Promoting self-care, containment and support in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in children between 2 and 8 years of age, are the main objectives pursued by the new radio production “La Pallalla”, a joint initiative between the Department of Education of the ULS and University Radio FM.

The current context of the pandemic has caused various adaptations and innovations for the continuity of learning at all educational levels. Likewise, psycho-emotional containment has become one of the main lines of work for the protection of society as a whole.

It is under this premise that “La Pallalla” was born, a radio program created for boys, girls and their families, which has been developed by a multidisciplinary team from the Department of Education of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of La Serena, students and FM University Radio.

This space seeks to strengthen the social commitment of the ULS towards the community. This is expressed by Rector Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro, who highlights that “as the University of La Serena we seek to contribute with strategies that allow us to support the development and learning of the boys and girls of our country in times as complex as those we are experiencing as a result of the pandemic. Despite the economic impact that we are having as a result of the health crisis, as a University of the State of Chile, it is our commitment to make all our resources and means available to be a link in this chain that allows us to accompany the work that all actors are carrying out. involved in this task. For our institution, it is especially important to support the learning of children in their early childhood, so that they can develop comprehensively, contributing to having a more just society for all in the future."

Rector Avilés adds that "our role as ULS is not only due to the training of professionals, but also to contribute to the training of children and young people with the support of the academics of our pedagogies that have historically been part of our institutional seal".

The content of each “La Pallalla” program, a word of Diaguita origin, consists of providing simple guidelines for containment and self-care due to the health crisis and inviting families to talk about the topic.

The academic of the ULS Department of Education, Georgina García, maintains that “we know that the impact of this pandemic on the development of children worldwide will be high impact, especially on children who do not have access to technology. ; For this reason, as the Department of Education, we intend to support promoting values ​​such as inclusive education, solidarity, respect for others, resilience, scientific thinking, among others. To achieve this, through each program, we will carry out a series of activities that promote the development of psychological and linguistic skills that are the basis of formal learning. The program closes with an activity to reinforce what has been learned and an invitation to relax.”

The challenges for the development of new content and ensuring the protection of the health of the people involved, go hand in hand with the use and exploitation of the different technological platforms, which has allowed the development of "La Pallalla", without exposing any participant .

The Director of the ULS station, Mg. Karina Damke indicates that “as Radio Universitaria FM we are close to turning 57 years old and we want to celebrate by delivering, as always, programming that allows us to link the contributions of the ULS with the regional community. We are very happy with the result, and this program fills us with pride, because it is perhaps the only national children's radio initiative that exists and is broadcast on open-signal radio. Our radio station, thanks to the vision of our Rectory, has managed to continue being an independent project that can continue to respond to the needs of our community, where in these complex times, our motivation is to continue accompanying and entertaining them."

“La Pallalla” can be enjoyed with the family every Thursday on Radio Universitaria 94.5 FM, starting July 23, at 16:30 p.m. Each episode will last between 30 to 45 minutes, and then each chapter will be on the Spotify account of the radio station of the University of La Serena. And, likewise, in favor of providing greater access, it will be disseminated in different educational establishments in order to provide a space for meeting, learning and support for boys, girls and their families.

The main purpose of these instances is to enhance the socio-emotional and study technical skills of the members of the Comprehensive Support Plan, within the framework of Inclusion and Universal Accessibility.

Feeling nervous or anxious is one of the common characteristic emotions that people feel when presenting in front of an audience. This is frequently associated with the fear of failing or giving a bad presentation.

In this context, the professionals of the Comprehensive Support Plan, Alejandra Galleguillos and Rosana Toro, made known different suggestions for presenting in public and how to self-regulate the emotions associated with this scenario.

“Master the topic with your own words, be careful with the powerpoint, choose the right place to present, be confident, look at people while you present” were some recommendations given by the differential educator, Alejandra Galleguillos. To this she added the importance of reviewing the topic and taking into consideration the time it takes to present, so you can rehearse in front of a mirror or record yourself to hear the tone of voice.

In this regard, using the rooms on the Zoom platform, the students carried out practical work, in which they were divided into groups of two people to discuss their own characteristics that distinguish them. After that, each student introduced his/her partner, considering the aspects suggested above.

Then, psychologist Rosana Toro guided them on techniques to regulate their emotions when making a presentation. Among them, she first mentioned recognizing the emotion and physical symptoms associated with it; He also recommended smiling when speaking, being punctual on the day of the presentation, anticipating the worst situation that could occur in the presentation, using elements that unfocus the mind from nervousness (a glass of water, an amulet or a piece of clothing), and giving self-instructions to maintain peace of mind.

“We must keep in mind that what is important is the development of the exposure itself, not so much the beginning, and this has to do with the anxiety curve. Generally, at the beginning one is very nervous, but as the exhibition progresses, the person relaxes. It is natural to get nervous when you are going to present in front of other people and it is important to follow these suggestions to self-regulate the emotions that can intervene in our presentation.n”, expressed the professional.

The practical work will continue to be carried out in the next workshops, with the purpose of generating an instance of closeness and bond between the students who make up the Comprehensive Support Plan.

Written by Daniela Ledezma, Comprehensive Support Plan

The event brought together counselors and directors from various educational establishments in the Coquimbo Region.

Topics such as the changes and challenges in the Admission 2021 system, the new Platform for access to higher education and the presentation of testimonies from school directors and ULS students, were part of the “2021 Admission Challenges Seminar” organized by the Academic Vice-Rector's Office, through the Teaching Directorate and its Admission and Enrollment Department.

The activity sought to bring the educational establishments of the Coquimbo Region closer to the University of La Serena, through its counselors and directors. In this regard, the head of the Admission and Enrollment Department, Mg. Gonzalo Honores commented that “the objective of the activity was to inform and have mutual learning, we are in difficult times at the country level and full of changes, some forced, but we have to take them as opportunities, we want to resume the link with educational establishments , since it is part of our social responsibility as a university to do so.”

Likewise, the online seminar was attended by high university authorities, in addition to involving the School Directors: Mg. Paola Denmark, Psychology; Dr. Andrea Vega, from Education, and Lic. Elvis Campos, from Pedagogy in Humanities, with the different counselors present, through the talk: “Profile of the new ULS student - a look from the School Directors” , where they presented a look at the characteristics of future ULS students, graduation profile and the results of the diagnoses and placement tests carried out on first-year students.

Francesca Pizarro, counselor at the Edmundo Vial Cárdena School in the Vicuña commune, thanked the information provided “in this space about the new admission test to tertiary education. In addition, she added information regarding the student's profile and shared data from the diagnoses applied by the institution, which showed us the characteristics of how our students enter, valuable information that we can address and thus generate early alerts.

The activity also included the participation of the PACE ULS Program, represented by Álvaro Olivares, Ped's tutor. in Spanish and Philosophy and, on behalf of APRENDE ULS, Carol Vargas, Architecture tutor, who made known the importance of supporting the student during the process prior to making a vocational decision and of university support. In this sense, Álvaro Olivares highlighted this instance as “an enriching experience, both academic and personal. I was able to tell my experience as a student and as a tutor of the PACE ULS program, since I consider that it is always relevant to listen to the students on this long path to becoming professionals.”

The Seminar “Admission Challenges 2021” was the first instance in 2020 organized by the ULS Teaching Directorate; However, work is already underway on new instances and meetings, favoring the delivery of information to establishments in the region.

Written by Daniela Cabrera, DIDOC ULS and Daniel Aguayo, APRENDE ULS and PACE ULS

This free activity will take place between September 15 and 17 and will cover different thematic axes related to education in times of pandemic.

With the aim of reflecting on the pandemic and its impacts on existence and daily professional activity, in addition to sharing educational experiences aimed at strengthening spaces for improvement, and from various philosophical perspectives, dialogue and talk about the human existence that the pandemic and the At the same time, the Interdisciplinary Center for Latin American Studies of the University of La Serena, together with the Rede Sur-PAIDEIA research group, will hold the virtual seminar “Pandemic Times and its Impacts: Dialogues and Conversations”, which will take place on September 15, 16 and 17 through the Zoom platform.

The seminar will consist of 5 thematic subgroups, to share perspectives on the proposed topics. Each subgroup will have a room dedicated exclusively to that topic. Written works can be presented and also dialogue through questions in these spaces.

The thematic subgroups are:

• Time as a life experience: after all, what do we feel in this time of pandemic?
• The moment of the pandemic and our readings: What to share?
• Time: death and finitude: How to live the fear of death? Is philosophizing learning to die?
• Time for other crossings in education - Time to return to school life: What did we finally learn?
• Time to discuss the pandemic effect and the virtualization of classrooms: What new pedagogical perspectives?

Each subgroup will be coordinated by academics belonging to the universities of Rede Sur-PAIDEIA, which brings together universities from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

Registration and participation

For those who wish to be part of this virtual seminar, there are two types of registration for the event. In the case of those who want to participate without presenting any work, they must send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., indicating your name and surname, identity document number, institution you belong to and the thematic axis in which you wish to participate.

While those who wish to present a work at that seminar must send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., indicating the title of the work, name and surname of the author, identification document number, institution belonging to it, as well as authorization to publish the work if accepted.

The deadline for receiving works is until August 14 and the application result date for these works will be September 01.

If you want more information about the event, write to the email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, DirCom

This initiative seeks to bring reading lovers, and those not so much, closer to books from the Universidad de La Serena Publishing House, sharing knowledge with the community.

Faced with the health crisis caused by COVID-19 in our country, many have had to stay at home, either due to mandatory or preventive confinement, teleworking and telestudying. That is why the ULS, in its desire to provide knowledge on different topics, has carried out communication campaigns that bring useful and relevant knowledge to people's lives.

The new campaign comes from the University Publishing House, which released various books for free.

“We are doing this campaign as a small literary contribution that helps enrich 'the mental landscape' in our communities, in the midst of this pandemic and confinement that has affected our senses, spirits and thoughts. Reading stories allows us to make an entertaining parenthesis in our usual tasks, taking us to imaginary worlds, listening to the words of another, which relieve and oxygenate our mental state," said the manager of the ULS Editorial, Alejandro Abufón.

Likewise, he also emphasized that “with quiet reading, without noise, a very beneficial effect is produced: levels of brain stimulation and, with it, anxiety levels are lowered. Pausing and reading for a while turns out to be very therapeutic these days.”

The campaign begins this Tuesday, July 13 and consists of 8 deliveries, through official social networks of the University of La Serena, and via email to its community @userena.cl. A new book will be released every Tuesday and Thursday, for 4 weeks.

In addition, the downloadable books will be accessible on the ULS Publishing website and also on userena.cl/coronavirus, virtual space where the University has compiled the community information actions deployed in this pandemic period.

Written by Patricia Castro, DirCom

This Friday, July 17, through the Zoom platform. The conference will address topics such as the use of by-products, project opportunities, technological support and new process lines.

Academics from the Department of Food Engineering of the University of La Serena, will develop the Web Seminar “Development of Cuttlefish Bioproducts”, within the framework of the project of the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, FIC-r, “Giant Squid: Development of Bioproducts ”, which seeks to open new opportunities for the development of these marine products, aiming to turn them into strategic assets for the region.

The University of La Serena leads a project focused on the study of uses of the by-products of the Cuttlefish resource, focused on identifying and evaluating four possible uses: oil extraction, collagen and gelatin extraction, generation of hydrolysates and the use of enzymes present in the viscera of the animal.

The conference will address topics such as the use of by-products, project opportunities, technological support and new process lines.

The academic from the Department of Food Engineering of the ULS and Director of the project, Dr. Ronny Martínez, stated that "this conference seeks to generate interfaces for the dissemination and exchange of knowledge that is part of the industry and the development of the project, which it is vital to achieve concrete long-term developments in the use of by-products from the regional industry”.

The day's program will include the participation of:

• Scientia Consulting - Prefeasibility study for the establishment of lines for extracting hepatopancreas oil and gelatin from cuttlefish skin.

• Karen Belmar, researcher at the Fisheries Development Institute, IFOP - Availability of the cuttlefish resource in recent months.

• Jean Paul Veas, Executive Director of the Technological Center for Food Innovation, CeTA - New options for the Coquimbo Region to develop bioproducts and food products.

• Manuel Rozas, founder and CSO of Kura Biotec - The journey of a company that, beginning with the use of by-products from the slaughter of marine resources, towards the transformation into a leading Biotechnological company in Chile.

• Juan Pablo Hinrichsen, technical sales manager of Sarval Chile - The possibilities of cooperation and business in the area of ​​valorization of by-products of the fishing operation through hydrolysates and similar products.

• Guillermo Molina, Manager of the Marine Bioproducts and Value Added Program,MASMAR - Opportunities at the regional level to advance the development of Bioproducts from marine resources.

The activity will take place this Friday, July 17, through the Zoom platform, and registration must be done through the following link https://reuna.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMvc-yoqT0oGtAeh61amUjfjSNudrbhhc01 . Spaces are limited.

Written by Sergio Muñoz, Office for the Dissemination and Diffusion of Science and Technology