FCT strengthens capacity of services that ensure distance learning and teleworking in the academic and scientific community

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the National Scientific Computing Unit (FCCN), last week reinforced the capacity of the main services it provides to the academic and scientific community and which ensure distance learning and teleworking. The measure taken aims to meet the growing volume of activity in these services, mainly resulting from the Covid-19 containment measures, which forced higher education and research institutions to temporarily close their doors, exponentially increasing remote work in the community.

The tools made available by these services allow for the operation of distance learning classes, group meetings, information sharing and teleworking, providing important assistance in maintaining teaching and research activities within the exceptional circumstances that the country is experiencing.

The use of services such as COLIBRI, a tool made available for conducting classes and meetings via teleconference, has seen a significant increase in recent days. Typically, the average use of the service is 210 daily meetings, with 1,990 users, but on March 12, in a single day, there were 3,574 meetings and 58,552 users.

These FCT services to support the academic and scientific community have become essential during this period imposed by Covid-19 containment measures, so here is a list of all accessible services:

COLIBRI – provides virtual meeting rooms that allow classes and meetings to be held remotely. Videoconferencing sessions have capacity for up to 300 participants and can share audio, video, text, images, whiteboard and screen. Sessions can be recorded, for later recording and availability, through the Educast service.

VIDEOCAST – allows you to broadcast live video to the entire world, via the Internet, without advertisements or interruptions. Content is shared in a simple way, through a web page with integrated chat, making it possible to share a class or training with everyone who has access to the transmission link, with the option of password control. The service is compatible with major internet browsers and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

EDUCAST – allows you to record, edit and publish educational videos, namely classes, training or tutorials. This publication is made by uploading it to a searchable portal, which aggregates more than 22 thousand educational videos. Educast allows editing and publishing, using its own software, in a simplified way, ensuring that videos are available to students in multiple formats: streaming, desktop and mobile.

NAU – Always Learning – is a platform that supports online courses for large audiences in the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) format. If the institution activates contingency plans with its employees working remotely, it is possible to give them the opportunity to improve their skills in different areas of knowledge.

FILESENDER – is a platform for securely sharing files that are too large to be sent via email. It has a maximum upload limit of 100 GB and was developed taking into account specific requirements of the academic and scientific community, while allowing anyone to receive the files.