The Dean of Undergraduate Studies (PRG) at Unicamp has just started, after completing one year of management, the second stage of the project to review the University's Undergraduate teaching. This stage follows the preliminary diagnosis and planning phase, carried out in 2017 at meetings of the Central Committee and Undergraduate Working Groups, with student representatives and in workshops and meetings with course coordinators, teachers, undergraduate secretariats, Academic Board and other bodies. support.
Throughout 2018, PRG will develop a series of activities to deepen reflection on necessary advances in search of more flexible curricula, which value interdisciplinary activities, also in small groups, focused on student learning, which are based on relevant literature . “We want to involve the entire internal community in this debate, seeking to make undergraduate education even more qualified, with curricula and educational strategies more aligned with the needs of future professionals and the profile of new generations of students”, defines the dean of Graduation, professor Eliana Amaral.
These initiatives to renew the Undergraduate Course are housed in a package of strategic projects, whose flagship is the RenovaGRAD. This specific project is responsible for offering support to course coordinators in activities related to the review, implementation of changes and monitoring of new pedagogical proposals, supported by data on the Undergraduate Course and a review of relevant literature. “This work has numerous components, which also include supporting teachers who are in direct contact with students in first-year subjects (EnterGRAD), to the coordinators, associated coordinators, unit directors and members of the Structuring Teaching Nucleus (NDE), who are academic managers in the units (GestaGRAD) and to the secretariats that support Undergraduate teaching (AssessoraGRAD). The instrumentalization of the actions is mainly the responsibility of EA² and GGTE, with the support of collaborating teachers from different units”, explains Eliana Amaral, referring to the Teaching and Learning Support Space and the Educational Technologies Management Group, respectively. .
Professor Soely Polydoro, coordinator of EA², highlights that since the beginning of the current administration, the organization has developed a large number of actions with the aim of raising awareness among the academic community to reflect on pedagogical projects. “We have promoted lectures and courses with national and international professors, but we also expanded actions, in 2017, with assistance to Undergraduate coordinators and visits to teaching and research units. We will hold a cycle of videos and debates about Unicamp's successful experiences. Furthermore, we are organizing activities in the form of workshop to involve courses within their areas of knowledge, to discuss current similar curricula and undergraduate training”, he lists.
In addition to activities with teaching staff, it is important to discuss proposed changes with the student body. The dean emphasizes that May 8, 2018 will be reserved, in the academic calendar, for evaluation and improvement proposals by undergraduate students. Thus, the expectation is that, supported by all these opportunities for reflection and discussion, teaching and research units will be able to present proposals for revising their curriculum and educational strategies, which must be approved by the Congregations and forwarded for presentation to the Central Undergraduate Commission. (CCG) by the end of 2018. “Probably, some units will propose more profound changes than others. It is important that these transformations result from a collective reflection, by teachers, students, academic managers and support teams, on how we should fulfill this primary mission of Unicamp, of training a new generation of students and future professionals in Undergraduate Studies based on data on profile of students, their academic monitoring and relevant literature”, he considers.
This new generation, continues Eliana Amaral, is made up of digital natives, who expect greater agility in the acquisition and applicability of knowledge. “We need to have pedagogical projects that value interdisciplinary activities that promote general skills, including socio-emotional ones, and that are flexible to meet different trajectories. Current curricula are very dense, which narrows the space for the inclusion of elective subjects, which contribute to the acquisition of knowledge and skills currently considered essential. The idea is to renew the Undergraduate Course from the same qualified academic-scientific perspective that we use in research in general. Unicamp is a university of recognized international quality. Undergraduate education needs to be aligned with current quality standards and training trends in higher education”, she analyzes.
Still along these lines, the dean points out that, with the increase in the diversity of students entering Unicamp, different previous experiences are observed. “Educational strategies must allow the contribution to growth that these differences offer to be taken advantage of. Furthermore, solving problems in groups, for example, allows the application of knowledge and a greater exchange of experiences, with better retention than an expository or demonstration class. Working as a team allows students to support each other in a collaborative learning process. Our role is to facilitate this process, changing the focus to greater protagonism and responsibility for the construction of knowledge by students. We have to focus our educational proposals on their training needs, promoting inclusive excellence in Undergraduate Studies”.
The backdrop to this broader effort, according to Soely Polydoro, are the subprojects linked to RenovaGRAD, such as IngressaGRAD, aimed especially at teachers who teach subjects in the first year of the Undergraduate Course. It aims to sensitize and equip teachers to the demands of incoming students, in relation to their integration into the university environment, academic performance and development of identity with their course. “The main purpose is to offer support for the role of welcoming newcomers, in order to understand their different needs, including adapting to an unfamiliar environment, with its culture and new forms and demands in the teaching and learning process”, says the EA² coordinator.
Having started on April 5th, five more lectures are scheduled within the scope of IngressaGRAD until the end of the first semester. According to data from Soely Polydoro, the program has the participation of 31 professors from various faculties and institutes in this first edition, demonstrating the interest of this segment in the topic. “As places are limited in each edition, we offer some open activities this semester to also serve those who were unable to register for this first version of IngressaGRAD”, she explains. Also under the “umbrella” of RenovaGRAD, the course Planning Teaching Conditions, in its ninth edition. In the course, which has 35 people enrolled in the version that started on April 11, the main decisions that a teacher must make for the adequate development of the teaching-learning process with their students are analyzed.
Another important initiative within the commitment to renew Undergraduate courses is the Teacher Training and Training Program for PEDs (PED +), aimed at postgraduate students linked to the Teaching Internship Program (PED), in a joint action with the Dean of Postgraduate Studies (PRPG). The aim is to create an opportunity for PED students to build their identity and train as university professors. PED + will offer a course with two semester modules, which can be completed independently. There were 77 applicants for 40 vacancies. Among the themes of the modules are “The university student and their integration and learning process in higher education” and “Teaching practice and active methodology”.
“In these training and reflection activities on teaching in higher education, we will rely on face-to-face activities complemented by others that use the support of electronic educational technologies. Hybrid teaching is a trend that needs to be experienced by the teaching staff and incorporated into proposals for renewing undergraduate teaching”, adds Eliana Amaral. Still in the projects for 2018, the pro-rector will carry out visits to teaching and research units to support coordination, undergraduate chambers and Structuring Teaching Centers and their congregations, providing any clarifications that may be necessary.
