Contribuições para identificação de preditores de permanência e evasão em cursos de licenciatura em matemática a distância

Abstract

The present educational scenario allows us to experience considerable growth in the number of students who enter distance-learning courses in Brazil offered by public and private institutions. Distance education consists of several characteristics and is seen as a possibility of providing access to training to those who otherwise would not be able to obtain it, using the internet and implementing new virtual didactic-pedagogical tools. Many studies have been and are conducted within the scope of this theme to analyze, from different angles, the factors that determine the success and failure of students in distance learning courses. The problem of this exploratory investigation is: what possible factors influence the permanence of students in distance-learning mathematics licentiate programs?. The research aims to “investigate the perceptions of students of a distance-learning mathematics licentiate program on the factors that influence their permanence, considering the assumption that success in student education is essential in teacher education programs”. The methodology adopted was qualitative, with a systematic review performed in cooperation with other researchers over five years in the journals available on Portal Capes and Google Scholar. This review identified factors already known as subsidy for identifying an interview script employed with students enrolled, graduating, and evading the mathematics licentiate offered by a public institution in Minas Gerais. The results showed that some of the predictors already known in the literature are essential but not determining factors for deciding to stay or evade, such as being enrolled in a first-choice program. Factors related to the lack of relationship between theory and practice, initial training, the program’s quality and organization, and personal motivations proved to be determinants for evading. It was possible to elaborate a virtual workshop based on the data obtained from the students and validated by a group of specialists.