On 20 April at 2pm, the presentation of Mafalda Caldas' thesis was carried out at a distance and not in person, as theses had always been until then.
"The Use of the Question of Dignity in Patients with Palliative Needs in Primary Health Care: a Pilot Study" was the subject of her thesis, evaluated by Professor Rui Tato Marinho, president of the panel.
In a brief conversation on the phone, I explained to Professor Tato Marinho our interest in understanding this new dynamics about classes and interactions at a distance. He quickly explained that he had just given a two-hour theoretical class and had no idea of the students' feedback, except for one or another in the “chat”. In fact, his audience no longer has a face, they are just numbers of people online who may be recording everything, or nothing at all. But is there a better solution? So far, everyone seems to think there isn’t.
Still, is this a new solution in the short term?
“Professor, so how did this thesis presentation go?”, I asked, intrigued. "Look, Joana, not bad at all, because otherwise she wouldn't have been awarded the grade 20/20!"
The words came from Professor Rui Tato Marinho after talking a little about the new human relations dynamics.
The master degree didn't go wrong at all.
President: Professor Rui Tato Marinho – Associate Professor at FMUL
Supervisor: Doctor Miguel Fareleira - Physician – Palliative care Community support team in Sintra
Voting member: Professor José Augusto Rodrigues Simões – Invited Associate Professor – University of Beira Interior
Zooming in, zooming out, zoom, zoom, zoom
Suddenly everything changed. The world changed at a glance and it was recently on 11 March. The world had already changed on several occasions, oddly enough on some days 11, such as 9/11 when the Twin Towers in New York were attacked unexpectedly. Interestingly, also by air.
Knowledge sharing, meetings, non-face-to-face network, teaching, and learning flew to electronic platforms. Now, e-learning, non-face-to-face classes, has arrived with a vengeance.
And why not master degrees, interviews, lectures and even doctorates?
It took just a few days to make happen what had been announced 20 years ago, the strong investment in non-face-to-face education. Teaching/learning through technology is here to stay. It will be a “New Brave New World”.
Are we at risk of a dictatorship of the non-face-to-face? A working day with six or seven e-meetings? Yes, they exist, which puts us to the test as social beings, formally and also informally.
FMUL took several giant steps towards the management of the catastrophe that stopped the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic infection.
We have participated in master degrees, doctorates, theoretical classes, theoretical-practical classes, meetings, etc.
We had the honour and pleasure of seeing the first master degree thesis in “Palliative Care”, with Dr Mafalda Lemos Caldas presenting a thesis on “The Use of the Question of Dignity in Patients with Palliative Needs followed in Primary Health Care: a Pilot Study”, supervised by Professor Miguel Julião. The scientific worth, the network and international publications, and the presentation justified the grade of 20 marks awarded. The absence of physical presence was not noted. I would even say that it was a very worthy mark for an excellent work on a somewhat innovative topic.
It was and has been possible, it is a renewed world. However, human contact will always take place, now revisited from a professional point of view.
Informal interaction in a professional environment is an integral part of our teaching/ learning. It is often occasional, but essential in a society balanced from the point of view of emotional intelligence. The occasional meeting in the professional environment, in the cafe, in the Students' Room, in the corridors, on the stairs. And in the lift? And the “lift-pitch”, that is, in 30-60 seconds something very relevant takes place, in the lift, on the stairs, in the corridor, at a coffee breaks.
In the words of Daniel Lavanchy, coming from Switzerland, where he was present in some Aggregation tests conducted in the old fashion way, i.e. in person: do not cut on coffee breaks. I solved many international conflicts, not at the negotiating table, but in the breaks in a corner of the room, having coffee.
How many decisions that have changed the world took place on occasions of informal, even unscheduled contact?
But Zoom World came, stayed and won. Just like the Coronavirus.
“The Times They Are a-Changin, Bob Dylan, 1964”
I D Gust, A W Hampson, D Lavanchy. Planning for the Next Pandemic of Influenza
Reviews in Medical Virology 2001;11 (1): 59–70. doi: 10.1002/rmv.301
Rui Tato Marinho
Associate Professor at FMUL, President of the Panel for the Master Degree in Palliative Care, Director of the Gastroenterology Service of Santa Maria Hospital and President of the Portuguese Society of Gastroenterology
Joana Sousa
Editorial Team