At a meeting, leaders defined the next steps in Adventist education [Photo Credit: William Moraes]

South America

Adventist Education Network Will Integrate Digital Platform into School Units

Students will be able to access complementary resources within the classroom.

Brazil | Lucas Rocha

The technological advancements the pandemic has accelerated continue to have an impact on the content used in the classroom. If the quarantine encouraged educational networks to offer pedagogical content that explored the different languages ​​and resources of online platforms, how is the integration of this content with the return of students to the classroom?

This was one of the topics discussed at the National Meeting of Administrators and Educators of Adventist Education, held in late April. The purpose of the event was to recognize the efforts on behalf of the education network in the most serious period of the pandemic, as well as align strategies for the future of Adventist Education in the country.

The main transformation the school units of the Adventist network will undergo in the coming years is the creation of spaces that will allow students to access the complementary resources available on the e-class platform within the school itself, without having to have equipment or personal internet. This allows the integration between content offered digitally and what happens in the classroom to flow more organically. The plan is that in the coming years, each teaching unit will gain at least one room that will be called an e-class point.

“We are looking to the future, and it is from this perspective of innovation that we are going to implement the e-class point. We are going further because this is our vocation—our calling,” highlighted Professor Antônio Marcos Alves, general director of the Adventist Education Network in Brazil and seven other South American countries.

Teaching Also in the Virtual

The e-class platform allows the student to access content such as interactive classes and complementary content to the didactic material, as well as the performance of exercises and assessments about the student's learning, among other features. Now, with the e-class point, the goal is also to bring the aspect of human contact to the experience that was previously restricted to the virtual.

“The e-class project brought the digital world into the school. Now, with the e-class point, we want to materialize the partnership between Casa Publishadora Brasileira and Adventist Education, which is to have within each school unit a point of connection between the digital and the human being," explained Pastor Edson Medeiros, director-general of Casa Publicadora Brasileira (CPB), the publisher responsible for the production of teaching material used in Adventist schools in the country.

Pastor Marlon Lopes, the Adventist Church's financial director for eight countries in South America, stressed that the implementation of the e-class point is just another step of innovation within the denomination's education network. “It's not the last; it's just one more step. What we want to do is move forward quickly, understanding people's behavior, new needs, and understanding the advances that education can promote in this new corporate, family, educational, and teaching environment,” he pointed out.

Strengthening of Creationism

Another innovation the Adventist Education Network will implement in terms of teaching content is the production of films. During the meeting, administrators learned details of the first official feature film of Adventist Education in the world. The work Fossil Project: A Great Adventure was recorded in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, and will present a plot permeated by themes related to biblical creationism.

“We understand that a film like this will mark the minds and hearts of our students, and once again, we are going to reinforce one of the foundations of Adventist Education, which is the creationist perspective,” argued Professor Antônio Marcos Alves.

For Pastor Stanley Arco, president of the Adventist Church for eight South American countries, Adventist Education can be seen as an important ally of the Christian family. “Creationism in the classroom, lived on a day-to-day basis within the family, brings a better quality of life today and also plants a future and hope; this is extremely important. A Bible-based school and a Bible-based family makes society stronger every day,” he noted.

This article was originally published on the South American Division’s news site

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