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Brunilda Subashi Doctor of Science Public Health Alb ania |
Miguel Domingos Júnior Post-Doctorate of Human Studies Human Studies Angola |
Rubén Alberto Vera Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Telec ommunications Argentina |
Ismerai Ismari Catzim Bachelor of Science Psychology Belize |
Radoslav Nevenko Johnson Orias Bachelor of Business Administration Business Administration Bolivia |
Alvaro David Rocabado Martínez Bachelor of Civil Engineering Roads and Bridges Bolivia |
Dukore Raoul Master of Social and Human Studies Legal Studies Burundi |
Nkeh Fonjie Achale Steve Certificate of Science Network Sec urity Cameroon |
Carvin Clarence Howard Rankin Bachelor of Science Civil Enginee ring Cayman Isl ands |
Juan Carlos Filidei Pousa Bachelor of Psychology Social Psychology Chile |
Diego Mauricio Posso Góngora Bachelor of Nutrition Sport Nutrition Colombia |
Osmel Erik Mestre Martinez Bachelor of Business Administration International Commerce Colombia |
Andres Moncayo Romo Bachelor of Science Architec ture Colombia |
Clara Nubia Rolon Rodriguez Doctor of Health Publ ic Epidemiology Colombia |
Mario Heimer Flórez Guzmán Doctor of Philosophy Education Management and Ass urance Colombia |
Mushagalusa Ganza Wilfred Doctor of Business Administration Information and Communication Tec hnology Congo |
Mbuyu Ngoie Munga Severin Bachelor of Business Administration Business Management Congo |
Pedro López Santamaría Master of Computer Science Information Systems Costa |
Alexis Andrés Gómez Geraldino Master of Philosophy Philosophy Dominican Republ ic |
Wilyn Feliz Ramírez Doctor of Education Educational Management and Quality Dominican Republ ic |
Wanda Argentina Astacio Bachelor of Business Administration Business Administration Dominican Republ ic |
Silvia Lorena Saenz Guerra Bachelor of Business Administration Business Administration Dominican Republ ic |
Anita Clavijo Andrade Doctor of Management Hosp itality Management Ecuador |
Paulo Schein Bachelor of Science Architec ture Ecuador |
Sampa Sanneh Bachelor of Science Health Care Administration Gambia |
Mark Obeng Andoh Master of Arts Theology Ghana |
Jane Ene Okonkwo Bachelor of Arts Human Res ources Management Ghana |
Ericka Alcira González Figueroa Bachelor of Business Administration Business Administration Guatemala |
Silvia Vanessa Mansilla Garcia Bachelor of Psychology Overweight and Obes ity Guatemala |
Sony Belizaire Master of International Relations International Relations Haiti |
Orsolya Székely-Keresztesi Bachelor of Science Biology Hungary |
T. B. Ranganadhan Doctor of Science Civil Enginee ring India |
George Grant Ennin Doctor of Philosophy Theology Italy |
Daniellea Perrin Bachelor of Science Business Administration Jamaica |
Neville Kauri Greening Doctor of Philosophy Psychology Japan |
Judith Aluoch Odera Master of Science Nutrition Kenya |
Amerah Salah Jabor Master of Arts App lied Linguistics for Language Teaching Kuwait |
Kodikaragama A. Tharindu Nalaka Doctor of Business Administration Business Administration Kuwait |
Margaret Ho Bachelor of Science Psychology Macau |
Blanca Estela Hernandez Chena Doctor of Science Public Health Mexico |
Martha Nallely Mergil Ornelas Bachelor of Science Nutrition Mexico |
Irizue Bernardo Cortes Bachelor of Science Sports Nutrition Mexico |
Victorino Adriano Doctor of Financial Management Cost Allocation Model Mozambique |
Aung Li Post-Doctorate of Education Education Myanmar |
Jacqueline Ebun Umoren Doctor of Science Renewable Energy Nigeria |
Adebayo Alfred Adeniyi Bachelor of Science Mathematics Nigeria |
Christabel Alero Odeta Doctor of Economics Economics Nigeria |
Samuel Okon Bachelor of Science Acc ounting and Finance Nigeria |
Isitoa Isaac Dike Doctor of Philosophy Elec trical Enginee ring Nigeria |
Serah Jacob Anzaku Doctor of Philosophy Human Res ources Nigeria |
Chimaobi Elvis I. Onuigbo Master of Science Business Management Nigeria |
Bashorun Idris Ayodele Post-Doctorate of Acc ounting Acc ounting Nigeria |
Mixila Villarreal Caballero Doctor of Philosophy Corporate Public Relations Panama |
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How has the Andragogybased
learning process
impacted both your professional
and your personal life?
I must say with great pride
that academically, the didactic,
methodological and curricular
processes in my learning
through the Virtual Campus
of AIU, are a pillar of acquired
knowledge and the ratification
of experience applied in
professional practice. In many
ways, it is a learning vision
that today —in the midst of the
global Covid-19 crisis— demonstrates
how important autonomous
learning is but guided by
professionals who encourage
students to be a generator of
their own know-how.
The academic system also
emphasizes research processes
since it requires the constant
search for knowledge, updated
information based on conceptual
and theoretical grounds
to give place to interesting
philosophical positions,
creative thinking and rational
discernment that guarantees
the appropriation of what
finally joins the student’s DNA
and determines their learning
capacity in this case at the
Master’s level and its logical
connotation in the professional
world.
in the history of AIU. How
important is this for you?
I consider it to be an honorary
recognition that I am
grateful for in a thousand different
ways, it is not easy to
study in a distance program
and combine work and study
at the same time, therefore
academic excellence is
something that is constantly
sought and done. In occasions,
the times were somewhat
elusive in the sense that
you have a lot to do within
the teaching and learning
process but ultimately it is a
personal decision if you want
to do it well or excellently and
that implies sacrifices of all
kinds, when you manage to
do a task well done and you
feel satisfied with your own
work. That is the best feeling
and if it is represented in a
good grade from your tutors,
with their comments. It
makes you feel really full.
From my final thesis,
several scientific articles
emerged that have been published
in different magazines
in the field of architecture,
design, arts and urban planning,
so when in addition,
the knowledge is validated
by an academic community
in these areas at a national
and international, then the
effort pays off. You are finally
spreading knowledge and that
is important.
What are your achievements
after completing your program
at AIU?
There are several: From
my academic life it allowed
me to occupy administrative
positions in the management
of higher education in my
country, I was Director of the
Space Design Program and
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture,
Art and Design of the
Autonomous University of
the Caribbean in Barranquilla,
Colombia. I was recognized as
the best teacher in all its programs
several times. Being a
Historiographer and generating
knowledge allows me to be
published in magazines with
high scientific and academic
content and led me to make
presentations in different
scenarios at the local, national
and international level. The
connection with institutions
that manage knowledge in my
field of action also guarantees
the transmission of knowledge
and that is an achievement.
Teaching is a vocation more
than a profession, being a
teacher is being a reference in
life for your own students
We are living in an exceptional
moment. What is your
vision of the world situation?
It really is a terrifying situation
and one that moves the
floor in many ways, life as we
know it today is very different
from what it was yesterday
and what it will be tomorrow;
even more so in our Latin
American countries where the
social, political and economic
reality is so far from the first
world. We will see a very
strong decay in our development
process in the next 5
years, the consequences are
not only immediate but also
long term. However, the human
being with tenacity has
risen from this type of situation
before. Pandemic may
cause pain, fear and death. It
tests our ability to survive, not
lose hope, to keep united as a
species and perhaps we have
the opportunity to understand
why and visualize why. As
I wrote in my most recent
opinion article in Enfoque
Caribe, a lifestyle magazine.
https://enfectocaribe.com/el-artey-
las-tragedias-de-la-humanidad-
catastrofes-que-quedaronplasmadas-
en-obras-artisticas/
“In these moments, when
the fine line of what is fantasy
and reality merge, it is also
time to meditate on who we
are as a species and what
world we are going to leave
our children; will it be a canvas
of devastation and black
loneliness? or, on the contrary,
a magnificent watercolor of
beautiful landscapes full of
color, joy and harmony.”
Where is art at right now?
On the one hand, thousands
of artists around the world are in a critical situation for
not being able to work, and
art may be the area that will
take more time to reactivate;
on the other hand, there
has been an unprecedented
consumption of books,
music and other artistic
expressions.
It is an interesting question,
from my personal opinion all
disciplines and areas in which
human beings move have been
affected equally, however art is
a reflection of the communities
that at a certain time and under
a particular aesthetic create
objects materials that reflect
those moments, positive or
negative, so the image will also
be the one that will establish
an understandable, tactile
and truthful dialogue of these
situations ... artists never stop
creating and many of us take
everyday life as inspiration to
express a feeling particular but
also collective, in many ways,
and we are seeing it. Art in all
its possible plastic representations
is translating this situation
into messages of hope, of
love, of tenacity, of realities. As
overwhelming as it could be,
art invites us to compassion, to
see the light at the end of the
tunnel and that to remember
that humanity do not give up.
What changes will there be
after this crisis? Will there
be more development of
sustainable architecture?
Will cities have a decrease?
This on the contrary is a
difficult question to answer,
and the reason is that the
practices of architecture
depend a lot on the country
where it occurs, therefore it is
subject to its own economic,
political and technological
systems. In the first world
countries where there are
strong economies, low corruption
rates, better planning
of their cities, a wide range of
technologies that in turn enable
experiments in sustainability
and self-sufficiency
in the field of construction
among other benefits, it is
more viable to see a greener
architecture, with less carbon
footprint on the Earth and
more coexisting with the environment
and with a greater
concept in favor of the wellbeing
of human beings.
This is very different in
developing countries. The answer
in this case would be the
academy, from the formative
praxis of architects capable of
being close to their immediate
contexts and environments
and being able to provide
suitable solutions to specific
problems. In my opinion,
it is an utopia for us Latin
Americans but not impossible
to achieve. For this to happen,
many social and political
changes must take place.
Are there any specific lessons
we can learn from this situation
as Academics?
Many. One of them is the
constant process of the teacher
in taking problematic situations
from his environment
and adapting to new ways of
expanding his own knowledge
and being able to communicate
them with students.
Another lesson is maintaining
academic excellence
despite the circumstances.
Education can be misleading
when the level of commitment
of the teacher is assessed, that
is, as human beings, it must
be understood that young students
today conceive that.
And a third lesson, is that today
we are more vulnerable as
living beings, and being aware
of this the teacher must be
dialogical, systemic and holistic
in order to be a transmitter
of knowledge, a motivator to
create it and a communicator
to apply it to hopefully obtain
in most of their apprentices a
response that solves a problem
in an ideal way, a true appropriation
by the young person
of what they learn not for the
moment, but for life.
Do you have a message
for the AIU community?
Professional training is essential
to allow us to rise in an
increasingly competitive world
but it is useless to have specializations,
Master’s degrees
and Doctorates if, in the end,
that training does not lead to
an approach and proximity to
the students that allows the
connection between teacher
and disciple. Only a meaningful
and respectful teaching
and learning experience create
bonds based on humility and
constructive dialogue between
two human beings in favor of
a better life expectancy.
Our planet seen by Carl
Sagan is that pale blue dot
in the little Galaxy that is the
Milky Way. Our planet as Morin
(2007) says is a lost micron.
That lost micron inhabited by
human beings has a History.
In our development on this
little blue dot we have had
not supernatural beings.
About our planet Earth we
have new proposals: James
Lovelock (United Kingdom,
1919) unveiled, in 1979, the
Gaia hypothesis. According to
Lovelock the Earth is a living
being that self-regulates and
self-regenerates.
ways to build what we thought
was the best way to live.
Descartes and Marx had as
a thought the conquest and
possession of nature. Nowadays
we know that this can’t be
possible because the cosmos
is immense and we can’t reach
its domain. Human beings are
Let’s remember Ilya
Prigogine’s (Moscow 1917
- Brussels 2003) theory of
dissipative structures; it demonstrates
the self-organization
and self-regulation of systems.
“Every invention, human
or natural, introduces into
the world entities that didn’t exist, new achievements and
problems; under what conditions
can they be maintained
and cause the destruction or
commotion of the system in
which they occur? These are
the questions raised by the
mutants produced by nature
and the technical and intellectual
inventions of the human
being”. (Prigogine, 2009, p. 85)
Prigogine solves the problem
of the changes and the
income into the systems with
the equilibrium that the system
always tries to maintain.
Prigogine was awarded in 1977
with Nobel Prize in Chemistry
for his work on his theory of
dissipative structures.
What human beings have
done is act in such a way that
the system can no longer selforganize
or self-regulate.
As life is not possible, for
human beings, elsewhere in
the galaxy Morin says: “From
now on, it will be on this lost
Earth in the astrophysical
cosmos, on this Earth that the
Earth sciences conceive as a ‘living system’, in this Gaia
biosphere, where the humanistic
idea of the Age of Enlightenment
can be realized, the
idea that recognizes the same
dignity for all men”. (Morin
2007, p. 146)
The question is what has
happened so that our planet
is protesting and the self-regulation
and self-regeneration
every day is more difficult. It
is happening that if a different
element enters the system at
its weakest point, the system
breaks. From the exposed
knowledge reached by science,
we can see that its development
is extraordinary.
Yes, human beings have built
a world of high scientific development
achieved by countries
with great economic development.
The development of
science means a lot of money
to invest, but at the same time
that investment generates good
dividends in applied science.
Technology is the great
investment of developed countries.
Technological development
also has its consequences
because elements are created
that harm nature or human
beings. Within the great development
that a part of world
society has reached; the other
human beings continues with
serious problems of poverty,
there is the trade.
Nowadays, trade is global
and very fast due to the way in which products or services are
made and their distribution.
The problem is that products
are made to earn money. Production
is not based on needs;
production is a function for
profit. In the search for profits,
the consequences for the planet
and for all testimonies of
life on Earth are not taken into
account. The consequences
translate into global warming.
The production of goods is
not to cover the needs of human
beings; production is to
achieve markets and money.
There is a high rate, 80% of
the 7.7 billion human beings,
who live in poverty. These
people don’t have the necessary
goods and services to live
with dignity. From the above
we infer that world wealth
is enjoyed by 20% of the
population.
Given the form of production
and the type of global economic
development, the problems
also become global. Hence the
problem we have nowadays
to achieve development that
will be sustainable. We have to
think about the social, cultural
and biological problems we
have as well as the conservation
and development of the
mentioned aspects. Thinking
that economic development
meant human, moral and cultural
development has been a
great mistake that has brought
us to where we are:
a) Living the consequences of
a pandemic
b) In the face of a recession
never seen before.
c) A climate change that
threatens everything that
exists in our Gaia.
That science that we have
built, that world of production,
the forgetfulness of some in
front others who have little,
and the threats of the great
recession and loss of life in
such a tragic way, must make
us reflect if we have to build
another path of life.
We still have many who
think that the pandemic we
are experiencing today is not
true and they walk through
life as if nothing happens.
We see a large majority of
politicians busy just staying in
power without thinking about
their governed. The sad thing
about it all is that the problems
we have built are not just
for this or that country; it is a
world problem.
We are already living it: you
can’t go to these countries,
if you do it on your return
you will spend so many days
alone. Let’s see if they don’t
come to infect us. The countries
that were on the step to
recovery are returning to the
past; now they have a lot of
people infected. That part of
the population that doesn’t
pay attention to the facts will
later have to do it but they have already complicated
things for the rest. This moment
in History will leave us a
great learning as a society.
According to Habermas
“...every new stage (logical
or moral) is a new structure
that contains elements of the
previous structure, but that
transforms them in such a
way that it achieves a more
stable and broader balance”.
(Habermas, 1998, p. 49) Habermas’s
thinking makes us consider that all the changes
we need to make for a decent
life for all won’t be to erase
everything that has been accomplished.
The changes we
need to make will be about
everything that denies life.
Life in our Gaia, in our
pale blue dot, must be for
everyone: The earth and
the living beings in all its
manifestations —human
life and biological life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Habermas, J. (1998) Conciencia Moral y acción comunicativa.
Barcelona: Península. | Morin, E. (2007). Introducción a una
política del hombre. Buenos Aires: Gedisa. | Sagan, Carl. (2003). El Punto
azul Pálido, una visión del futuro humano en el espacio. México: Planeta.
Retrieved from: https://lasteologias.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/sagan-carl-unpunto-
azul-palido-una-vision-del-futuro-humano-en-el-espacio.pdf
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