Education Brazil Project #49589

Synapse: say no to illiteracy

by IPTI - Research Organization for Technology and Innovation INC

Project Report | Feb 17, 2022
Progress report 2

By Sonia Esteves | Institutional Relations

STATUS ACTIVITIES

In 2021, we developed the basic module of the Synapse Course in the municipalities of Josenopolis and Padre Carvalho in Minas Gerais. The course consisted of six training units, a final seminar, and pedagogical activities. We had the enrollment of 47 teachers in Josenopolis, and about 20 remained active until the end of the course. In Padre Carvalho, 60 enrolled, and about 31 were active until the end of 2021.

During the training, the field coordination developed the Planning Support Group (GAP), putting together the teachers to clarify doubts about the training, support access to the online platform, and guide the elaboration of activities.

In addition, throughout the training of the basic module, professionals from each region were invited to contribute with the local version of the pedagogical material, incorporating new activities and inserting elements of the local culture and repertoire within the perspective of contextualizing the Synapse Technology.

The activities were collected and analyzed by the replicators and the field coordinator, and they will be included in the Synapse Pedagogical Notebook between January and March.

The final seminar was on December 6th, and we had the attendance of 11 teachers from Josenopolis and 31 from Padre Carvalho to close the year. The event had representatives from several municipalities in the Jequitinhonha Valley who went to honor the presentations made by the teachers. It was a contagious event, and the teachers could exchange many experiences.

NEXT STEPS

Despite the pandemic's challenging context, the reapplication of TAG and Synapse in Minas Gerais has been satisfactory. The formation of Synapse ended in 2021, culminating in a Final Seminar in which teachers from both municipalities had the opportunity to get to know each other and exchange experiences.

However, the TAG formation ends at the beginning of 2022, since the beginning of the activities of this project in the municipalities started a little later than expected, given the difficulties in the articulation to establish the partnership with Josenopolis and Padre Carvalho.

The next steps for Synapse are the adaptation of Synapse's pedagogical resources to the local context, the certification of teachers who have completed the basic module, and the selection of possible reappliers of social technology in the municipalities involved in the project to act as trainers next year.

Permalink

Aug 16, 2021
Progress Report 1

By Debora Bahia | Project Leader

1) Kick-off

In March, Synapse and TAG teams, represented by Deisy Alves (Synapse coordinator), Silvia Regina (RPS Executive Secretary), and Yago Reis (TAG coordinator), visited Minas Gerais to know the local situation and environment. During this visit, they collected data from municipal schools, carried out the first alignments with the municipal secretariats of Padre Carvalho and Josenópolis, and interviewed local people to work on the project.

2) Synapse

Due to the pandemic context, we are using the hybrid model for Synapse formations. The Basic Module has 80 hours of duration, distributed over eight meetings of 4 hours each, remote activities via Google Classroom and WhatsApp platform, and we have online synchrony in each unit. This module teaches technology pillars, how to plan classes using contextualization objectives, and Portuguese Language and Mathematics matrices, all aligned with the BNCC (National Comom Basic Curriculum). In March, we adapted the first units of the Basic Module of the Synapse Course to the remote format.

The awareness of these municipalities' teachers, administrative technicians, and managers was also carried out in the distance, synchronous modality through the Google Meet platform. The sensibilization of professionals in Josenópolis was on March 4, 2021, and in Padre Carvalho, on March 16. Deisy Alves, Silvia Regina, and Yago Reis conducted the mediation of the meetings. This event aimed to present Synapse and TAG to the target audience and raise their awareness to participate in the training. You can see the recordings of these awareness events in each of the municipalities in the following links:

After that, the application form for the Synapse Training course was available, reaching 46 applicants in Padre Carvalho and 23 in Josenópolis. The training started on April 16, 2021. Currently, the teachers are taking Unit III. We expect to begin Unit IV in person, respecting the sanitary protocols imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The estimate for the following units is attached.

Two re-applying professors from Sergipe conduct the training, transmitting knowledge to their colleagues in these municipalities. As of July, they are monitored by a field coordinator, hired specifically to help throughout the process, continuously structuring the Pedagogical Support Group (GAP) in each municipality. GAP is formed by the field coordinator and the local professors and teachers who stand out in the appropriation of the Synapse methodology. The re-applying teacher continues to remotely support the teacher-students via communication tools, such as WhatsApp.

3) TAG

In Padre Carvalho, a survey of data from the public schools in the municipalities was carried out. The Educacenso database was collected and input into the TAG platform. The next step will be the training of the secretariat team. In Josenópolis, we are awaiting the sending of data from Educacenso for insertion in the platform and training of professionals.

TAG system training will be divided into five modules of 4 hours each and aims to serve up to 60% of professionals linked to school management in the two municipalities. During a semester, we will monitor its use face-to-face or remotely for an adequate system appropriation. You can see the following scheduled modules attached.

4) Conclusion and next steps:

The project execution is following the expected schedule and work plan. The pandemic context demanded the adaptation of the Synapse project to the hybrid model, which made teachers' engagement in training more challenging, but, given the current possibilities, we understand that it is well underway. We expect to resume face-to-face activities in September, increasing the engagement in the Synapse Course and enabling the realization of TAG training. Because of its specificities and the difficulty of secretariat teams in dealing with technology, it could not be adapted to the model from a distance.

In the following steps, we will continue the application of the training course on Synapse methodology and the implementation of the Planning Support Group (GAP) within the scope of Synapse. About TAG, the focus will be on collecting data from the Educacenso* and customizing the system with data from Josenópolis, and beginning training in both municipalities. We will also contract local support for the TAG in the region.

*Educacenso is a detailed radiograph of the Brazilian educational system. The tool allows obtaining individualized data on each student, teacher, class, and school in the country, from the public (federal, state, and municipal) and private school systems.

Synapse training

TAG Schedule

Synapse syncronous class

Kick-off

Permalink

Mar 16, 2021
Synapse - MG - Project funded

By Sonia Esteves | Developer Director

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