XNUMXst Distance Learning Managers Meeting - Bahia

Distance Education Managers from several public and private higher education institutions in the state of Bahia met at the Convention Center of Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, on August 24, where they participated in the XNUMXst Meeting of Distance Learning Managers of the State of Bahia.

An initiative of the Brazilian Association of Distance Education – Núcleo Bahia (ABED-BA), the event was attended by Prof. Alfredo Matta, local coordinator of the entity, Dean of Extension of the Bahiana, Prof. Carolina Pedroza, from the manager of the Educational Technologies Development Center at Bahiana (CEDETE), Prof. Antônio Carlos Costa and coordinator of the EAD course in Health Informatics at Bahiana, Prof. Dr. Marta Menezes. The works were opened by the national executive secretary of ABED, Rita Maria de Lino Tarcia, who interacted with the participants through a web conference, transmitted from São Paulo.

According to Prof. Alfredo Matta, "today, we are creating, here, a tradition, a culture of demand and collective discussion regarding distance education, at the state level. The national ABED loved the initiative and is supporting us. We need it, this year, even if with few institutions, create this first collective document. I think that, with this, we will be stronger next year.” The representative of ABED-BA also highlighted the support of the Bahiana during the event. "I think the support of the Bahiana is very important for all that I said. Due to its tradition, for being a private institution that has a very good quality image and as an institution that carries out distance learning. Your participation is of great value, as ABED always wants to bring together the corporate, the public and the private".

In her opening speech, Rita Maria de Lino Tarcia pointed out as one of the challenges of distance education in Brazil, the paradigm shift regarding the teacher's vision. "We have to be open to change. There is the challenge of bringing distance education to traditional scenarios, such as face-to-face teaching, in which there is still a view towards the teacher's role as a transmitter of knowledge and, when looking at distance education, the knowledge to be transmitted is often already posted. This causes us to be called upon to 'redraw' the role of the teacher".

According to the national representative of ABED, the meeting held at Bahiana it is extremely important, as it promotes the strengthening of distance education in Brazil. "Being together, this afternoon, with all this potential for learning, experiences, knowledge, is extremely important for each and every one, because, in this way, the participants are consolidated as a group that seeks support, promotes a space for exchange and they take this learning, as multipliers, to their units. The regional centers are the great nodes of this network that builds distance education in our country."


EAD in Bahiana

As well as the most important higher education institutions in the country, the Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública it has also been investing its efforts in consolidating Distance Education in the institution. The first steps were taken in 2007, with the implementation of the Virtual Learning Environment platform, among other actions. "THE Bahiana believes that it is the future of the educational process to be able to make online teaching available so that people from different representational systems – more auditory, more visual, more kinesthetic – can better benefit from the benefits that this type of teaching proposes. For some years, the institution has been making available all the resources for distance learning to support its in-person teaching. Every institution, to offer this type of teaching, needs to have a virtual learning environment. Since 2007, we have created this space at the institution using the Moodle platform, which is free software and has the participation of several researchers who collaborate with its improvement”, explains Prof. Antonio Carlos.

It highlights the use of distance education tools from Bahiana in the specialization course in Mental Health and Primary Care. Once a month, the course holds a class with guest professors, which is broadcast online from Cedete's videoconference room, enabling students to watch from anywhere. This class is recorded and made available on the AVA for those who could not follow its live broadcast.

In addition to the actions carried out in the AVA, the Bahiana is getting ready to launch a distance technological graduation course in Health Informatics. "We are in the approval stage at the MEC for our distance education course in Health Informatics. This is an important segment for the health area in the Today, for everything, we use information technology. We have designed an undergraduate course that will train technology professionals for the market who have an eye on health", explains Prof. Dr. Marta Menezes.

The vast possibility of using resources in the virtual environment is one of the advantages highlighted by the teacher, in the distance method. "In the virtual environment you can use much more resources than in the presence. Videos, games and a series of other tools can be used". She claims that the means of communication and transmission of knowledge, currently available on the market (mobile phones, tablets, etc.), have changed the way of learning. "Learning is no longer linear, it is anarchic insofar as it is learned in a network. With the resources of distance education, it is possible to do this with quality, building effective and efficient teaching, with greater ease of fixation".