Organization, communication and involvement, with special attention to those who have more difficulties in social isolation. These are the major challenges highlighted by the director of the Geosciences Institute (IG), professor Sergio Luiz Monteiro Salles-Filho, during this period of suspension of in-person activities at Unicamp. Since the publication of the Resolution GR 24/2020, the IG has been developing actions that allowed it to maintain its activities in a non-face-to-face manner.
On the first day of social isolation at Unicamp, the IG sought to involve the community to organize its contingency plan and its plan for non-face-to-face teaching activities with the creation of the Covid IG Working Group, which has around 25 members from the three segments of the Institute's community - faculty, staff and students. "Evidently, reorganizing all activities to operate remotely and bringing people to a convergence plan is something challenging, somewhat distressing and full of new things. Surely, all Units of the Universities have been going through this. At IG it was not and has not been any different", says director Sergio Salles-Filho.
The GT has been dedicating itself to discussing topics related to the Institute's operational and administrative activities, giving priority attention to the topic of non-face-to-face activities. There have already been six online GT meetings; in addition to two meetings with all teachers and another with undergraduate and postgraduate student representation. After two surveys among teachers to identify the availability of non-face-to-face courses during the semester and to identify among students the conditions for access to the Internet and equipment such as computers, tablets and cell phones, it was concluded that of the 76 courses offered at undergraduate level this semester, only one was cancelled.
According to professor Ricardo Perobelli Borba, coordinator of the undergraduate Geology course, the subject “Field Geology 3” could not be carried out because it mostly takes place in the field. According to the professor, the discipline will be offered in the second semester and the practical activities of those being offered online, such as microscopy laboratory activities, remote sensing and field activities, must be carried out upon the return of in-person classes. In a video, the coordinator of the Geography course, Vicente Eudes Lemos Alves, talks about the new subject created at IG, "AM 094 - Health Geography and Medical Geology", which is aimed at undergraduate students who have difficulty following those available in digital platforms. (Video below) In the IG postgraduate course, of the 55 subjects available during the semester, only 8 were canceled. In a video, the general coordinator, Emilson Pereira Leite, talks about the subject and highlights the concern for the Unit's student body when planning non-face-to-face activities. (Video below) According to professor Ricardo Perobelli Borba, 16 notebooks and tablets have already been lent directly by the IG to undergraduate and postgraduate students, available at the Institute or obtained through donation.
For director Sergio Salles-Filho, the contingency plan to maintain essential activities and the non-face-to-face teaching plan "were central pieces for us to operate in these conditions extraordinary. Although it is still early to evaluate, we believe that we have reasonably well-established communication, planning and decision channels. The academic committees work well, the administrative areas, library, information technology and laboratories continue to operate within a new routine", he told the Unicamp website. The Congregation of Unity has already met twice and actions that have been implemented have allowed contingency and non-face-to-face teaching plans to be put into practice. "We are learning and I believe we are building something positive, within what the moment requires", reflects the director.
According to Sergio Salles-Filho, "the IG community has shown itself to be extremely collaborative, participatory and willing to face the moment on all the fronts it demands. The discussions in the GT Covid19 IG, in the academic committees for undergraduate, postgraduate, research, extension, library, in the congregation and with the administrative and operational areas have been fundamental for the Institute", he says. "The unit has been collaborating with its skills to face the crisis, from the collection and delivery of equipment to students to the production in newsletters which summarize the scientific, patent and performance production of universities in Brazil and abroad related to combating the pandemic", he adds.
The IG management has been exchanging experiences with directors of 13 Exact and Technological Units systematically, almost daily, through an online communication application. "We shared a little bit of everything and that has helped a lot", recalls the director. In this unprecedented moment faced by the university and the population in general, exchanges of experiences help to adjust the new routine. The teacher remembers that intense teachings are being obtained. "It's difficult to describe and anticipate them. Things come for you to react to without any preparation, any futuristic thinking that would make us less uncomfortable today. Suddenly you are forced to reprogram the entire routine of organizations that inhabit very different planes, such as the University, families and circles of friendships. The professional and the personal, everything has to be reprogrammed. There is a mixture of reactions in people and institutions, sometimes rational by intuition, sometimes entirely emotional. The fact is that we are learning", says Sergio Salles-Filho. For the Unit's associate director, professor Márcio Cataia, "the fundamental teaching is to strengthen solidarity and cooperation. These terms, so dear to the Public University, need to be more widespread as fundamental social values. This pandemic is a Pharmakon. Unfortunately, it brings a tragic component, but we will emerge stronger in the defense of life, the world and the planet."
For the community of the Institute of Geosciences and the University, the management of the Unit leaves the following messages:
* Sergio Salles-Filho, director: "I congratulate the communities of this magnificent institution called Unicamp. Everyone responded to the call for a positive agenda in the face of an adverse situation. And, of course, take good care of yourselves. We will meet again soon."
* Márcio Cataia, associate director: "Congratulations to everyone (employees, students, male and female teachers) who knew how to show solidarity and discuss ways to overcome this moment."
Vicente Eudes Lemos Alves
Emilson Pereira Leite
