Interações em um curso de pedagogia a distância: características, limites e possibilidades

Abstract

This study investigated the interaction process in the course of Distance Pedagogy from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul class 2008, developed in ten poles located in the states of MS, PR and SP in partnership with the Open University of Brazil UAB. Its objective was to analyze the limiting problems of the interaction processes propitious to learning experienced by the course participants. It was based in the assumptions of the historical and dialectical materialism in a critical paradigm and in the theoretical of Vygotskyan ideas about organization and regulation of the educational base, by means of interactions, to promote learning. In this thesis, the conception of interaction materialized in the whole action concept is defended. The whole action comes from the act of being full, complete, in discussions, in debates, formulating ideas, sharing opinions, knowledge, information, and in the sociocultural and historical relations that are established between the participants of the educational context, both in virtual learning environments - VLE, as well as in physical meetings, with the goal of achieving learning. The methodological approach is the one of qualitative research in education, whose instruments of data collection were semi open questionnaires, applied to 210 volunteer students; semi structured interviews with 15 classroom tutors, four distance learning tutors, 22 students and 10 course coordinators, together with the observation of the virtual environment, of the physical meeting and analysis of the Pedagogical Proposal in light of educational norms. The analysis of results evidenced that the interaction is conceived as "communication" (exchange of opinions, knowledge and experiences) for 131 among 210 questioned students and six classroom tutors among the 15 interviewed ones. The interaction as "relation" is conceived by two distance learning tutors among four and by one of the interviewed teachers. However the interactive processes observed and analyzed demonstrated a conception of interaction limited to the actions of answering questions and clearing doubts by the tutor. The results indicates that the interaction with the teacher is required by students and tutors, suggesting the influence of classroom education and the lack of Distance Learning or online education culture. The use of VLE to foster and perform interactions among the participants was little used by those subjects of the course, encompassing in this even the coordination of tutors, the teacher, classroom/distance tutors and the students. The communication in both the virtual environment and in the physical meetings showed a unidirectional and little interactionist character. The idea is that this approach of teaching and learning demands a tutor physically present and compromised with the collaborative interaction, mediation and interaction in a dialectical perspective, in the sense of pedagogical whole action. This study presents contributions for the reflection of distance learning, hybrid and semi presence courses, and suggests that new research seeks to investigate the whole action in courses totally performed at distance. Finally, it proposes a whole action in the pedagogical training, that favors the principles of dialectic communicative action, in an historical-cultural and social approach, and contributes for the appropriation process of the knowledge by students so that those may act in a critical and shared way aiming to their development and learning.