Abstract:

The Training and Formation Institute is the Institution of the University of the Republic (UdelaR) in Uruguay that is responsible for the training system for technical, administrative, and service staff (non-teaching staff) as part of the personnel administration policies adopted by the institution.

During last years the Institute had been working in deepen online courses and development of new devices for continuous training. Besides, the context of health emergency due to COVID-19 led, inevitably, to the virtualization of all planned activities. This fact makes necessary the application of innovative resources and the use of active methodologies within the virtual environment that allows students to promote, acquire, and consolidate the necessary transversal competencies for their integral training.

Great interest has arisen in the use of web videoconferences that allows us to continue the training in non-teaching staff, as well as new initiatives that provide tools to work in this context. From there, it could be shown that this modality could also be contributing to the access to training of those people who find themselves in unequal opportunities, particularly concerning the gender perspective and territoriality.

The goal of this research is to study whether the use of web videoconferences and the use of new educational resources in certain courses show that non-teaching staff from inland regions of the country and women employees take greater advantage of this learning modality. The gender studies have addressed the issue of reconciling family life and work as an axis of inequality, which influences both the educational and employment paths of women, a fact that also occurs within the employees of the UdelaR. Moreover, the possibility of providing face-to-face courses in the inland of the country is often limited by the availability of teachers and employees to move to Montevideo or other UdelaR regions.

This work will present the results indicators as the participation rate, the approval rate, and the dropout rate before the pandemic situation and during it, discriminating by gender and territory. In addition, some aspects related to web videoconferences used in the courses are evaluated with participants. Among them, we can find access to the platform, use of its functions, hourly dedication per week, proposed activities, educational resources, teamwork and compatibility with work and family life.

Results will also be shown concerning surveys evaluation surveys of the course, which includes questions related to the scope and course goals. These tools seek to obtain information, in order to evaluate these modalities for improvement in future editions of courses.

Keywords:

Virtual learning, web videoconferences, adult education, education for work, equality.