by Marina McIsaac
February 2000
The International Division of the Association
for Educational Communication and Technology is proud to present
the 2000 De Kieffer Award to Father Jose Maria Diaz de Rabago
for his outstanding international contribution to the field of
Educational Technology. Father Rabago was the first educator
in Spain to champion the use of technology while he taught at
the University of Santiago. His personal dedication to the use
of television for training teachers influenced more than 3,000
of the country's preservice teachers.
Rabago was influenced early in his
education by professors who used slides and audiovisuals at a
time when they were not yet popular in the classroom. He
was determined that when he later became a university teacher,
he would pioneer the use of these and newer technologies to help
students learn. A graduate of Chemistry, Rabajo became a
Geology and Chemistry teacher. In 1968 while he participated in
a pontifical seminar in Comillas, he was first given support to
attend 6 months in England and the United States to do research
on innovative education using new technologies. He was eager to
explore the use of media for improving learning. After his many
personal visits and research studies in U.K. and USA institutions,
Rabago went, in 1969-70, to Stanford University to obtain his
Master's Degree in Educational Administration, specializing in
micro-teaching. Thanks to the assistance of the Fundacion
Barrie de la Maza, he was able to use this time to formulate a
philosophical and practical approach to technology that he would
later apply to education in Spain.
When Rabajo returned to the Institute
of Educational Science at the University of Santiago in 1970,
he proposed the first division of Educational Technology in Spain.
As a result of his training at Stanford University, Rabago established,
in 1973 through 1975, bicultural seminars between Spain
and the U.S.A. supported by UNESCO, the World Bank, Fullbright
Commission, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stanford University
and the University of Santiago de Compost. In 1984 he was instrumental
in the Projecto Telegal which provided tele-education in
the form of computers to Galicia. He continued his
groundbreaking work in 1987 by producing the first teleconferences
between a university in Spain and one in the U.S. His work was
highlighted in the Times Educational Supplement. Father Rabajo
worked at the University of Santiago from 1970-1995.
Rabajo credits his abilituy to make
such an impact on the use of technology in his country to th support
of the University of Santiago, his colleagues in the field of
Educational Communications and Technology, the institutions that
funded his work, and U.S. institutions with which he worked.
He also credits AECT for helping him to reach outside of his country's
boundaries during all those many years he has attended conventions.
