I am an educator, entrepreneur, researcher, analyst, mentor, and non-profit activist, favoring understanding computation as a practice of freedom. I translate the Freirean concept of education as a practice of freedom into technologies as practices of freedom and creativity. My research helped the Center of Strategic Studies and Debates of the National Congress (Brazilian House of Representatives) to enhance the National Policy on Digital Education (Lei 14533/2023).

I hold a Ph.D. in Technology and Society from PPGTE/UTFPR. From 2018 to 2020, I served as a postdoctoral scholar at the Lemann Center at Stanford. In 2016, I was part of the Visiting Student Researcher program. My research focus is public policy in Science and Technology toward a more democratic and equitable technological society. I'm involved in tech initiatives applying free software, teaching/learning, IoT, and low-cost open-hardware devices such as Arduino, Gogo Board, and Raspberry Pi.  I am deeply interested in helping the Brazilian education system to explore the potential of programming and innovation as tools for emancipation, development, and freedom. To accomplish this macro goal, we need to ensure that every student and every teacher in the country will have access to the fundamentals of computing and technology and will develop a sense of oversight and quality control over these tools.

ChatGPT, metaverse, blockchain, platforms, social media, electronic whiteboards, tablets, mobile phones… The list is long and usually followed by trademarks and famous brands. They all promise to revolutionize education, teachers' activities, and students' grades but end up 'training' teachers to 'train' students to use the last tech trend.

Rodrigo will show experiences of how computer science, free software, Paulo Freire, and constructionism compose the necessary elements for improving teacher education curricula. Also, he will discuss how recent institutional norms and projects open new opportunities for autonomous access and employment of technologies by teachers and students.

The potential of technologies in education drives Rodrigo Barbosa e Silva to research how public schools in Brazil can appropriate and incorporate technologies with Paulo Freire's perspectives of freedom and democracy. Rodrigo works to promote in educational policy the practical tools needed for foundational learning experiences in an emancipatory and inclusive perspective of society.