Online social service, an emerging strategy applied by the university autónoma de chiapas in response to the covid-19 contingency

Abstract

The Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, in an effort to provide students with a safe option to continue with their education processes, developed the social service project called Program of attention to educational backwardness in the basic and high school levels in the state of Chiapas, to assist students of the entity in the basic and high school levels with educational backwardness through distance counseling. The objective of this article is to visualize the challenges faced by social service providers when interacting with different actors involved in carrying out this activity and the means used to do so. The methodology consisted of a review of the reports (partial and final) submitted by the students and a questionnaire applied to them. 16 students from different undergraduate programs participated in the project, in an attempt to identify what interested them in the project, their expectations, the problems they faced, access to and use of ICTs. The students mentioned that at the beginning the project was interesting, doing everything from home and the idea of supporting the most vulnerable population seemed exceptional and pertinent. However, they faced inconveniences such as the commitment of the beneficiaries, their availability, the relationships established with teachers and authorities in the receiving instances, the advice received to do their social service, their own activities as students, the availability and use of technology, connectivity in remote areas, among others. In spite of the inconveniences, there is learning that students value, such as culminating this process in spite of the multiple adversities. Through the social service program, students showed interest and skills to contribute to vulnerable sectors of the population, either by providing advice to improve learning or training people who lack technological skills, and also allowed us to visualize a number of advantages and limitations of the modality.