From the 12th to the 15th of October, Dr. Ruben Fernandez and Andres Fernandez traveled to the country of Trinidad and Tobago to train the church and Nazarene College leaders about the installation and use of videoconference equipment in education.
The Caribbean Nazarene College (CNC) and the district of Trinidad and Tobago were the hosts for the SENDAS representatives. Three sets of video equipment were installed in the country: one in Trinidad East, one in Trinidad North and one in the main campus of the College.
The Nazarene Seminary of the Americas – SENDAS has used videoconference technology for more than three years now with much success. Its use allows students to have the most experienced professors, and to complete their courses more rapidly allowing them to graduate from their program in a more timely fashion.
A group of approximately forty leaders from Trinidad and Tobago were present for the training, including the District Superintendent of the country, Dr. Victor George; the Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Anthony Oliver; the Dean of Student Services, Dr. Margaret Eversley, members of the faculty and the directors and professors from the various educational centers.
Andres Fernandez of the Unit for Theological Excellence at SENDAS directed a workshop entitled, “Basic Technical Knowledge for Using Video Conference” and afterwards Dr. Ruben Fernandez, SENDAS President and Regional Educational Coordinator presented a workshop entitled, “Lessons Learned for Best Results in Teaching with Video Conference.” The workshops ended with a test of the equipment from the main campus connecting with two centers at SENDAS simultaneously.
The information was well received and the faculty was very excited and ready to begin using the equipment so they can reach more students. The leaders of the country mentioned that the workshops were very important to help them understand how to use the equipment in the best way possible and they were “very thankful with everyone who was involved in this wonderful experience.”
CNC, with the support of SENDAS and Mesoamerica Region Education, has plans to install 17 more videoconference systems between December of 2012 and May of 2013. These new systems will be placed in these locations: Jamaica East, Jamaica West, Antigua, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, Guyana Georgetown, Guyana Berbice, Suriname, Bahamas, Belize, Trinidad South and Tobago.