The Mario Quintana School is an important Brazilian kindergarten, elementary and high school, based in Pelotas/RS, first place in ENEM 2019 in the South region. It was one of the many companies impacted by the pandemic in early 2020.
With the imminent risk of closure of all commercial establishments, we were approached to implement distance learning and digitalization of the student-teacher relationship in order to continue the company’s operations.
We had two clear objectives:
- reinitiate the school’s activities in the virtual environment in 7 days;
- make the culture of distance learning a permanent reality, even in the post-pandemic scenario, resulting in a hybrid face-to-face-online teaching environment, within a total implementation period of 30 days.
After several awareness meetings with the board about diving headfirst into distance learning technologies, we implemented a three-week emergency training program for a heterogeneous group of 140 teachers using Zoom and Google Classroom resources.
Even at the beginning of the lockdownsBut without face-to-face contact between the teachers, it was necessary to reconnect them with their respective work environments, secretaries and directors – and thus reduce the sense of anxiety and uncertainty that haunted that period. To do this, we chose to use the best social tool available on the market, the sensational Workplace, a commercial Facebook product for companies.
It was a complete success, and in less than a week everyone was back up and running, organized into work groups, with easy access to all their colleagues and with trust re-established. All of this allowed the guidelines defined with management to move forward quickly with the employees.
From this moment on, it was clear that the entire school team would remain strongly committed to the excellent progress of the project until the end.
The complete program included training for Mario Quintana’s IT team; consultancy for adapting the computers, both for the school and the teachers; guidelines for acquiring cameras and equipment; configuration of the Zoom, GSuite and Workplace administrative panels, detailed training for the teaching staff, guidelines for the board of directors, on-call questions and daily reassessment of the project’s progress in order to meet the targets, raise awareness among the entire teaching staff and create habits of using all the tools in less than 30 days. It was an intense time, which paid off!
The tools used were designed exactly for the company’s reality and fit in perfectly. Today, the school remains at the forefront of the country’s southern region, and now with an even closer eye on what is happening in the digital world. Parents are proud, students are motivated and staff are confident.
Visit the school’s website at https://marioquintana.com.br to find out more about the company’s beautiful history.
Check out the images from the project’s first day on air below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-pb9W5pn4Q/
