technical revolution in Cuba. Thousands of teachers, professors, doctors, nurses and managers were re-qualified in computer techniques. Many computer applications were introduced massively into high schools, universities, hospitals and administrative institutions. There were designed and implemented the computer Master programs for each university career, in which there were defined the objectives to reach for every professional in informatics teaching and learning. It was necessary to organize the software industry. Several software houses were organized and installed. Our professionals developed a lot of programs for Education, Medicine, Agricultural, Industry and another scientific and technical fields. In 1991, UNESCO funds allowed creation of the Regional Center for teachers' training in computer science for Latin-American and Caribbean countries at Havana Institute of Technology. Many Cuban professors have participated and participate actively in the development of computer programs in Latin-American universities and educational institutions.

As we said before, the use of computers, computer networks and Internet is rapidly becoming common in each field of Cuban society. Today the low cost of microcomputers has enabled small schools and even students, teachers and doctors to access them. This has increased computing usage. The present time is characterized by a gradual movement from a computer-orientated approach towards a learner-orientated approach characterized by a more personalized, adaptive and exploratory attitude to learning. Today, the Internet is virtually a mass phenomenon, so there are clear signs that the much desired critical mass will soon reached. The introduction of new information and communication technologies and particularly Internet gives the real possibility of having numerous schools connected to the networks. It constitutes an important advantage for pedagogical sciences from theoretical and practical points of view. It stimulates the arising of new and creative learning and teaching activities based on computer network, such as cooperative learning, hypermedia intelligent tutoring systems on Web, virtual books and so on. NICTs and Internet facilities are powerful tools of communication, accessing, interchanging, sharing, and processing information between different kinds of persons, groups and institutions. In this connection, in the last years Cuba has been involved in developing e-learning platforms, virtual universities and other e-learning applications. Between them can be mentioned the following:

MUNDICAMPUS E-learning Platform

… A virtual environment that integrates conferences, labs, events and virtual libraries in Internet (more than 50 courses have been realized; an important role is playing for the first time in Cuba).

… Virtual university environment for Informatics Career at HIT.

o At the present moment, 950 students of Informatics career are instructed by means of distance education; that students do not have possibility to attend frequently to HIT because they are working in elementary schools as computer instructors and teachers; in this relation, there were designed and distributed several CD-ROMs for their disciplines and in Web format on MUNDICAMPUS platform.

microC@ampus E-learning Platform

… An e-learning environment that integrates conferences, labs, events and virtual libraries in Internet. It was developed by Computer Science Department of Agrarian University of Havana.

CITMATEL virtual university

… A collaborative environment that integrates conferences, labs, events, museums and virtual libraries in Internet. It was developed by CITMATEL software enterprise.

Electronic and Virtual Books

• Different applications on electronic books associated with university courses, for example: electronic books for physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer machines, programming languages and other disciplines.

o Used by many students and professors in Cuban universities and high schools.

Hypertext and Hypermedia

• Different applications on hypermedia associated with high schools and university courses, for example:

o hypertext and hypermedia, used in several disciplines as physics, mathematics, chemistry, and others.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities and high schools.

Courseware, Tutorials, Drills, Simulations and Games

… Different courseware developments, tutorials, drills, simulations and games associated with high schools and university courses, for example:

o used in several disciplines as physics, mathematics, chemistry, and others.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities and high schools.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems

… Different applications on intelligent tutoring systems associated with high schools and university courses, for example:

o intelligent tutoring systems for physics, mathematics, chemistry, operations research, and other disciplines.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities and high schools.

Teleconferences

… Different applications associated with graduate and postgraduate university courses.

CAD-CAM Applications

… Different applications associated with university courses, for example:

o CAD-CAM applications for mechanics, technical drawing, mechanical, electronic and architectural design, and others.

o developed for university Intranets.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities.

WebPages and Websites

… Different applications associated with university courses, for example:

o WebPages and Websites for physics, mathematics, chemistry, and other disciplines.

o developed for university Intranets.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities.

Music, paint, and other arts

… Different applications associated with Music, paint, and other courses, for example:

o electronic music, paint, sculpture and other disciplines.

o developed for university Intranets and Internet.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities.

Medical Applications

… Different applications associated with Medicine, and other courses, for example:

o anatomy and physiology courseware, e-learning courses for nursing and doctors re-qualification and other disciplines.

o used by many students and professors in Cuban universities.

Project: "Establishment of Havana Community Development Network (HCDN)

for E-learning and E-healthcare"

In general, Informatics plays an important role in teaching and learning and in the development of engineering and architectural courses in particular. Nowadays, science and technology development results would be inconceivable without computer aid. A true revolution in e-learning and telemedicine requires high-speed access to the World Wide Web and the flexibility to offer a variety of media. Developing countries need broadband Internet via international satellite and fiber - optic cable. The objective of increasing quality of audio / video delivery, high interactivity, and system throughput can be seen as global objective of closing digital divide for improving e-learning and tele-health services.

On the other hand, for many years, UNESCO, IFIP, IEEE, GUS and other international organizations have understood the importance of computing applications in Education and Health Systems.

Many international conferences dedicated to study and analyze the main problems in developing countries have recognized as the essential difficulties in computing education field the following:

(a) Lack of qualified teachers and professors;

(b) Limit material and financial resources;

(c) High costs of hardware and educational software;

(d) Lack of qualified personal and resources for computer and peripheral equipment.

Taking into account the above statements and the collaborations of Global University System (GUS) and particularly of Professor Dr. Takeshi Utsumi, who has participated actively in the development of ideas, we conceived the idea of developing a pilot project titled "Establishment of Havana Community Development Network (HCDN) for E-learning and E-healthcare." This project has the following as the main objectives:

1. To contribute to set-up of the Global University System/La Habana/Cuba in order to establish technological alternatives and construct a community development network on Internet wireless to promote access and use the available technology for e-learning in educational and medical fields with the Official Development Assistant (ODA) fund of the Japanese Government in the future;
   
   
2. To promote the development of communities (Universities, Elementary and Secondary Schools, Hospitals and others) on using high speed wireless Internet and satellite connections associated with contents development (see Figure 4).
   

Figure 4. Global Broadband wireless and satellite Internet virtual private network

GUS will foster the development of e-learning and telemedicine pilot projects using broadband Internet technology in order to enhance their teaching/learning capabilities. The GUS will also facilitate connectivity among current e-learning efforts around the world and will provide support and guidance to selected pilot projects serving as models for adoption around the world. The present project will be one of them.

The each regional satellite hub will then be connected to regional element, such as elementary and secondary schools, institutions of higher education, libraries, hospitals, local government agencies, etc., in midrange (50 to 200 miles) apart from each other using microwave broadband (1.5 to 45 Mbps) Internet Networks. Those organizations will then disseminate the broadband Internet service further to similar nearby (up to 25 miles) organizations using wireless spread spectrum broadband (3 to 10 Mbps) Internet Networks.

Several Cuban educational and health institutions will be connected with Havana Institute of Technology using wireless broadband Internet.

Project Objectives

… To create a technological culture by means of e-learning in educational and medical fields based on Internet wireless;

… To use high speed Internet wireless and satellite connections at Universities, Elementary and Secondary Schools and Hospitals;

… To develop indigenous educational software applications on Internet based on e-learning and e-healthcare for Cuba, Caribbean and Latin-American Countries addressed to elementary and high schools, universities, adult education and post-graduate courses;

… To develop different kind of courses on e-learning and e-healthcare application for Cuban, Caribbean and Latin-American students, teachers, professors and specialists.

Conclusion

E-learning potentially offers many opportunities for students, teachers, professors, nurses, doctors and other professionals to explore, develop, and share best practice. It also provides many potential opportunities for people and countries without easy access to high cost resources to learn. However, there are problems to be overcome. There are increasing numbers of forms of e-learning, and the technologies for mediating e-learning are changing rapidly. As its potential is explored, there will be increasing diversity of users and uses, and many forms of e-learning, particularly where interpersonal interaction is concerned, seem to explicitly or implicitly serve multiple purposes. The use of online communities of practice offers much potential around the world to share knowledge and experience with their colleagues, and to enter into informal learning environments. An important role is to work with the Global University System for the development of general conception and e-learning/e-health projects in which schools, high schools, universities, hospital and re-qualification institutions are involved. The necessity of developing an e-learning project for Cuba and the Caribbean countries has established and described.

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Author Biographical Sketches

Miguel Angel Garay Garcell, Ph.D. Research Center for Systems Engineering Havana Institute of Technology Calle 127 S/N, Marianao 15, CP 19390, C. de La Habana, Cuba. Tel: (53)(7) 260 2980 (53)(7) 260 7912 Telefax: (53)(7) 267 1574 (53)(7) 267 2964 garcellmig@yahoo.com http://www.cujae.cu

Graduated as Industrial Engineer in 1968 at University of Havana. Since 1965, he's been professor of Operations Research and Artificial Intelligence at Havana Institute of Technology (HIT). He is a member of the Research Centre for Systems Engineering participating actively in the introduction of systems engineering, operations research, and artificial intelligence in Cuba and Latin American countries. He guided for several years the curriculum design group for Informatics career. He obtained Ph.D. degree in Operations Research in 1974 at Leningrad, Russia. He developed a UNESCO project for creating of a Regional Centre for Informatics teacher training addressed to Latin American and Caribbean Countries. He is Director of Educational Informatics Group. He is participated as member of several scientific Congress Organization Committees and as invited speaker in different scientific congresses. He published more than 100 scientific papers and has been member of several international scientific juries. He was the invited professor of several universities in Mexico and Brazil. In 1997, he received the National Academic Award for the development of a Hypermedia Intelligent Tutoring System for Modelling named Optima.

JosÈ ¡ngel Amador Fundora Telecommunication Department Electrical Engineering Faculty Havana Institute of Technology Havana, Cuba Calle 127 S/N, Marianao 15, CP 19390, C. de La Habana, Cuba. Tel. : (53)(7) 260 2980 (53)(7) 260 7912 Telefax: (53)(7) 267 1574 (53)(7) 267 2964 amador@electrica.cujae.edu.cu http://www.cujae.cu

Graduated as Electrical Engineer at Havana Institute of Technology in 1979. He's Assistant Professor and Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems. He participated for 15 years in broadcasting activities at Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT). He developed different projects for radio and TV studios, in audio, video, lighting and power, designing custom equipment at the R&D Department. He obtained the First Prize in 1982 ICRT Technical Forum. He occupied important technical responsibilities in the broadcasting of several important events covered by the Cuban TV and foreign networks. He has published several technical papers on audio, television and electronics. He has worked at HIT since 1995 as Research and Development Specialist in the Telecommunications Department, Electrical Engineering Faculty at HIT.

Armando Cuesta Santos, Ph.D. Havana Institute of Technology Calle 127 S/N, Marianao 15, CP 19390, C. de La Habana, Cuba. Tel. : (53)(7) 260 2980 (53)(7) 260 7912 Telefax: (53)(7) 267 1574 (53)(7) 267 2964 cuesta@ind.cujae.edu.cu http://www.cujae.cu

Graduated in Psychology at Havana University. Master Science in Labor Organization and PhD in Economical Sciences. He is Professor of Industrial Engineering Faculty at Havana Institute of Technology (HIT). He is a member of scientific councils of Industrial Engineering and Psychology Faculties. He is an enterprise consultant and coordinator of Master Courses in Human Resources Management. He has published more than 50 scientific papers. He has been invited professor of several universities in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Spain.

Alejandro Rosete, Ph.D. Research Center for Systems Engineering Havana Institute of Technology Calle 127 S/N, Marianao 15, CP 19390, C. de La Habana, Cuba. Tel. : (53)(7) 260 2980 (53)(7) 260 7912 Telefax: (53)(7) 267 1574 (53)(7) 267 2964 rosete@ceis.cujae.edu.cu http://www.cujae.cu

Graduated as Informatics Engineer at Havana Institute of Technology in 1993. He obtained M.Sc. in 1995 and Ph.D. degree in 2000. He is professor of Artificial Intelligence and Mathematical Logics. He is author of more than 40 papers in conference proceedings, journals, etc. He has conducted 5 M.Sc. Thesis. His research interest includes Artificial Intelligence, E-learning, Distance Education and Optimization. He developed MundiCampus e-learning platform in 2002. This software system obtained the Gold Medal at Havana International Exhibition for its quality in 2002.

Amnia La O Thaureaux Research Center for Systems Engineering Havana Institute of Technology Calle 127 S/N, Marianao 15, CP 19390, C. de La Habana, Cuba. Tel. : (53)(7) 260 2980 (53)(7) 260 7912 Telefax: (53)(7) 267 1574 (53)(7) 267 2964 amnia@ceis.cujae.edu.cu http://www.cujae.cu

Graduated as Industrial Engineer Industrial at Havana Institute of Technology (CUJAE) in 1995. She obtained the Master of Science degree in Organization of Production in 1999. She worked at Postgraduate Center for Management (CEPADE) at Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain (UPM) as Coordinator of Postgraduate Distance Education Courses. She participated actively in the development and introduction of e-learning platform known as MundiCampus. This platform obtained the Gold Medal at International Exhibition of Informatics, Automation and Communications hold at Havana in February the 18-24th, 2003.