Relações de alteridade no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze tools and interactions present in a Virtual Learning Environment (AVA) that promote relations of alterity. The empirical field of this research was the AVA of Philosophy of Education I, of the Pedagogy course of the Virtual UFPB, semester 2017.1. Therefore, the subjects of the research are the enrolled students, the teacher and mediator of the discipline. As a theoretical course, some models of teaching-learning processes were presented: Traditional Pedagogy, according to J. F. Herbart, New Education, by John Dewey and Meaningful Learning, according to Ausebel. The virtual learning environment was the focus of the research, having the platform Moodle and its tools as main means for the promotion of alterity relations in the virtual environment. Another important theoretical reference was the philosophy of Lévinas, from which we sought to understand the meaning of the relations of otherness in the educational context. From the ethics of alterity and following Baptista's interpretation of Levianasian philosophy, we chose three ethical competences that served as central categories for analysis of interactions in the virtual environment: responsibility, hospitality and kindness. The methodology of the research was built around the contents available in the virtual environment of the discipline, trying to analyze the contents of forums, challenges (evaluations) and tests. We also have a questionnaire in which the students enrolled in that semester gave their opinions about the processes of interaction in the virtual environment of the subject under study. The results were obtained through the analysis of the samples, considering 10% of what was collected and the total number of active students. We sought to identify signs of alterity relations throughout this interaction that occurred in the virtual environment. As a result of the research, it was possible to verify that the moodle environment, focused on the development of teaching-learning processes, carries and has sufficient technological resources for the construction of alterity relations. The existence or not of ethical relationships through virtual interactions, therefore, is more associated to dispositions and skills on the part of the interacting agents, being these the main subjects of the relation. It is up to the pedagogical management to seek, together with competent bodies, to develop adequate and professional methodologies with the skills to interact with the students in a compromised, dialogical way, without losing sight of the subjectivities involved in this process of building a meaningful and collaborative knowledge.