A formação continuada de professores e a educação a distancia

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to investigate a teachers' continuing education course, called Letramento nas séries iniciais (Literacy in first years of schooling), a mixed-mode course (with online interactions and two face-to-face classroom meetings, over a period of two months), offered in 2005, by CEFIEL (Center for Teacher Continued Education, Institute of Language Studies, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil). The work focuses on the teacher's expertise and familiarity with computer technology and on the microanalitic of written interactions between participants.In order to reflect about the teachers' continuing education processes, focusing on this specific course, we investigate such aspects as the real access of teachers to the computer and the Internet; the characteristics of online classes in the virtual space; the functions of participants in the course and the participants' uses of writing in computer mediated communication.The findings reveal that determinant factors of course interaction and learning are related to the online component, and, more importantly, to the methodology adopted. Our results show that computer resources could help in the construction of a differentiated class interaction, but whether the technology is put to use in favor of a more collaborative lesson, less centered on the university instructor depends more on the methodology adopted than on the presence of technology by itself.