What is Unne-Virtual?

The UNNE-Virtual Program was created by Resolution No. 185/01-CS. Originally, it was aimed at complementing the pedagogical actions of the various Academic Units.

Over time, the strengthening and expansion of the action lines have shaped it as a Central Program of the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste University which depends on the General Academic Secretariat of the Rectorate. It is currently articulated with the different Academic Units and with other sectors and programs implemented by the University.

Apart from being a support for face-to-face education, the virtual modality has its own identity and allows teachers, tutors, and students to become part of a learning community where interaction and communication are the most significant aspects.  

The Academic General Secretary of UNNE is in charge of supervising and ruling UNNE-Virtual, which is an educational strategy based on the intensive use of information and communication technologies. The program has flexible operational structures and pedagogical methods, which allow the teaching-learning processes not to be limited or conditioned by any factor such as time, space, occupation, or age of the student. 

• Strengthening and to extent the University presence in the region, decentralizing academic activities, and generating information and communication systems. 
• Broadening UNNE's academic options through the elaboration, development, implementation, and evaluation of alternative educational modes of learning which allow the expansion and complementation of its coverage at provincial, regional, national and international levels. 
• Strengthening the intra-institutional and inter-agency linkage by means of distance education.
• Promoting the use of ICT in academic management areas, as well as in the implementation of research and extension projects. 
• Providing third parties with counseling services for the implementation of distance education options.  

Specific objectives.

• To promote the use of ICT in UNNE's undergraduate, postgraduate, and research and outreach activities by means of dissemination, training, technical-pedagogical counseling, and management of UNNE-Virtual, according to the principles of equity, quality, and innovation.
• To promote research and development projects within distance education that enhance the design, advancement, and evaluation of innovative educational proposals.  
• To provide training related to the educational use of ICT, teaching and evaluation methodologies, designing and adapting teaching materials, and all those dimensions involved in distance education. 
• To advise and collaborate on the use of UNNE-Virtual virtual platforms and other communication and information technologies.
• To guide, on its own, or with the collaboration of other areas of UNNE, external organizations in the feasibility, design, management, administration, implementation, and evaluation of blended or virtual education proposals.

Course of action.

The following course of action is determined under the specific objectives set out: 

Training

As regards this aspect, actions aimed at members and non- members of UNNE training for the use of virtual environments and ICT for educational purposes will be promoted. 

It includes actions that can or cannot be in collaboration with the Academic Units, such as:

1. UNNE teacher training courses to work in virtual learning environments.
2. Postgraduate options in virtual environments and ICT. 
3. Updating and improvement in the subject courses.

Technical – pedagogical assistance.

In conjunction with the Academic Units, Institutes, or Institutions, assistance will be provided aiming at the development and implementation of technical-pedagogical innovations in face-to-face and distance education options.

It comprises:

1. The designing of materials on different supports for virtual education.
2. Technical-pedagogical counseling on the designing, development, and evaluation of educational innovations based on the use of ICT. It includes the use of ICT as a support or a complement to face-to-face classes, as well as its use for the implementation of complete virtual options.
3. Management of virtual platforms and other technological resources typical of the modality.

Research

This guideline seeks to promote the production of knowledge in the field of distance education and the use of ICT as a pedagogical tool, based on the development of UNNE’s research projects or in collaboration with other research teams.

Communication:

The use and development of ICT in the educational field will be encouraged by the following activities:

• The dissemination of the Programme activities and the virtual modality via social and institutional means of communication.
• The organization and management of exchange spaces on the subject.