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tutors and teachers was the semi face-to-face format, with part of the work carried
out in long distance mode. In the case of the tutor-training course, we adopted a The
Long Distance Education Environment (TelEduc) to facilitate communication
between the educators at CECEMCA and the teachers-tutors. Tel-Educ Environ-
ment is a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) created by Centro de Computa¸˜o
(Center of Computation) of UNICAMP (University of Campinas) in 1997, with
various tools for virtual interaction such as a menu of activities and tasks, posting of
reading material, slides, films, chat room, e-mail, agenda, place for posting tasks
among others, that permit the creation and administration of long distance courses,
partially face-to-face and also used as support in the face-to-face classes.
In their continuing education courses, the tutors were prepared to coordinate
study groups for teachers, and were also responsible for the descriptive activities in
the Cartography topic, organization of practical activities, debates and discussions,
monitoring the group with the central themes: Cartographic Representation of the
Environment, Thematic Cartography in Environmental Studies, Remote Sensing in
Environmental Studies and Environmental Awareness and Educational Excursions.
The local tutors were instructed to draw up an agenda for each meeting to be
held, which was then sent to the center through the Virtual Environment (Tel-Educ)
before each meeting. Secondly, the tutors would post up personal details regarding
the meetings, such as the activities undertaken and records (written reports) of the
participating teachers on a board.
The written reports made at the end of each learning activity, face-to-face or in
distance learning mode, assisted part of the discussions in the study groups and
made it possible for local tutors under the supervision of the trainer and coordinator
of the course, to modify the activities at each meeting, according to the needs and
concerns reported.
5.6 Reports of Teachers and Educators
This experience of integrated education can open new possibilities for the perfor-
mance of teachers in the classroom. In the stories that follow appear the
mechanisms that the teachers adopted to carry out their work, reflecting on the
teaching material available and the necessity to adapt it to the needs of their pupils
with respect to age and their life context. Given the ready acceptance of the course
by teachers, it was interesting to note the initial comments of some teachers about
the versatility of the material in the disciplines, because the study groups were
comprised of teachers of different subjects and year levels. All names of teachers
and pupils are fictitious to preserve their identities:
I noticed the enthusiasm of teachers starting their study of cartography, the associations
made between theory and practice made them reflect and understand the great need to
develop activities for Cartography, not only in Geography but in all areas of knowledge.
The teachers thanked us for the opportunity to participate in the course offered, because in
their reports they were happy to say that: “It was very valuable because up to this point my
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