What is AmidLearning?

AmidLearning® is an educational platform that enables the interaction between students, teachers, and content. The courses offered here are property of the entities that use the platform. Each entity that participates in the system signed a contract to use the services of the AmidLearning® platform that establishes limitations and reponsibilities. The entities that use the platform are fully responsible for the courses offered through AmidLearning®.

In this platform, students and teachers will all the necessary tools to create and fulfill the subject's requirements, using an environment of personal interaction between classmates and teachers, an environment of evaluation, an environment with content, and an environment of academic research.

1) Educational Philosophy and Methodology:

The methodology used in the AmidLearning platform is a result of the educational philosophy that birthed it. A few important points of this educational philosophy are:

· Teaching is centered on the student.

· The teacher is the facilitator of the learning process.

· Education, besides transmitting content, should develop the power and sensibility of the student's mind.

· Education must promote alternative vision of the world and strengthen the student's will to explore it. Jerome S. Bruner.

· The use of a previous interpretation to build a new or revised interpretation of the significance of personal experiences to guide a future action. Jack Mezirow.

· Education must create in the students atitudes and habits that develop their capacity to solve problems. John Dewey.

By registering in one of the courses through the AmidLearning® educational platform the student will take “modular” style classes in which, although the classes are part of a course, they are “autonomous”. It is only possible to take one class at a time and only after “graduating” the current class will the student be able to register in another.

The courses offered through the AmidLearning platform have a different number of courses, depending on the institution that offers the course.

Each class is a “module”. The student will only be able to take one module at a time since it is required that the student finishes a module before she/he can go on to the next.

There will be a teacher responsible for each module, who will that “creates or supervises” the class. The teacher will be available to the students to answer questions through email and online chat.

2) Duration:

· Classes will be offered in two distinct ways: 1) modules that start at any time, in other words, that start date and the day the student registers in it; 2) classes with a set start date. Even on classes with a set start date students will be able to follow their own study rythm. This system is designed for students that have jobs and do not have a lot of time for school. Starting at a set date enables the student to interact with classmates that are in the same module in the same period of time. Therefore, students in the first option, besides the teacher being online, will be able to interact with the assignments and discussions of classmates that have already finished the module.

3) Evaluation System:
The evaluation system will be composed of several items: participation in online chats, discussion boards, written assignments, portfolio creation, research, and tests.

Module tests will be available for students to take when they decide they are ready to take them. All tests are available for a predeteremined time. Once the test is initiated, the student will not be able to stop it.

The teacher is responsible for determining the estimated time to conclude the module.

Requirements of approval are determined by the system user that is offering the course.

4) Certification:

Certificates will be given by the entity that uses the AmidLearning system to provide courses.

What is its origin?

The AmidLearning is a branch of Amid World Mission, a missionary association with a history of 14 years of activities in several countries of the world. To better serve the several areas of educational activities developed by the Mission the AmidLearning Internet Educational Solutions was created in 2000. The objective of AmidLearning is to provide the oportunity of education by distance, taking the school and teachers to the homes of students. For that, AmidLearning counts on High Speed internet service and a computing system capable to host all materials related to education in all areas of services and ministries of the Amid World Mission.

Due to its success in providing distance learning, AmidLearning dicided to provide the oportunity to other organizations and people that want to establish a partnership in the use of its educational system. In the second version of the System, AmidLearning provides communication tools such as chat, e-mail, discussion forums, and a structure totally based on browsers, which enables the user to manage her/his courses without the need to install extra programs.

What is our vision?

Our Vision is: to provide educational oportunities through the internet.

What is our mission?

To promote a reflexive, critical, and conceptual education and the learning of values through an environment of colective interaction, content in the form of documents, academic research, and evaluation based on the following concepts:

Education is focused on the student.

The teacher as the facilitator of the learning process.

Education, besides transmitting content, should develop the power and sensibility of the student's mind.

Education should promote alternative visions of the world and strengthen the student's will to explore it.

The use of a previous interpretation to build a new or revised interpretation of the signigicance of personal experiences to guide a future action.

Education should create in students atitudes and habits that conduct the development of her/his ability to solve problems.

Who is our staff?

It is connected to three areas that work independently.

Alcenir Oliveira. Director of the administrative area. Alcenir has a Master's degree in Management and is currently working on his Ph.D. in the same academic area. He has a huge work experience in his area of study.

Vanin Alves Ferreira. Director of the computing area. Vanin has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, with work experience in big companies.

Joao Carlos N Rocha. Director of the education area. Joao Carlos is a candidate for Ph.D. in education. He has finished all courses of his program and is now working of his doctoral thesis.