Virtual learning

environment aimed for

social emancipatory
processes
Maria Alzira Pimenta
Sônia de Almeida Pimenta
José Furtado
Mabel Petrucci
ü 1964 Coup d’état => dictatorship that lasted 20
years
ü Transparency and social control
ü average citizen is not able to see themselves as
corruptors belonging to the same engine
ü “redemocratization” x institutional
arrangements => critical analysis about
accomplishing a satisfactory degree of
democracy
ü 2013 social protests
ü emergence of non-governmental organizations
(NGO) => citizen empowering
Institute for the Sustainable
Development of Campinas (NGO)
Campinas We Want

civil engagement
critically monitor
indicators of quality of
citizenship education

Citizen Observatory
 How to achieve this goals?
society of knowledge

ICT

Digital
Learning citizenship
Objects education
(DLOs)
It should be emphasized

knowledge as
Information a
and representation
knowledge of the reality

to construct
knowledge =>
ICT gives
necessary to access to
contextualize knowledge
and social
interaction
ICT and citizens active engagement

virtual interaction - distance and time

flexibility of rhythm, interests and availability to
learn
Morin (2005) – education must develop tools to
understand "the complex“
Giddens (1991) - concept of reflexivity / changes
in perception of time and space => modern
institutions build the mechanisms of self-identity
and may influence its constitution
 Citizenship education and ICTs
 banking education model that fills a "civic deficit"
(Schugurensky,1999)
 skills to critically analyze reality and transform it => capacity
to think independently
to promote dialogue, to investigate collectively
to organize, to plan, to evaluate
 Challenges to build a fair and ethical society:
a) different learning methods;
b) the State as an arena of negotiation and confrontation;
c) the redistribution of the ‘political capital’ ;
d) local and global in a common project of social justice
 citizenship education
 training for citizen lobbying; the public interest actions
and the generation of efficient and creative public
movements able to work as networks of social players
 'project identity‘ => when social players use any kind
of cultural material at their fingertips to build a new
identity that redefines their position in society and, in
doing so, end up transforming the entire social
structure.
 Castells (2008) - the processes of identity
construction => OC an educational virtual space -
development of 'resistance identities' either to
hegemonic and to unsustainable projects, as well as to
the 'project identities' which transform their positions
in society.
 Virtual Learning Environments
(VLE)

 set of technical and mainly human elements and

their network in cyberspace (the Internet) with its
own identity and a specific context created with
the clearly intention of learning (Okada, 2005)
 Make possible that students learn by themselves
in contact with the objects available in their
environment, carrying out the proposed activities
at their own pace and physical setup
 Citizen Observatory (CO)
• CO - informal educational environment => learning platform

• Four pillars: Transparency of Public Management, Participation and

Social Control, Citizenship education and Fair and Sustainable City

• Mission - to encourage transparency in the actions of the

government and the full exercise of social control

• premises: a) the average citizen is unaware of the functioning of

the three branches (judicial, legislative and executive) => weakness
in the exercise of citizenship rights; b) economy, health and
education data available on official sites are incomprehensible to
anyone who is not an expert, which makes its analysis and use
difficult.

• The educational work => create information and knowledge from

these data
 Digital Learning Objects (DLOs)
• Wiley (2000): “digital entities deliverable over the Internet,
meaning that any number of people can access and use
them simultaneously”

• Characteristics - Accessibility, durability, modularity and

reusability

• “the LEGO metaphor “

• Levy (2000) => collective intelligence foes beyond writing

and language while information is distributed and
coordinated all the way through => would be equally
socialized.
empirical research

 construction and execution of => virtual

environments
 Form http://goo.gl/xuw1cI
 Universe of respondents - wide and
diverse.
 sample - 40 respondents.
DLO 1 - slides
DLO 2 – This is a trending topic
DLO 3 - Documentary
 1) Which one do you like best (considering
appearance, content, duration etc)?

audiovisual language, documentary (14’) uses direct language, the

animation (1’) requires some interpretative skills.
2) What duration is more
convenient?
 We must think

 people have access to much more readily available

information than what one is able to absorb.
 the continuous and intense flow of information =>
conditioned our way of seeing and being in the
world.
 people seek short lasting messages, usually of five
minutes on average
 the relationship between the length and the media
3) Which format is best suited to
citizenship education?

 the documentary was the runner-up by a small margin

to the animation.
 Respondents’ comments

 I really enjoyed the film about water, but it

consumed a lot of my time and showed a little about
the importance of not wasting natural resources. The
slides were weak and lacked adequate control of time,
so I have chosen the one-minute film as the best. It’s
short, simple, and has meaning.(Respondent 21)
 The simpler the format, the more objective and
pleasing to the eye, the more efficient.We are always
in such a hurry that if things do not catch our
attention, we do not heed them. (Respondent 30)
4) What characteristics are
relevant to a DLO?
5) Regarding,citizenship education, which
topics do you consider the most important?
 Respondent’ comment

Regardless of the type of equipment used

in the learning process, the most
important thing is that people learn the
content and discuss with others the ideas
and suggestions that may arise.
(Respondent 36)
 emphasize
 the transparent procedures, from data collection to
socialization of results => form
http://goo.gl/698NJB
 the team can assess the effectiveness of DLOs that
were developed.
 the results of research offer important insights for
the development of other DLOs
 knowledge and understanding => autonomous and
critical thinking => collaborative attitude =>
transform mere indignation into strength,
motivation and organized action to activate
citizenship=>better times and conditions for the
whole society.
References
Castells, M. (2008). O poder da identidade. A era da
informação: economia, sociedade e cultura. v.2. São Paulo:
Editora Paz e Terra.
Lévy, P. (1993). As Tecnologias da Inteligência. São Paulo:
Editora 34.
Moretto, V. P. (2010). Planejamento: planejando a
educação para o desenvolvimento de competências. 6ª ed.
Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes.
Pontual, P. (2005). Educação popular e democratização das
estruturas políticas e espaços públicos. In: Educação
popular na América Latina: desafios e perspectivas.
Brasília: UNESCO, MEC, CEAAL.
Wiley, D. A. (1999). Learning objects and the new CAI: So
what do I do with a learning object?. Retrieved 10 de
março de 2014, from
http://wiley.ed.usu.edu/docs/instructarch.pdf.
Merci pour votre
attention!!!!

Thank you for your

attention!!!

Muito grata por sua

atenção!!!!