Technological mediation has been the alternative found for academic and professional qualification during the COVID-19 pandemic and the social isolation caused by it. Two distance events, carried out through the Virtual Learning Environment of the Dean of Extension of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), AVAProex, are proof of this.

Until May 12, discussions related to “Teaching History in Times of Pandemic” will be held. The initiative is a promotion of the Professional Master’s Course in History Teaching (ProfHistória / UFRN) and according to the event’s co-organizer and professor of the Master’s Course, Vanessa Spinosa, a virtual room was created within the platform and this was essential to ensure registration, communication, the sharing of nominations and texts, as well as the participation of interested parties.

Still according to her, the support of the UFRN Distance Education Secretariat was fundamental in this whole process. She adds that at the end of each programming day, positive feedbacks have exceeded expectations. To make the public even closer, ProfHistória / UFRN profiles were created on social networks, which helped to disseminate virtual activities to more than 100 subscribers.

The discovery of network qualification

Last April 22nd, 520 years of the discovery of Brazil were celebrated. And given the current scenario of changes in behavior and routines, following the recommendations of health agencies, new discoveries are being made every day. Dozens of people had access to network qualification for the first time. On that historic date, the “I Potiguares Diversities Workshop and its Applications in the Cosmetic Area” took place.

The event was also hosted in an AVAProex virtual room and brought together more than 200 participants in two shifts (morning and afternoon). The initiative, aimed at establishing possible partnerships with the cosmetic industry and productive sustainability, was carried out through web conferencing. Participated in the execution of the activity, the Augusto Severo Scientific and Technological Park Advisory, the Innovation Agency (AGIR) of UFRN and the Project Management Secretariat of UFRN.

AVAProex development

Artur Nobre, support analyst at SEDIS / UFRN, explains that the Virtual Learning Platform of the UFRN Dean of Extension, developed by the SEDIS team, used Moodle as the basis, which is the most popular learning management system in the world. world and that has open source. It was up to SEDIS professionals to customize the virtual environment for the needs of PROEX, which among other duties is the offer of free courses and events for society in general.

Also according to the support analyst, AVAProex works as a large virtual room that allows interaction between participants, access to cultural presentations, in addition to sharing initial guidelines and registering questions for courses and virtual events.

For UFRN’s Secretary of Distance Education, Carmem Rêgo, it is part of SEDIS’s mission to support the qualification of people through technological mediation. She recalls that, in addition to these activities, SEDIS participates in a partnership, with LAIS and with Proex / UFRN itself, which aims at offering free courses for teachers from public schools and with the elaboration of Environmental courses Virtual Learning System (AVASUS).

These courses have been essential in preparing health professionals to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and education professionals for a new reality of adapting to classes in the online format, emphasized Carmem Rêgo.

Source: Bruno Cássio – SEDIS / UFRN Media Sector.