From the beginning, ETH Kipu has focused on reaching as many cities as possible with educational content about Ethereum. Our key allies in the co-creation and execution of courses have been local Ethereum communities, universities, and local instructors.

In Aragua, Venezuela, we have been fortunate to have the unconditional support of the Ethereum Venezuela team, which connected us with excellent instructors. In this interview, we talk with one of them, Jimy Santana, a dedicated educator who had to overcome several obstacles: during the course, there were several power outages, and students had to wait for the power to return or, in some cases, postpone classes. Despite this, participation was steady.

Of course, Jimy Santana is from Venezuela. He has a degree in Mathematics and a postgraduate degree as a specialist in Educational Informatics. He has a Master's in Applied Informatics and also holds a Ph.D. in Critical Pedagogy.

We are fortunate to have Jimy as one of the instructors of the Ethereum Developer Pack, where students can learn about Ethereum and the basics of Solidity through different modules. This initiative's fourth and final module for developers is in progress at the Universidad Politécnica Territorial del Estado Aragua "Federico Brito Figueroa".

The Ethereum Developer Pack has been incorporated at the students' request into the university's curriculum. The students have solved the challenges of the Speedrun Ethereum and intend to join the Buidl Guild.

We have spoken with him to learn more about his experience as an educator and builder.

Romina: -How is crypto adoption in your country?

Jimy Santana: -In Venezuela, the use of cryptos has grown significantly, although it currently faces great challenges.

R.: -How did you learn about Ethereum?

J.S.: -I learned about Ethereum through my son Rubén Santana, who became interested, started training courses, and developed his master's thesis on this disruptive technology.

R.: -When did you start as an instructor at ETH Kipu?

J.S.: At the beginning of this year, I was involved in the Ethereum Developer Pack course, which we developed at the Polytechnic University of Aragua. Currently, I am sharing responsibilities with Rubén.

R.: -What motivates you to keep educating?

J.S.: -First of all, I am a university professor with 30 years of experience, and I chose this academic career more as a way of life than as a job, where teaching and learning are a symbiotic process in which teaching you learn, something like if you want to learn something, design and develop a course on that subject.

R.: -What are the most common doubts of Solidity students?

J.S.: -I would say, perhaps, it is the Venezuelan case due to the sanctions in the international financial system, specifically in Swift, which does not allow the use of credit cards or accounts to acquire cryptos, making it complex to become users of many decentralized applications with actual use cases, which can translate into skepticism or demotivation. But equally, it is an element of opportunity to see the characteristics and advantages of the web3 universe, where such restrictions do not exist.

R.: -What blockchain projects or initiatives would you like to see born in Latin America?

J.S.: -This would precisely be part of our university vision, which would consist of developing a university ecosystem, starting with training programs for the community, teachers, and students, then extendable to other environments, the development of decentralized applications such as student learning projects in undergraduate, or research projects in postgraduate, in parallel and/or articulated with real use cases, where economic and financial initiatives can be considered that create incentives for the university itself and its members, but always within a great purpose such as the formation of a community of developers and researchers that promote and drive the adoption of web3 solutions, where we can share experiences, hold events, develop research, share resources, among others, with other universities in Latin America.

Again, We deeply thank Jimy for his passion, dedication, and perseverance as an educator.

You can follow Jimy on his X profile.

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Romina, Kipu Impact