Solange, 43, has worked as a nurse for just over 10 years. In the past decade, she noticed that her mental and psychological strains were increasing as the days passed and she felt the need to change her professional area. During the conversations and debates with her college daughter, Solange chose to enter the field of Civil Engineering, but she knew that a great barrier was waiting for her: Mathematics.
After starting to attend classes, the aspiring engineer has always dedicated herself a lot, especially to Math classes, but she realized that her knowledge was not enough to follow some contents. She started her search for a private teacher; however, in contact with Eniac´s teachers, she noticed that the institution was evaluating a platform focused on teaching mathematics that would act as a support and as a development and practice tool for students. After all, Eniac is hands-on.
"It is a challenge, a very big challenge, and that is where the Aleks platform comes into my life" — affirms the student when telling about the solution that Eniac brought to her need. In search of a way to help students and allow them to develop their mathematical skills in a practical way combined with technology, the Centro Universitário Eniac identified and applied the Aleks platform with the students. Its acronym stands for Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces. It is a paid site — but was made available by Eniac to its students with no additional cost — which uses Artificial Intelligence to guide the student on his learning curve. In addition to the platform, each student has an Eniac´s tutor, who has his/hers expertise focused on Mathematics, in order to assist them with any questions that arise along the way.
Solange says that it has been a very big challenge for her and that she is enjoying the experiences with Aleks and the teachers of the institution. “This platform and Eniac's teachers have truly been a cure for me, an inner cure. [...] Teachers need to know what they are capable of doing in a student's life. I don't know if they have heard of healing in the classroom, but I am one of them ”, says the student with a sparkle in her voice.
About the platform, she says that there is really a stimulus when it comes to doing the exercises and that the combination of technology with the teachers is important: “It is a fantastic proposal from Eniac, this platform is very good, excellent. It forces us to learn and to develop. It is not a simple Math exercise to grade, it is the development of learning ”. Still in her speech, Solange says that the fact that teaching happens in a virtual way did not present any impediment in its development and that contact with the teacher is very important at this moment: “This platform and the opportunity that Professor Daniel (de Oliveira, coordinator of the Eniac Research Center) made us available on Saturdays helped us to have more presence. We are closer, even though we are physically distant. This fully meets our needs ”.
Finally, Solange tells us a little about her evolution in terms of Math knowledge and states that “wow, my God, it makes me want to cry”. “I do the exercises and often spend two hours studying each day, not the week as we stipulate. But it is not out of fear or having to be accountable, but out of satisfaction, for pleasure”, says the student. She affirms that Eniac is different and that the symbol of this difference is the teachers because they have the resilience and the pleasure to teach, to welcome all students.
“They are the symbol, they are the difference. If it weren't for their resilience on having the pleasure of teaching, being welcoming, and willing to go to the blackboard and teach, but really teach, that's the difference. The student enters with the responsibility of wanting to learn and if he/she wants to learn the teacher is totally available to teach for real. [...] I really am Eniac, I see myself at Eniac and I am happy to be a student and to be part of the institution ”, concludes Solange, with a breath of relief.
