Cultura informacional, representações sociais e Educação a Distância: um estudo de caso da EaD na UFMG

Abstract

This study investigated the informational culture permeates to the distance teaching/learning process. The aim was to identify and systematize the ideas andrepresentations that comprise the information culture in the context of distance education and to analyze its influence in the human development process. Within the theoretical frame of the research, a concept of informational culture derived from the anthropological concept of culture was proposed (GEERTZ, 1989; LARAIA, 2001) as well as a concept of information seen as a social and human phenomenon (SILVA,2005; REIS, 1999). The theoretical referential also included the theory of social representations (MOSCOVICI, 2009) and a technique of interview organization and presentation developed by Lefevre and Lefevre (2005), known as the Collective SubjectDiscourse technique. The research subjects were students, professors and tutors from the Biological Sciences, Mathematics, Superior Normal/ Pedagogy and Chemistry teaching degree courses of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) distance learning program. The research was divided into three phases. First, a historical and social characterization of the presential education centers was undertaken. During the second phase, the students profile and their representations of the course and center they attend were made, based on data collected through an electronic questionnaire answered by 192 students from the four courses. The third phase of the research aimed at furthering it both vertically and qualitatively. To accomplish this, 33 participants were interviewed, among them students, professors and tutors connected to the Biological Sciences, and Mathematics courses. The Collective Subject Discourses (CDS) concerned the following topics: the role of education in society; the concept of science, information and knowledge; the opinion about distance learning in general andmore specifically distance learning at the Institution. The Collective Subject Discourses showed that social representations are related to the social position individuals occupy. The informational culture necessary for the distance teaching-learning process is mainly related to the need for individuals to adapt to this educational model. The social representations evidenced in the collective discourses of the study subjects made it possible to comprehend the limits and possibilities of the DL method in higher education and its repercussions on students lives and academic backgrounds.