URACCAN and its educational contingency plan before COVID-19

By: Ricardo Guzmán Sánchez

The rector of the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN), Dr. Alta Hooker, met with her directors and area directors yesterday to design an educational contingency plan in the face of the threat of COVID-19 in the country.

The planning was carried out in coordination with the four URACCAN campuses, in order to ensure the safety of students, teachers and administrative staff who are part of this large intercultural university family.

"URACCAN," Dr Hooker said, "is ready to make the leap to virtuality." In this sense, it should be noted that this Intercultural Community University, since 2008 has developed online education programs. Teachers and students have experience in this educational modality through the Moodle platform.

Year after year, URACCAN trains its teachers and students in the use of virtual platforms. According to the Master's Degree Marlon Peralta, Director of the Institutional Information and Communication Technology System (Sitici), this university has been using the Moodle platform as a complement and support of face-to-face education, in order to enrich the teaching-learning process.

In addition, the Sitici, in coordination with the Directorate of Computer Security, guaranteed the IT infrastructure for this important step and URACCAN has developed fully virtual diplomas and master's degrees.