The unsaid about “eadization” in Higher Education

Ana Lara Casagrande, Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá, MT, Brasil. 

Alessandra Maieski, PhD student at the Post-Graduation Program in Education at the Federal Universiy of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá, MT, Brasil.

Katia Morosov Alonso, Full Professor at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá, MT, Brasil.

The article The contingencies and objective conditions of the “eadization” of face-to-face higher education, published in the journal Educação & Sociedade (vol. 43), describes the “eadization” as a recent phenomenon, which deals with the incorporation of the functioning logic (partially) of Distance Education (EaD) in the face-to-face undergraduate courses offered by Higher Education Institutions (IES).

It highlights that the current legislation allows the workload in the EaD modality, in the pedagogical and curricular organization of the face-to-face undergraduate courses, to be up to the limit of 40% of the total workload of the course. In addition, the Pedagogical Project of the Course (PPC) should include in the curricular matrix, the percentage of distance learning hours, as well as the methodologies to be used, from the time of requests for authorization to recognition and renewal of course recognition.

It can be assumed, initially, that this is due to the appreciation of modality, mainly in the post-COVID-19 pandemic context (caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2), whose compulsory reconfiguration in the teaching-learning process revealed possibilities of didactic and pedagogical practices mediated by Digital Technologies (remembering the distinction between EaD and remote teaching, the latter suitable for designation of strategies in the pandemic period).

It does not seem to be an appropriate assumption for two reasons: the fact that EaD in face-to-face undergraduate courses had been proposed earlier; and, due to the context of public education scrapping (see budget cuts for public universities, which lead to the continuous reduction of funds destined for expenditures) and the increase of enrollments in the private sector within the scope of Higher Education, as demonstrated by the Higher Education Census, that the EaD is considered a less costly, cheaper alternative, with high potential of reproducibility of materials and massive attendance.

Image: Wikimedia.

Figure 1. The silence, Odilon Redon (1911), oil on cardboard, 54.6 x 54 cm. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York – United States.

A key point in this regard is the perception that curricular components of less prestige (non-relevance), such as Libras (Brazilian sign language), have been made available according to the rules of EaD/face-to-face symbiosis in public IES (Higher Education Institutions). There are justifications, such as shortage of teachers and poor infrastructure, which, rather, should be used to denounce the need for higher investments in Education than to suggest that certain curricular components be included in the prediction of distance hour’s introduction in courses whose identity is face-to-face.

Between being the elixir for problems related to the Education funding and the accusation that quality distance education courses are not developed (unfair accusation because it is a lie, see courses well evaluated by the Ministry of Education, as well as the recognized importance of EaD democratization to public university access, with a positive impact on the educational scenario of many Brazilian municipalities), it is clear that the EaD is taken as a strategy in what is called here as the “eadization” process. It is a process to be problematized within the scope of Higher Education as it involves some obscure criteria, for instance, the authorization does not apply to medicine courses (BRASIL, 2019, art.1, sole paragraph). The revoked Ordinance mentions the exception of face-to-face undergraduate health and engineering courses (BRASIL, 2018, art. 6°).

Given the above, can it be said that the “eadization” is an adaptation to the Digital Culture of the present time?  We defend that adjustments in the face-to-face courses should consider Digital Culture and the implications for the teaching-learning process nowadays, but that they should be committed to the goals outlined in the National Education Plan, Law no 13.005 of 25 June 2014, as goal 20, which foresees the expansion of public investment in public education in order to reach, at least, the level of 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of the decade, year 2024 (BRASIL, 2014) and with the Institutional Development Plans (IDP). It is also believed that the especificities of the EaD, its history and indispensability for the Brazilian educational scenario cannot be ignored.

It is not a tool since its characteristics demand observation of the issue of tutoring and the presence of face-to-face supporting centers. Thus, it is fundamental to have an account that shows the impact of the 40% course load in the EaD modality in face-to-face undergraduate courses for the design of EaD, as well as the weight/content in the forum of these courses, that it is possible to decide about the unsaid in the Ordinance no 2.117/2019, as well remembered, poetically, by Leminski (2011) in his “novel-idea” when recommending that we notice what is not said. For this sphinx on the path of Education, and which we identify when we see “eadization”, it seems that there is a first clue.

Next, watch Ana Lara Casagrande’s video (in portuguese), bringing other perspectives on the eadization process in Brazilian higher education.

References

BRASIL. Lei nº 13.005, de 25 de junho de 2014.  Aprova o Plano Nacional de Educação – PNE e dá outras providências. Brasília, 2014.

BRASIL, 2016. Portaria °1134, de 10 de dezembro de 2016. Revoga a Portaria MEC nº 4.059, de 10 de dezembro de 2004, e estabelece nova redação para o tema. Brasília, 2016.

BRASIL, 2018. Portaria n°1.428, de 28 de dezembro de 2018. Dispõe sobre a oferta, por Instituições de Educação Superior – IES, de disciplinas na modalidade a distância em cursos de graduação presencial. Brasília, 2018.

BRASIL. Portaria nº 2.117, de 06 de dezembro de 2019. Dispõe sobre a oferta de carga horária EaD nos cursos presenciais. Brasília, 2019.

LEMINSKI, P. Catatau: um romance-ideia. São Paulo: Iluminuras, 2011.

To read the article, access

CASAGRANDE, A.L., MAIESKI, A. and ALONSO, K.M. As contingências e condições objetivas da “eadização” do Ensino Superior presencial. Educ. Soc. [online]. 2022, vol. 43, e261767 [viewed 14 December 2022]. https://doi.org/10.1590/ES.261767. Available from: https://www.scielo.br/j/es/a/Cz8ghbJjvmPsKwh6zcs8VPj/

External links

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