A system for Teachers and Educational Institutions
In this time of online education platforms, in addition to education itself and the tools that support educational methods, it is essential to address certain organizational tasks backed by robust and well-communicated systems. For this purpose, SEDU was developed as a platform that solves the problem of teacher absences and vacancies in educational institutions.
SEDU is a WebApp system, incubated by the company builder ThalesLab and entirely developed with the new Angular Generator offered by GeneXus. This system is currently being used by more than 4,000 teachers and 16 private educational institutions.
The need to create a platform like SEDU arises from experience, says one of the founding partners of the startup, Damiano Tieri (holder of a master's degree in history, teacher at different institutions and director): “I experienced this pain every time I had to spend teaching time on management tasks. Educational institutions do not have a process, nor a standardized system for when a vacancy needs to be filled, and this is done in a very improvised way – by reaching out to acquaintances, for example – and many times this is not effective.” SEDU was created with this need in mind, and also opens the doors to teachers who are close to graduation and need to take their first steps and work as substitutes, “for them, it represents a great opportunity to start,” points out Tieri from his personal experience.
One of the essential organizational features of SEDU is the ability to manage teacher registration and search for available teachers. It also allows teachers to enter their résumés and time availability, while institutions are able to enter the hours to be covered, so that SEDU can match the teachers with the institutions' needs. In addition, information of interest to teachers and institutions is published and updated regularly.
Implementing it in the Angular framework with the new GeneXus generator is an advantage that makes it possible to implement SEDU as a WebApp, which in turn provides greater flexibility and speed to update and upload new versions as needed, compared to traditional applications (Android or iOS).
The speed provided by the Angular generator and its flexibility can be seen in how fast the system was implemented: in one month with only one developer. Then it was modified in different iterations according to both expected and unexpected changes: “When COVID appeared, and in the new context of distance learning that suddenly emerged, we needed to recruit teachers on the WebApp who could teach online classes. This new requirement was implemented and uploaded in two days,” says Mathias Galindez, founding partner of SEDU. According to Sylvia Chebi, director of ThalesLab: “Having from the beginning a development tool that follows the Lean Startup methodology employed by today's technology startups helps businesses to be able to respond to unforeseen events and adapt quickly in just a few days. This is something very important not only for startups but for business in general. The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in all areas, and some of the most far-reaching impacts can be seen in education. The pandemic has evidenced that changes are happening increasingly faster, and we must have the tools not only to develop quickly, but also to change in an agile manner.”
Today, 2 years after its implementation, the platform continues to grow and, in the near future, it is expected to cover the teaching of all classes that fall in this category in approximately 670 private educational institutions of Uruguay. SEDU will also open its classrooms to connect students with private teachers.
The need to create a platform like SEDU arises from experience, says one of the founding partners of the startup, Damiano Tieri (holder of a master's degree in history, teacher at different institutions and director): “I experienced this pain every time I had to spend teaching time on management tasks. Educational institutions do not have a process, nor a standardized system for when a vacancy needs to be filled, and this is done in a very improvised way – by reaching out to acquaintances, for example – and many times this is not effective.” SEDU was created with this need in mind, and also opens the doors to teachers who are close to graduation and need to take their first steps and work as substitutes, “for them, it represents a great opportunity to start,” points out Tieri from his personal experience.
One of the essential organizational features of SEDU is the ability to manage teacher registration and search for available teachers. It also allows teachers to enter their résumés and time availability, while institutions are able to enter the hours to be covered, so that SEDU can match the teachers with the institutions' needs. In addition, information of interest to teachers and institutions is published and updated regularly.
Implementing it in the Angular framework with the new GeneXus generator is an advantage that makes it possible to implement SEDU as a WebApp, which in turn provides greater flexibility and speed to update and upload new versions as needed, compared to traditional applications (Android or iOS).
The speed provided by the Angular generator and its flexibility can be seen in how fast the system was implemented: in one month with only one developer. Then it was modified in different iterations according to both expected and unexpected changes: “When COVID appeared, and in the new context of distance learning that suddenly emerged, we needed to recruit teachers on the WebApp who could teach online classes. This new requirement was implemented and uploaded in two days,” says Mathias Galindez, founding partner of SEDU. According to Sylvia Chebi, director of ThalesLab: “Having from the beginning a development tool that follows the Lean Startup methodology employed by today's technology startups helps businesses to be able to respond to unforeseen events and adapt quickly in just a few days. This is something very important not only for startups but for business in general. The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in all areas, and some of the most far-reaching impacts can be seen in education. The pandemic has evidenced that changes are happening increasingly faster, and we must have the tools not only to develop quickly, but also to change in an agile manner.”
Today, 2 years after its implementation, the platform continues to grow and, in the near future, it is expected to cover the teaching of all classes that fall in this category in approximately 670 private educational institutions of Uruguay. SEDU will also open its classrooms to connect students with private teachers.