RECODE TecEscola

The current context shows that the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, and particularly in the Brazilian scenario, forced the suspension of classroom activities. The unpredictability resulting from the pandemic evidenced different challenges, among them re-signifying the bonds, in general, between teachers and students. 

TecEscola is a project to support public school teachers in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the use of technology. We are proposing remote training for teachers with a focus on the adoption of active methodologies, which in turn enhance the use of digital tools. We believe that the pandemic has raised an urgent discussion around the importance of using technology as a mediator in the teaching-learning process.

  Once replicated, our training journey can fight school dropout and contribute to the development of students' socio-emotional skills directly linked to the promotion of their autonomy. 

Digital inclusion does not exist for 4.8 million students in Brazil, the inequality is reflected in education. The data released by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), show the inequality in access to education in the country, which is wide open at the time when classroom classes are suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With online activities and classes, 17% of students enrolled in Brazilian schools are unable to satisfactorily follow the school syllabus, according to UNICEF. 

 Among the main challenges when it comes to digital inclusion in public schools is to training teacher habilities of the use of technologies. According to the survey 'What do Brazilian teachers think about digital technology in the classroom?', by the Todos pela Educação movement, 66% of public school teachers pointed out the limitation in the use of technological resources. 

Training for public school teachers. Through the discussion of topics related to active methodologies, encourage the teacher to use digital tools during their lesson plan. Teachers, during training, produced lesson plans based on learning by projects (active methodologies) that were hosted on a virtual platform. The project also aimed, through the offer of the virtual platform, to create a bank of lesson plans that would be made available to teachers across the country.

Among the most evident positive points for the teacher who adopts digital inclusion in schools is the autonomy and the adoption of teaching strategies, which seek to create a more efficient learning process. 
The main objectives of the project are:
• Encourage innovative pedagogical practices, that address content related to work, technology, and culture and facilitate the insertion of young people in the labor market.
• Encourage the authorship of teaching and teaching material by teachers.
• Foster the professional training of teachers through continuing education.
• Promote access to social and professional development programs for young people between 15 and 17 years old.
• Encourage the technological training of young people. 

The TIC Education 2019 survey shows that 39% of urban public school students do not have a computer or tablet at home. In private schools, the rate is 9%.

The data show the scenario in which education entered the pandemic in 2020 and indicate a possible challenge in remote education, set up in a hurry when there was a need to close schools to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Without computers, students can find it difficult to access online content, which has replaced face-to-face classes.

Connectivity: 21% of public school students only access the internet via cell phone. In the private network, the rate is 3% 

Regions: Internet use exclusively by cell phone is higher in the North (26%) and Northeast (25%)

Virtual platforms: 14% of public schools (state and municipal) had a virtual learning environment or platform before the pandemic

Online learning: 16% of students from the public and private network declared to have participated in online courses and 24% took simulations or tests, which may indicate current difficulties in keeping up with the virtual learning environment. The older the student, the higher the index.

Teachers: 53% of teachers said that the absence of a specific course for the use of computers and the internet in classes makes their work very difficult; for 26%, it makes it a little difficult - the sum is 79%.

Interaction: between 2016 and 2019, the percentage of urban public institutions whose parents or guardians used profiles or pages on social networks to interact with the school rose from 32% to 54%

In addition to making the execution unfeasible, these setbacks end up demobilizing teachers in their creative process. with the conditions adequate, the chances of involvement of the teachers are much bigger, and the engagement of the students ditto.

On the other hand, we found that the donation of equipment for the teachers was not decisive for their participation, although of having been an attractive factor for the project.

Teacher training is a fundamental part of the TecEscola project since one of its main goals is to transform education incorporating technology into everyday school life.

For this, it is necessary to train teachers for the qualified use of new technologies, presenting tools, approaches, and pedagogical strategies that support them in this task.

TecEscola's main focus is on two actors that make up the school community: teachers and students. However, for its full development, managers and pedagogical coordinators must be also involved from the beginning of the initiative.

Pedagogical managers and coordinators have the fundamental responsibility to support the planning and carrying out of the activities that make up the project designed by teachers and students. This support is reflected in the warranty and facilitating access to both the technological resources available at the school and/or in the classroom class, like computer labs, connection with the Internet, and devices in general (laptops, tablets, cell phones, smartphones, etc.), as well as motivational and pedagogical support in encouraging people to carry out the planned activities.

To help in this process, the NGO Recode is working to make constants improvements, so our teaching platforms can also be accessed by cell phone, which facilitates the participation of students who do not have computers or tablets in their homes.

The digital culture recognizes that new communication and information technologies undertook a transformation in our relationship with knowledge and, in consequence, in the way we learn today. The linear and watertight teaching-learning process, in which the teacher was the only one holder of knowledge, lost space to a dynamic, interactive, and cooperative process, where teachers and students together should be co-responsible for the pedagogical itinerary. The first part of the project aims to bring together the actions that refer to the continuing education of teachers for the use of technology, addressing the most relevant aspects and guidelines for its replication. 

From 2015-2017,in Brazil, the project aimed to support state school teachers in the use of these new tools in their pedagogical projects. We trained 132 educators from 57 schools, directly impacting 4700 students. The relationship developed since the beginning of the project was towards alignment and collaborative construction. All appointments and steps were taken in common accord.

The entire methodology of the NGO Recode bets on the creative potential of the subjects. Both the training of teachers and students should indicate a space for the creation of ideas and experimentation so that authorship and autonomy are encouraged. Teachers were challenged to develop new projects based on the use of resources and digital methodologies. Students are encouraged to talk about their communities from their point of view and to create websites of personal interest. This methodology allows subjects to better appropriate the content if become managers of this content and mobilize skills associated with the resolution of problems, collaborative processes, protagonism, and effective communication. 

From 2015-2017,in Brazil, the project aimed to support state school teachers in the use of these new tools in their pedagogical projects. We trained 132 educators from 57 schools, directly impacting 4700 students. 

With greater investment, our goal is to triple this number of beneficiaries in a second edition, because with the pilot project we gained a lot of know-how, with we were able to identify flaws, relocate them and improve what worked. In this way, the number of people impacted will grow organically, so in 5 years we hope to reach other neighboring states.

The training of teachers at TecEscola has as the main objective to provide subsidies for the participating teachers to apply the project learning methodology in their classes, incorporating technology into school activities. In this sense, it is expected that, throughout the training process, teachers create learning cycles, interdisciplinary or not, engaging their students in carrying out a project.
Learning by the project is a pedagogical approach based on
solving problems and challenges. it is to promote meaningful learning, encouraging students to apply the knowledge developed throughout the cycle of learning in carrying out an action,
product, idea, or task, that is, of a project.
As a result of these actions, we have teachers better prepared for the challenges of education today and proactive and more stimulated students in the classroom.

Around 25 people.

Our team is composed of qualified people, both in the pedagogical and technological areas, in addition to the support of the institutional development team to raise funds and new partners, in addition to the marketing team that plays an important role in the dissemination of the project.

Our team already has, within its members, this diversity of race, culture, and gender and we replicate this same social inclusion in our training classes.

We hope through the award to get more funders to finance our next edition of the project

We always seek to improve our infrastructure through employee training and improvement in our technology. Metrics are important to measure the impact generated by each project, this is an important factor that we need to improve in our institution

The Mit Solve Members, and network in general.

We already work together with refugee organizations in Brazil. Through this prize, we want to translate our platform to other languages to help those who don´t domain our language yet but want to take our courses.

Respect for cultural diversity, gender, race, creed, among other differences is constantly worked on in our teaching platform. This award would help to further improve the quality of these platforms, bring in more speakers to talk about these topics, among other investments needed to work increasingly for social inclusion and combating racism.

Recode has projects aimed only at the female audience, to empower women for the IT market, today with its vacancies occupied mostly by men, but TecEscola is focused on all genders. If the award can be used in another of our projects, then we would like to participate.

We have a virtual reality project, called 360º Filmmakers, it is a project – conceived in partnership with Facebook – that trains students and educators from public schools across the country to use 360º video technology to produce films that portray issues relevant parts of their communities.

Throughout the project, students learn to develop scripts, film using 360º technology, and edit their videos.
In 2018 and 2019, the best film produced and its directors, by region, were taken to a group of judges at an event in Brasília.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, the project format was adapted
• Re-engagement of 10 schools that have already participated in the Filmmakers Project + 10 new schools.
• Online initial training with tutoring of alumni of the 2018 and 2019 Project.
• Production of 10 videos in VR
• Expected impact:
* 10 films produced
* 20 schools
* 720 students
* Online National Festival with the exhibition of the 5 best productions.

This fund will help us finance the next edition of this project.

We have a virtual reality project, called 360º Filmmakers, it is a project – conceived in partnership with Facebook – that trains students and educators from public schools across the country to use 360º video technology to produce films that portray issues relevant parts of their communities.

Throughout the project, students learn to develop scripts, film using 360º technology, and edit their videos. In 2018 and 2019, the best film produced and its directors, by region, were taken to a group of judges at an event in Brasília.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, the project format was adapted • Re-engagement of 10 schools that have already participated in the Filmmakers Project + 10 new schools. • Online initial training with tutoring of alumni of the 2018 and 2019 Project. • Production of 10 videos in VR • Expected impact: * 10 films produced * 20 schools * 720 students * Online National Festival with the exhibition of the 5 best productions.

This fund will help us finance the next edition of this project.