by Professor Marina McIsaac, Ph.D.

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.