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Case Study

Distance Learning in Brazil, Access andEquity Demanding New Skills andInnovation

Dr. Luciano Sathler

Brazil has experienced strongsocioeconomic changes in recent years,including the reduction of poverty, therise of a new middle class and higherproportions of elderly people. One of themain demands that accompanies anddrives this movement is expanding accessto higher education and the growth oflifelong learning needs.

As it happens in other emergingeconomies, the middle class is growing,pushing more demand for highereducation. Access to tertiary educationincreases social development, citizenshipand can be transformative for individuallife chances and national economicgrowth.

However, in Brazil, public tertiaryeducation institutions have not been ableto keep pace with the rapid growth ofdemand for education, leading to ashortage of tertiary education seats.Demand for tertiary education issupporting the development of a privateeducation sector – for profit and non-profit organizations - as changes toGovernment regulation enable privateinstitutions to expand and complementthe public systems. The entry of privateinstitutions has enabled more students toaccess education, driven innovation ineducation systems, and helped fill urgentlabor market gaps.

Unfortunately, private tertiary educationis still unaffordable for many families. Inlight of capacity issues in public systemsand the urgent need to widen education

access beyond the elite, newapproaches to financing education are anecessity.

On the other hand, distance learning isgrowing dramatically in Brazil in the last13 years, somehow accompanying andcollaborating with the social andeconomic changes that Brazilian society isexperiencing. The numbers of undergraduate distance learning entrants

in the period between 2004 and 2008 grewalways equal to or greater than 40% peryear, reaching a peak of more than onemillion and two hundred thousandsenrollments in 2013.

The percentage of students in distancelearning among all higher educationenrollments emerged from the level of1.4% in 2002 to 16% in 2009, peaking at19.8% in 2008, falling to 15.3% in 2013,due to some changes in nationallegislation. Almost one out of six studentsenrolled in undergraduate studies in Brazil

enters into a distance learning program.

There is an expectation that the numberof distance learning enrollmentsincreases thrice and reach 3.1 million overthe next eight years. This expansion willoccur mainly because of a group of about25 million people, aged between 25 and 49years, who graduated from high schoolbut not enrolled in college.

Proponents of distance learning noticethat the results of the nationalassessment program of higher educationcourses by the Ministry of Education aregood for both on campus and distancelearning.

Only in recent decades illiteracy wasseriously faced in Brazil. However,television is present in the vast majorityof Brazilian homes for over 40 years. Thesame for cell phones in the last 10 years.This means that in many places,especially in the countryside, it iscommon that television has become theprimary means used to inform thepopulation and learn about the realityaround them. Perhaps Brazilians, who lookas have less resistance in this regard, canidentify it as a factor that facilitates theadoption of TIC.

Another important factor that drives theadoption of distance learning andeducational technologies, including forchildren and teenager’s schools, is the

Another important factor that

drives the adoption of distance

learning and educational

technologies, including for

children and teenager’s schools,

is the ease with which digital

natives adapt to this new world

and begin to show impatience

with the traditional teaching

models.

15

ease with which digital natives adapt tothis new world and begin to showimpatience with the traditional teachingmodels.

However, if we consider the Informal and Non-Formal Education, a recentsurvey showed that 11% of InternetBrazilian users go to the computer forsome distance learning course.

Student profile: female andmature1

The predominance of women amongstudents in distance learning courses ineducational institutions is hardly news,even when compared to on-site courses.They are the majority in almost all cuts,with over 56% of the total, a percentagevery similar to that already observed inthe previous 2010, 2011 and 2012 BrazilianCensuses for Distance Learning.

However, the only exception, which is thegroup related to corporate courses,indicates an inversion of the

predominance of men in key positions ofcompanies, those that generally require aninvestment in training. In this type ofcourse, men are 54.5% of the students. Asfor the students’ age, although someyounger age groups begin to show agood presence among students indistance learning courses, their averageage is still around 30 years or more. Inregulated full distance courses(undergraduate and graduate, excludingopen non-corporate and corporate), forexample, 60% of all institutions surveyedindicated that the predominant age groupof their students is from 31 to 40 years,while only about a third of them (32%)indicated as predominant the age groupfrom 21 to 30 years.

The exception is for vocational courses,since they are directed to youngerstudents who are still starting theircareers. The age group of over 40 years isalso a pattern for the modalities ofblended courses and distance learningdisciplines. It should be noted that open

non-corporate courses hold theyoungest students, with 39% ofinstitutions indicating theaverage age from 21 to 30 years.Now, in open corporate courses,the prevalent age range is from31 to 40 years (63%). This matureage will reflect on theprofessional occupation ofdistance learning students, sincethe vast majority of them arealready in the labor market.Among students who takeregulated full distance courses(note that this category excludesopen and corporate courses), forexample, those who work arealmost the totality (94%).

In general, in all forms, includingblended or open courses or onlydistance learning disciplines,

there is a percentage of about 90% in the“study and work” occupational situation.Thus, the great inclusiveness of distancelearning is emphasized, allowing peoplewho already entered the labor market toreturn to school or to invest in theircareer, even after the most appropriatetime for studying has passed. In the twotables below, it is possible to evaluate thisfairly typical age and occupational profileof distance learning students, accordingto the types of courses and educationallevel.

New skills and innovation

Distance learning is an educationalprocess, essentially meaning that theeducational values occupy leadingposition among the different evaluativecategories that make up the humanprocesses. The relationship between themis not configured as economic whereeducators assume the role of providersand learners of consumers or customersof information. It is a partnership in whichthe student improvement necessarilygoes together with the educatorimprovement.1 BRAZILIAN ASSOCIATION FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION. 2013 Brazilian Census for Distance

Learning. Curitiba: Ibpex, 2013. Available in <http://goo.gl/9RWuhr>

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Distance learning is an educationalmodality that demands expertise in amultidisciplinary context, meaning thatone has to get by more than justpedagogical knowledge. This means thatnot just the domain of pedagogicalknowledge. The pedagogical mediationand communication happens throughdifferent teaching resources. Mediation iseducational because it isbased on aconception of education and theteaching-learning process purposes. It isbecause it involves differentcommunication channels and modes ofrelationship between teachers andstudents, for example, synchronous orasynchronous, unidirectional ormultidirectional; receptive or interactive,individualized and socialized amongothers. It implies different kinds ofcompetencies, namely Communicational,pedagogical, technological andmanagement.

In an educational perspective, theprocess of planning, production andimplementation of a distance learninginitiative is characterized as a class action,dialogically built and collaborative way.Different skills are integrated to buildalternatives to this educational modality.From the simplest self-paced course tillthe most complex system composed ofmany elements and a number of variables,teamwork is a condition for a successfuloutcome.

The skills in distance education, bothgeneral and specific, refer to learn toknow, learning to do, how to be andknowing how to live and aim to provide aframe of reference for the development ofactions, as well as the contents that favorthe acquisition or development.

Distance learning actions have skills ofdifferent natures. One dimension refers tothe teaching, the structuring of teachingand the expectations that one hastowards learning. Is associated withpedagogical content or theme with theinformation that will be part of the

Dr. Luciano is Director of Brazilian Association for Distance Education(http://abed.org.br); Director of Distance Education at Methodist University of SaoPaulo (http://metodista.br) and he can be reached atluciano[dot]sathler[dot]ead[at]gmail[dot]com

process. The content of the selectionshould be meaningful and should providethe domain, the application of informationand the possibility of updating,expanding, deepening and enrichment.

Another dimension refers to the form ofcommunication in distance education thatcould materializes through a text of alecture by videoconference, a thematicvideo or by the interaction of the teacherwith the student or among students. Ifcommunication is essential in education in

general, it is also so special in distancelearning. Indeed, communication ismediated and requires the treatment ofcontent and resources to the public inorder to be effective.

In the technological dimension, thedistance learning action encompassescommunication capabilities, processingand transmission of information. The fieldof communication and informationtechnologies should favor the selection ofmeans and adequate support to thestudent to ensure their access and theirpermanence in the educational process.

The management perspective in distancelearning regards to decision making onthe relevance of the projects developed,the links between the various agents inthe process - human and material

resources - aiming at an integrated andharmonious operation focusing on thestudent. Mediate conflicts betweendimensions, providing solutions thatimprove the quality of actions,commitments are management, which helpto ensure a good educational work.

Distance learning initiatives, from thesimplest to the most complex, alwaysinvolve action planning, production,validation, evaluation, and deployment.

The planning of distance learningshares, is structured based on apedagogical project and includes theanalysis of the problem, the target,defining where and how to get there, andthe evaluation of results.

Production refers to the development ofall necessary resources provided for ineducational planning, regarding thecharacteristics of the public to which theProject is intended and theappropriateness of the selectedlanguages means for its realization.

The implementation is the realization, inthe field, of everything that was plannedand produced and the achievement ofeducational intent by implementing thedistance learning action by people whowere aimed previously, or even to asignificant sample of this for validation ofthe obtained product.

The validation and evaluation of ODLaction involve the analysis of results andimprovement decisions in the educationalprocess.

Distance learning calls for innovativeapproaches, new skills and abilities, aswell as different forms of financing toachieve the fullness of its democraticcapacity, in line with the digital age andthe increasing demands for HigherEducation.

Distance learning calls for

innovative approaches, new

skills and abilities, as well as

different forms of financing to

achieve the fullness of its

democratic cap acity , in line

with the digital age and the

increasing demands for Higher

Education.

1

Vol. 01 No. 03 September 2015

In this issue

Guest Column 02

Spotlight On 06

CEMCA News 07

Case Study 14

Book Review 17

Technology Tracking 18

SMART Tips 20

Forthcoming Events 24

From Director’s Desk

With best wishes,Ramesh C. Sharma

Dear Readers,

We are happy to bring youthe third issue of CEMCANewsletter which alsohappens to be our year-end issue. It is packed

with news, views and updates on CEMCA’sactivities in the region, plus a host of usefuleducational information.

The highlights of the issue include an article byProf. Dênia Falcão de Bittencourt where sheshares her experiences of research aimed atanalysing the implementation of Institutional Self-Evaluation Methodology (ISEM), - a set ofsystematized procedures, in the pedagogicalmanagement of distance education projects.Distance education institutions would surelybenefit from ISEM.

Recently I was reading the 2015 edition of theHays Global Skills Index (http://www.hays-index.com/) published in collaboration withOxford Economics, on the challenge of locatingskilled workers organisations need to operate andsucceed in their businesses. The report indicatesthat the “BRICs markets, once the engine ofglobal growth, are facing an economic slowdownwhich is slackening the demand for skilledworkers in those respective countries.” Hays’Chief Executive, Alistair Cox suggests,“Education and training schemes need to bebetter aligned and tailored to produce sufficientlevels of the skilled resources businesses need.”Highlighting the increasing demand for educationand lifelong learning needs, Dr. Luciano Sathler, inhis timely article, reflects on access to tertiaryeducation in Brazil and how distance learningcould cater to the need of innovative approaches,new skills and abilities, in line with the digital ageand the increasing demands for higher education.

In the SMART Tips section, Zaid A. Alsagoffshares an interesting format of online learning

through a Nano Open Online Course (NOOC),created to empower learners. It helps learnersexplore, learn and be assessed (certified) on theessentials of one competency, skill or area ofknowledge at a time, within 12 learning hours orless. The core of a NOOC is a Nano LearningExperience (NLE) which can be experienced online(e.g. in a NOOC), or in a face-to-face (F2F) learningenvironment. Zaid says that for a NLE, the learningexperience must include learning content,activities, assessment and a completion-point(certification or badge).

A number of initiatives are being set in motion forOpen Educational Resources (OER) to provideteachers and learners access to all open resourcesavailable, ensuring their quality, though, is a bigconcern for many of us. CEMCA has developed aset of comprehensive guidelines for QualityAssurance of OER in a TIPS Framework. AkashAgarwal has created a MediaWiki Extension forquality assurances which can be integrated to anOER you create (or add) on a wiki with theextension (freely available under CC licence)installed, and get feedback on the quality of thecreated OER from colleagues, friends, andeducators. This MediaWiki Extension can also beused for self-evaluation of OER quality, using theframework and improve upon it.

MOOCs are being created and implemented byinstitutions, supported by governments. The issueyou are holding in your hand carries a review ofthe book, ‘MOOCs and Open Education: Aroundthe World’ edited by Bonk, Lee, Reeves, &Reynolds, and a special feature on the NanyangTechnological University, a rising star in highereducation.

We also bring you the latest news and updates onCEMCA activities in the region, in the last fewmonths.

We hope you enjoy reading the issue and find thearticles useful. We look forward to your feedback.