Um modelo de gestão da informação e do conhecimento para o contexto da avaliação de cursos de graduação

Abstract

The higher education in Brazil is becoming regulated ever more in a rigid way, with strong mechanisms of control. In recent years the Ministry of Education has evaluated the graduation courses by a public document, called Instrument of Assessment of Presential and Distance Graduation Courses. On this document, the indicators to be assessed are specified, and in the end of the assessment the course may receive a grade ranging from 1 to 5. This grade is essential for two reasons: the grades 1 and 2 are considered unsatisfactory, and may generate process and even close the course or the Higher level education institution.(HEI); the grades gotten from the assessment can be used as a differential of market among the private institutions, as a way of attracting more students and with a better previous education. The great challenge for the institutions is, therefore, to reach higher grades in such assessments. So, it is necessary to deeply know about the instrument of assessment, the course itself, and its students, and to extract knowledge from teaching staff in order to contribute to the improvement of the results of these assessments. And it is in this context that emerges the research issue of the thesis: how to improve the assessment of the higher courses in a HEI by the Information and knowledge management? To answer it, the research method Design Science Research (DSR) was used, a great alternative to guide researches which involve the concepts of artifacts, as well as focus on the generation of new knowledges. By the use of DSR to conduct the research, the regulator cycle and the nested structure of the problem, according to Wieringa, which consists of unfolding the problem of research in smaller problems, highlighting which of them are from theoretical nature (issues of knowledge) and which one are from more practical nature (practical problems). For each subproblem, techniques of complementary research were used as bibliographic review, direct observation, documental analysis, applied research and semistructured interviews. As the solution for the research problem, from practical nature, an specific and unique model of Information and Knowledge Management for the context, together with the Information systems that give them support, validated by concepts of bibliografic review and by a focus group was elaborated. New knowledges were yet generated for the research line Information and Knowledge Management, mainly by the exemplification of the DSR on the methodological structuring of an specific research of the area. Another contribution of this thesis is the possibility of generalization of the solution for a problem class, to which the studied problem belongs, which can be enunciated as: Information management for the improvement of the results in assessment process or external audits of certifications of organizational activities