The Institutionalization of Distance Education in Brazilian Public Higher Education: An analysis of the Brazilian Open University

Authors

  • Marcello Ferreira Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA)
  • Teresa Cristina Janes Carneiro Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/edu.2015.192.7902

Abstract

The Brazilian system of Open University (UAB System) is the main reference of public Distance Education (DE) in the country. There is a broad debate on the institutionalization of DE – phenomenon related to the alignment process and to the systemic organization of this kind of education, with the purpose of making the DE policies sustainable and qualitatively equivalent to classroom teaching, which is supposed to be already consolidated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize and to assess the stage of institutionalization of DE in the higher education institution of the UAB System, identifying patterns and relationships between the levels of similarity of the identified categories. To achieve this goal, 29 indicators were proposed, as they were considered infl uencers of the DE institutionalization process, and were obtained from a literature review on the topic, and also evaluated by DE managers of UAB System. The results allowed to preliminarily identify three main stages of institutionalization and categorize subsets of higher education institutions in levels of similarity related to characteristics and offering patterns of distance courses.

Keywords: distance education, institutionalization of DE, UAB System.

Author Biographies

Marcello Ferreira, Universidade Federal do Pampa (UNIPAMPA)

Docente e pesquisador do curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Exatas

Teresa Cristina Janes Carneiro, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES)

Mestrado Profissional em Gestão Pública

Downloads

Published

2015-04-27

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 2 (2015): May/August

Section

Articles

License

I grant the journal Educação Unisinos the first publication of my article, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license (which allows sharing of work, recognition of authorship and initial publication in this journal).

I confirm that my article is not being submitted to another publication and has not been published in its entirely on another journal. I take full responsibility for its originality and I will also claim responsibility for charges from claims by third parties concerning the authorship of the article.

I also agree that the manuscript will be submitted according to the journal’s publication rules described above.