Historical review

Date of inclusion within the organization chart of FACEN

The Department of Virtual Education of the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales of Universidad Nacional de Asunción started its activities in 2010, trough of Resolution Nº 1058-2009 of the Directing Council.

Mission statement

The Department of Virtual Education is a dependence of FACEN, responsible for offering training programs, specialization and continuous training  in the areas  of Exact and Natural Sciences, Technologies and Teacher training, in the different modalities of virtual education, trough the use of information and communication technologies, that allow the fulfillment of the purposes of the Universidad Nacional de Asunción.

Department objectives

Plan, organize, design, implement and supervise educational projects in the distance and semipresencial mode, as well those related to the incorporation of new technologies in teaching practices in the FACEN.

Degree Programs

Bachelor in Mathematics Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Basic Sciences Education and Technologies

Bachelor of Science in Mathematic Statistics

Bachelor in Production Technology

Postgraduate

Didactic for university teachers

Characteristics of the modality

The semipresencial modality combines classroom activities (meetings with tutors, classes, final exams) and non-presential activities, through the virtual platform, which is the support for all the management work of the participants and the virtual classroom in which the learning activities are developed. It should be noted that the virtual f@cen platform is used as support for the subjects of the courses of the face-to-face mode offered by the FACEN.

The main characteristic of the courses is that they are centered on the participant. It enhances cooperative work and active, interactive and collaborative learning.

Advantage and limitation

The main advantage is the flexibility offered by distance education supported by new technologies that helps to distribute study time. The only limitation to this flexibility is the need to adjust to the proposed work schedule, especially in those group activities that require the interdependence of a student’s work with the rest of the group. In addition, the course offers, through its face-to-face part, the benefits of personal contact with both the course leaders and the rest of the students.

Access to courses

The access to the courses is through the domain  www.virtual.facen.una.py, mediated by the virtual f @ cen platform. To do this, the Department of Distance Education assigns each student an username and password, with which they can enter the virtual classroom from any computer that has access to the Internet. Virtual classrooms contain information about each subject, such as didactic guides, resources (materials for downloading or working online) and activities (tasks, forums) that are being enabled in the platform according to the period of time that requires it. For each subject, a virtual tutor attends all the queries that are made through the platform in a term that does not exceed 24 hours.

Work team

The Department of Virtual Education, according to the social objectives and adjusted to the internal regulations in force in the FACEN and the guidelines of the UNA, in the year 2010 formed the team in charge of developing the first careers in the modality of distance education through Resolution Nº 0272-00-2011 of the Superior University Council of the Universidad Nacional of Asunción,  dated June 8, 2011.