In academic events, the term webinar, originally from the English language (web based seminar), has been used a lot lately. The “web-based seminar” is an educational strategy that has been shown to be effective in the context of Emergency Remote Education. Thinking about it, the Pedagogical Coordination of Distance Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), will promote, from September 16, 2020, the series of webinars: “As we are living in pandemic times: let’s talk about Us?”.
According to the Pedagogical Coordinator of Distance Education at UFRN, Lilian Giotto Zaros de Medeiros, “the idea is to promote a moment of discussion and reflection on topics listed by students and by the Pedagogical Coordination team and that has been afflicting everyone in this pandemic”. Also according to Professor Lilian Giotto, this experience of educational action can be counted as a workload of Academic-Scientific-Cultural Activities (AACC), mandatory in the curricular structure of undergraduate courses at the University.
Interaction with distance learning students
The online activities will be directed to students of UFRN distance education courses and will involve professors, technical-administrative staff and other collaborators who work in this type of teaching at the University. Among the main objectives is to provide moments of learning and reflection on various themes and strategies of (about) living related to the reality faced during the pandemic of the covid-19.
The program will be developed weekly, over 10 weeks, with an estimated duration of 1 hour in each webinar session. The virtual events will be transmitted through the free software BigBlueButton, available on the page of the Pedagogical Coordination, within the Mandacaru Academic Virtual Learning Environment.
Registrations
Registrations must be made at Sigaa, clicking on Extension – View Courses or Events, and then just type the name of the Action Title (How are we living in pandemic times: are we going to talk about us?). Students who do not enroll will be able to participate in the activities, but will not receive the certificate. For the issuance of the document, the workload of 80% participation will be considered, which is equivalent to 8 virtual meetings.
The word overcoming has always been part of the vocabulary and routine of Jamilla Fernanda Macedo Batista. At 29 years of age, she celebrates another achievement: the victory against covid-19. She and her mother, Frassinete de Macedo Batista, 56, contracted the disease that has killed more than 121,000 Brazilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health, released on August 31, 2020. “I confess I was more apprehensive about the result positive from my mother, ”said Jamilla. For Dona Frassinete, it was also difficult: “every day that I woke up, after sleepless nights, I immediately thought about my daughter and asked me, how am I going to take care of her alone?”.
For Jamilla, an only daughter, and her mother, this was another important episode in the trajectory of love and struggle that the two are building together. During the treatment period, many memories came to the fore, one of them in particular: the graduation ceremony in the Distance Education Degree Course, in June 2018, at the Currais Novos Center, about 180 kilometers away. Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte (click here and watch a video about the event).
This event marked the crossing of barriers imposed by cerebral palsy, a chronic neurological injury that has accompanied Jamilla since childhood. With a commitment to speech, locomotion, movement of arms and hands, the graduate in Letters EaD from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte had, at her side, a support network composed of her mother, classmates, teachers , tutors, pole coordination and the Secretariat of Distance Education (SEDIS) of UFRN.
With the help of the internet, through an instant messaging application, Jamilla reported the changes in her life after graduation. “It changed in every way, I was already known in the area where I live, I became known to more people, even nationally. That’s how I like to talk: being a UFRN is another level ”, he highlights with enthusiasm. She said that the experience of distance learning at the University has made her develop the ability to forget physical limits and take even more taste for studies.
Motivational speaker
Last year, Jamilla Macedo completed the Specialization Course in Education, Poverty and Social Inequality, offered in distance learning, also by UFRN. From there, she says she reviewed her inspiring role and emphasized an activity that has already taken over her professional agenda, sharing experiences, through motivational talks: “I use a tablet, where I write, the device has a program that transforms text into speech and that is transmitted to a speaker ”. To type the words, she uses a tip attached to her left wrist.
Jamilla’s determination captivated the SEDIS / UFRN Accessibility Sector team. According to Elizabeth Ferreira, educational designer and sector flow manager, work was carried out in conjunction with other units of the University, such as CAENE – today, the Secretariat for Inclusion and Accessibility at UFRN -, demanding attention and sensitivity to meet all educational needs former university student’s specials during her graduation.
“Currently, 20 students in the EaD modality are accompanied by the sector, many need adapted materials and special attention”, explains Elizabeth Ferreira. It is this look of inclusion, without prejudice and with a lot of respect for the potential of each student that has transformed the reality of Jamilla Macedo. The motivational speaker says: “I feel happy and fulfilled, for transmitting positivity, in each lecture there is an exchange, so I show that everything is possible with limitations or not”.
“My greatest admiration is that when she says: I want and go to the fight, no matter if there are obstacles, she does not see physical disability as an obstacle”, concludes Dona Frassinete, mother and fan number 1.
The covid-19 pandemic caused changes in the work and study routines of millions of people throughout Brazil. In potiguares lands, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte has adopted several strategies, within the context of Emergency Remote Education, to minimize the impacts of these changes in academic activities.
With this objective, another qualification course will be offered, this time, having as main theme the “New Scenarios of Inclusive Education in the Context of Pandemic Covid-19”. The offer is from the Secretariat for Inclusion and Accessibility (SIA) of UFRN and has the support of the Department of Distance Education of the University and the Dean of Personnel Management (PROGESP / UFRN).
Professor Ricardo Lins, Secretary of Inclusion and Accessibility at UFRN and Course Coordinator, spoke about this initiative: “we hope to contribute so that teachers, civil servants, in general, can learn a little more about the discussion of Design Universal for Learning in this perspective of online teaching, understanding issues that are important when discussing accessibility in the virtual environment ”.
Also according to Ricardo Lins, in the course, which will last 20 hours, 10 synchronous and 10 asynchronous, teachers may have, in their virtual classes, blind, deaf, deaf-blind students, with attention deficit, with health disorders mental and therefore need to be prepared to encourage the effective participation of these students in remote activities.
For those interested in participating, registration is open and must be made at SIGRH, until Tuesday, September 1st, 2020. Just follow this path: Menu> Server> Training> Registration> Make Registration. Remote classes will be taught in PROGESP’s Virtual Learning Environment, AVAProgesp. The activity, which marks the beginning of the course, can be followed by the external public.
In the opening web conference, the special guest will be Professor Márcia Denise Pletsch, PhD in Education from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and Associate Professor from the Multidisciplinary Institute and the Postgraduate Program in Education, Contemporary Contexts and Popular Demands Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ).
The event, mediated by the Design Coordinator of the Informatics Superintendence (SINFO / UFRN), André Grilo, will be broadcast on the SEDIS Channel on YouTube, next Thursday (3), starting at 10 am.
Thinking about guaranteeing the access of university students in the distance education modality to activities related to the 2020.1 academic period (2020.6), the Secretariat of Distance Education (SEDIS) and the Dean of Student Affairs (PROAE) published, this Friday fair (21), another public notice for the selection of those interested in receiving the Digital Inclusion Aid for the acquisition of internet access data packages.
Public Notice No. 11/2020 aims to ensure full participation in the academic activities in which these EaD students enrolled, in the Integrated Management System for Academic Activities (SIGAA). The Aid will be granted in a single installment of R $ 150.00 (one hundred and fifty reais), being financed with resources from the Open University of Brazil (UAB) Program, therefore, restricted to active academics of undergraduate distance education courses.
Interested parties must adhere to or have already adhered to UFRN’s unique registration for student assistance, declare per capita family income of up to one minimum wage and be identified as “priority” in this register. Then, they must register at the Moodle Mandacaru Academic <https://mdl.sedis.ufrn.br/>, on the SEDIS Pedagogical Coordination page. Both the University’s unique registration and registration must be made from August 21, 2020 to August 24, 2020.
The present notice can be consulted on the “Contests” tab on the SEDIS website or by clicking here.
