The possibility of reconciling work with the dream of getting a degree in Higher Education was one of the reasons that led 32-year-old Phablo Araújo de Medeiros to participate in the selection process for the distance learning undergraduate course in Chemistry. Resident in the city of Jardim do Seridó/RN, where he was born, in 2017 he began his studies at the Currais Novos Face-to-Face Support Hub, which operates within the Campus of the Seridó Higher Education Center (CERES/UFRN).
Phablo Araújo says that during the course he insisted on participating in events at the Currais Novos pole and in academic activities: “with the possibility of distance learning, I adapted my study time, within my availability, to be able to follow the content and the tasks”. Phablo was one of the 5 students who, last Thursday (08), received the academic laurel. A surprise he will forever remember.
With emotion, he thanked everyone who was part of this trajectory: “I am very grateful to UFRN through SEDIS, as well as to the professors of the Chemistry Institute who, with their interventions, instigated and motivated me even more to study, being fundamental in the achievement an academic degree at one of the best universities in the country”. When remembering the route until being laureate, he recalled that, on the night before one of the tests, his motorcycle and backpack were stolen.
Inside the backpack was a workbook that would be used for the final review before taking the exam. “That day, I was able to sleep at around 6 in the morning, to take the test still on Sunday”, he says. Despite the psychological shock, according to Phablo Araújo, it was the access to Distance Education that encouraged him to overcome this difficult moment and dedicate himself even more to the course. Now, the new graduate in Chemistry intends to return to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, this time as a Master’s student.
At 26 years old, Cibele Beatriz da Silva Oliveira is still celebrating the completion of her second graduation. The first was in Biomedicine, the second, much more recent, is the Degree in Biological Sciences at a distance, by the Martins pole, in Alto Oeste Potiguar. What the two degrees have in common: they were completed at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and, in both cases, she received, in the end, the Academic Laurel, recognition given by the University to the good performance of the student.
Cibele Beatriz lives in Almino Afonso, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, the city where she was born. The distance of approximately 45 kilometers to Martins, where the On-site Support Center operates, did not prevent her from dreaming of achieving a second degree in Higher Education. She explained how this choice came about: “about six months after graduating as a biomedical doctor, I took the entrance exam for the Licentiate Degree in Biological Sciences at a distance also at UFRN, in search of training in the area for which I have always harbored deep admiration, education”.
Also according to Cibele Beatriz, Distance Education allowed her to see skills and competences that, until then, she did not know she had. And she became even more fond of her studies: “in 2019, while I was studying Biological Sciences, I started a postgraduate degree (specialization) in Higher Education Teaching and, in May 2020, I was joining the Academic Masters in Teaching of Graduate Program in Teaching at the State University of Rio Grande do Norte”.
Cibele was one of the millions of people who contracted covid-19 in Brazil and, in the midst of the recovery process, had to do the work to complete the undergraduate and specialization courses, without losing focus. The effort and dedication paid off, last Thursday (08), she received the announcement that she was among the five laureates: “my intention has always been to take advantage of the training processes in order to extract knowledge, skills and values from them. to make me a good professional”, she says proudly for her achievement.
Excited about this honor, Cibele Beatriz makes plans for the future: “in the Master’s course, I develop research focused on Teaching in Health, a way I found to unite my two graduations. In the future, I intend to enter a Doctorate in Education”. And who will be able to say that the ex-student of the Biological Sciences Course at the Martins hub will no longer achieve this goal?
Emotion took over the Virtual Collective Degree Collection of graduates of courses in Literature, Physical Education, Geography, Public Administration, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Mathematics and History, all in the Distance Education modality in the centers of Caicó, Currais Novos, Guamaré , Luís Gomes, Macau, Marcelino Vieira, Martins, Nova Cruz, Parnamirim and São Gonçalo do Amarante. The ceremony took place this Thursday night (8th) through a web conference transmitted by the SEDIS Channel on YouTube.
The ceremony was presided over by UFRN’s Deputy Secretary for Distance Education, Ione Morais, who, in her speech, highlighted the exceptional moment we are facing due to the covid-19 pandemic and the commitment of everyone at the University in building training quality that will contribute to the professional future of new graduates.
The now graduated in Biological Sciences, Wilderlan Barreto Brito, from the Polo de Guamaré, was moved to tears when he recalled the entire academic trajectory and made a point of emphasizing that Distance Education made students more prepared to face any type of adversity in the job market .
The professor of the Biological Sciences EaD course, Rute Alves de Sousa, thanked everyone for choosing to be the paranym of the graduating class. In her speech, she recalled the patron of Education, Paulo Freire, and the hope of transforming realities attributed to access to public education.
laureate students
Another exciting moment was the announcement of students awarded academic laurels. This is a tribute that the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) pays to the students who stood out most for their academic performance during their permanence in the respective course, awarding them the medal and diploma of student merit.
Five students received this honor, they were: Gessica Tamara Neves Rolim de Paula Romano, from the Public Administration Course (Luís Gomes Hub); Cibele Beatriz da Silva Oliveira, from the Biological Sciences course (Polo de Martins); Herbert Nunes Alencar, from the Geography course (Macau Polo); Fabiola Maria Dantas, from the Literature course (Polo de Caicó), and Phablo Araújo de Medeiros, from the Chemistry course (Polo Currais Novos).
If you didn’t attend the ceremony, just click here.
The Secretary of Distance Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Carmem Rêgo, gave, this Thursday (17), the closing lecture of the seminar “Syphilis and other STIs in the context of covid-19: technological mediation as an instrument of resilience”. The event, in a hybrid format, was hosted at the Open University of Portugal (UAb/PT) and brought together researchers from the Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health (LAIS/UFRN) and master’s and doctoral students from the Portuguese university.
Researchers and students develop scientific studies under the Project on Rapid Response to Syphilis in Care Networks, better known as “No Syphilis”. Through a web conference, Carmem Rêgo, who was in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, was able to communicate synchronously with researchers from several states in Brazil and with those who participated, in person, at the seminar, in Lisbon, capital of Portugal , and other regions of the European country.
The UFRN EaD Secretary is Vice-coordinator of “Sífilis Não” and for 15 minutes she presented the various actions developed by the Brazilian university in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. When addressing the “Resilience of the public university during the pandemic”, Professor Carmem Rêgo highlighted initiatives developed by SEDIS and partners in facing the difficulties imposed by social distancing, such as the production of a series of pedagogical support notebooks for educators to work with the Emergency Remote Learning.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we faced many challenges, but it was through technology-mediated education that we were able to show the academic community at UFRN that it was necessary to find urgent alternatives to deal with the scenario that presented itself”, said Carmem Rêgo, citing the various online courses produced with the support of the SEDIS/UFRN team for virtual learning environments such as AVASUS, AVAProgesp and AVAProex. The seminar lasted two days and also included the presentation of works by masters and doctoral students at UAb/PT.
