The II MetaRed Brasil Universities Meeting began this Wednesday (2), a network formed by Higher Education Institutions in the country that promotes the exchange of experiences and the development of projects to expand and improve the use of digital resources in teaching, research and university management. Held online, the event will feature discussions on topics such as hybrid teaching strategies, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
The rector of Unicamp, Marcelo Knobel, participated in the opening of the meeting, sharing some of the experience and learning obtained by the University throughout 2020 in a round table with Daniel Castanho, president of the Anima Educação Board. Also participating in the first day of the meeting were Hermes Ferreira Figueiredo, president-rector of MetaRed Brasil; Anderson Pereira, director of Universia Brasil; Fábio Reis, executive secretary of MetaRed Brasil; and Tomás Jiménez Garcia, coordinator of MetaRed Global.
Before the dialogue between Marcelo Knobel and Daniel Castanho, participants were able to hear an overview of the discussions already held during the III Meeting of Rectors and Presidents, also held in October by MetaRed Brasil. Hermes Figueiredo emphasized that, due to technological advancement itself, universities are already experiencing a digitalization process that requires the replanning of several practices. However, the coronavirus pandemic made this even more evident, demanding not only the finding of technological solutions, but the need to establish comprehensive projects. "Recent experience shows that, however, it is not enough for institutions to have access to technology and the multitude of tools currently available without establishing new attitudes and new behaviors. The new global reality will require our institutions to implement consistent and sustainable projects ", stated Figueiredo.
Throughout the debate, rector Marcelo Knobel explained that, despite being a university of excellence, Unicamp did not have the need to adapt its work to a remote format due to the pandemic, a situation shared with other institutions in the country. Even with the initial difficulties, he considers that the University has been successful in this task: "We managed to make a very careful and very complex transition: 97% of Unicamp's subjects were maintained remotely, even the subjects in the laboratory", he shared.
For Knobel, the adaptation process is constant and includes workshops, training courses and other experiences that have been positive. He believes that this baggage accumulated by professors and university managers should be applied to new projects. "We need to improve even further, which is why networks like MetaRed are so important. Now the next step is to take advantage and create new disciplines, new courses in conjunction with universities, with students from different areas, with professors from different institutions. We need to take advantage this impulse that the pandemic brought to this possibility of digital connection to bring innovation to our sector", commented the dean.
Daniel Castanho also shared with the participants situations that provoked questions in him about the teaching process that occurs today in universities. He defended that digital resources can be used to improve the transmission of content, so that moments of interaction, in person or remotely, are valued and enriched. "I believe that, instead of thinking about face-to-face and distance learning, we should think about synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Both have their benefits, because what is important? Interaction, conversation, collective construction. For me, this is the big difference. Everything can be summed up in one question: the quality of presence. It is the quality of presence that defines the value of a school", said Daniel.
The discussion was accompanied by questions posed by participants regarding the greatest difficulties and successes that managers believe they have achieved over this period. The meeting ended with a presentation by Tomás García regarding MetaRed Global's projections for 2021 and an overview of MetaRed Brasil's activities presented by Fábio Reis.
"The idea is to stop working in isolation"
MetaRed is an international network made up of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal and Spain, in addition to Central American and Caribbean countries. It aims to promote debates and collaborative work on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the 810 member universities and 1.489 participating educational agents. In the country, MetaRed Brasil has more than 50 member universities, public and private. In it, Unicamp is responsible for coordinating the Educational Technologies Working Group, under the responsibility of professor Marco Antonio Garcia de Carvalho, coordinator of the Educational Technologies Management Group (GGTE).
"The idea of a network is to stop working in isolation, share problems, strengths, create synergies", explained Fábio Reis in his review of MetaRed Brasil's performance in 2020. The meeting continues until this Friday (4) online and links to access videoconferences are available at MetaRed Brasil page.
