Training in extension curricularization at the UNPA

Abstract

This article describes a training program on the integration of extension activities to the curriculum, carried out by the National University of Southern Patagonia, within the framework of strengthening the area. The proposal, developed with a distance-learning approach, facilitated the participation of teachers from the four Academic Units that make up UNPA. The coordination was led by two teachers from the National University of Litoral, Mariana Boffelli and Sandra Sordo, and with mentoring provided by four local teachers.

The course was divided into two stages: the first one with seminar dynamics and the presentation of theoretical aspects, and the second one with group work coordinated by the tutors. The strategy was based on the idea of the comprehensiveness of academic functions (Tommasino y Stevenazzi, 2017) to foster the development of a teaching model that prioritizes pedagogical relationships between students, teachers and social actors as a key component of the learning process and overcomes the unidirectional relationships of traditional extension, allowing for the exchange of knowledge and the consideration of real problems, alternatives, and potential solutions.

It was a rewarding experience that allowed for the development of a more in-depth comprehension of the integration of extension practices in the curriculum from a situated viewpoint and produced some intriguing cross-campus and cross-subject recommendations.