Requisitos para institucionalização da EAD no ensino superior: um olhar sobre o Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia (IFBA).

Abstract

The research theme of this dissertation is the expansion of Distance Education (DE) in a Public Institution of Higher Education (IPES) and the perspectives for its Institutionalization. The study analyzed how the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia (IFBA) has been developing the use of distance learning in its courses, in the context of federal regulation for the modality, and of the operation, with regulatory characteristics, of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco program. Open in Brazil – UAB. The investigation was based on the concept of Transactional Distance (MOORE, 1993; PETERS, 2006) to discuss the pedagogical quality of use models and the degree of autonomy that institutions have for decisions on distance education strategies, based on the theoretical framework of Institutional Theory (TOLBERT; ZUCKER,1998), to analyze the relationship between the IFBA and the regulatory bodies, among its distance education practices, and at what level of institutionalization is the IFBA (pre-institutional; semi-institutional and total) institutionalization). This is a qualitative, exploratory research through bibliographic research of the historical and conceptual contextualization of distance education, document analysis of primary and secondary sources on the regulatory frameworks of distance education and the UAB program, as well as the use of semi-structured interviews with the team of EaD/IFBA. With the research, it was found that the adhesion of the IFBA to the UAB System resulted in the expansion of the number of vacancies in undergraduate education and generated positive effects for the IFBA and for society for two main reasons: by encouraging the offer of distance education – with the potential to serve communities in more distant places – and due to the free courses at all levels of education. However, it is also observed that , given the way the UAB program is structured, there is a permanent risk of interruption in the offer of places in distance education at IFBA, due to dependence on public notices, on the payment of scholarships and on UAB operational criteria that imply restrictions on the autonomy of the educational institution. It was possible to infer, in the analyzed context, that there is underutilization of distance education at IFBA, and that the institutionalization of distance education becomes necessary, with institutional autonomy and stable financial conditions, to expand its potential and pedagogical quality. It was also found that the regulatory mechanisms, the General Regulation and the UAB Program, present structural problems that do not respect the minimum level of quality assurance in the provision of public distance education, nor criteria for Institutional Autonomy, which results in basic obstacles and in a management of distance education separated from academic management. Thus, in the provision of public distance education, the IFBA is at a pre-institutional level in relation to the use of distance education