Digital technologies and remote education: reflections other about precarities during pandemic

Abstract

The speech by professor Ana Elisa Ribeiro, entitled Digital Technologies: cycles of precariousness in the face of the pandemic, occurred on June 25, 2020 during a series of conferences and round tables called Abralin ao Vivo - Linguists Online, an initiative of the Brazilian Association of Linguistics (ABRALIN). The purpose of the conference was to reflect on the precariousness installed in Brazilian schools, especially regarding the appropriation of technologies by teachers and the school. As well as the problems of access and how social inequalities exist among students, factors that stimulated a reflection on how the school has faced such difficulties in remote education, a teaching modality offered by most educational institutions in Brazil in times of pandemic.

Text

The speech by Professor Ana Elisa Ribeiro, entitled Digital Technologies: Cycles of Precariousness in the Face of Pandemic[1], occurred on June 25, 2020, during the series of conferences and round tables promoted by Abralin online. Ribeiro starts the conference by reflecting on the current topic of Digital Technologies and Pandemic, in view of the current educational scenario that has been installed in Brazil because to the Covid-19 pandemic, the author discusses the sudden and emerging need for changes in the way schools began to offer education across the country.

In her opening speech, Ribeiro (2020[1]) explains that the model adopted by most Brazilian schools was remote education and makes a point of stressing that this type of teaching cannot be confused with the distance education (EaD) or the online education. The professor continues to explain that in Brazil schools generally present precarious physical structures: classrooms that are poorly ventilated, crowded and lacking in digital technologies. Ribeiro highlights that this precarious scenario has been a reality since before the pandemic and that the current pandemic scenario has further accentuated the needs of these schools, above all, the lack of digital technologies, both from the point of view of access, as well as that of formation.

On this point, we agree with Ribeiro, as research carried out in recent years (SANTOS; CAVALCANTE, 2020[2]) has demonstrated the precariousness of Brazilian schools, especially public schools. Teachers and students face difficulties in accessing digital technologies, which is one of the major problems for the effective work with digital genres and for the students' digital literacy expansion (SANTOS, 2019[3]).

Ribeiro continues his speech presenting the main precariousness faced by schools during the pandemic. Firstly, it explains that schools did not have a well-structured Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), in addition to presenting poor quality internet and access problems to the schools' information systems. Ana Elisa Ribeiro points out that, in a classroom-based scenario, prior to the pandemic, most schools presented as digital and technological resources available in the room a fixed digital projector (without a computer) and other obsolete equipment. The author makes an important criticism when she argues that until March 2020 this type of equipment it was observed like an advance in pedagogical practices, when in fact they already pointed to the precariousness faced by education systems in Brazil.

We know that many schools in our country do not have an adequate number of technological devices in their computer labs, and this contributes to their not effectively serving the number of students enrolled in these units. Research reveals that teachers experience difficulties in carrying out activities that use digital technologies, this is because schools have laboratories with obsolete computers and in small numbers (SANTOS, 2019[3]).

Another important issue that the author highlights, is that in 2019 there was a lot of discussion about inequality problems related to access to digital technologies, at this time of the conference, Ribeiro highlights the case of the boy from Recife, who without access to digital devices and internet, uses a mobile device store in an important mall in the capital of Pernambuco, to carry out its research activities. Ribeiro (2020[1]) leads us to reflect: where would the boy be today? Who would be assisting this type of guy? How the “digital natives”? Prensk (2010[4]) defends the concept of digital native, the subject born in the era of technologies. However, we want to highlight that in Brazil there are a number of factors that can be used to measure such nativity, in our country, it is not the age that determines whether the subject is a digital native or not, because other factors such as social and social inequalities lack of access must be considered. We know that in our country, we face serious problems of socioeconomic inequalities, therefore, in our sociocultural reality, we cannot understand as “digital native” the subject who was born (only) in modern society, as we know that many of these young people do not have access to digital technologies in their homes.

Ana Elisa Ribeiro, continues her conference, highlighting that during the Covid-19 pandemic, digital technologies also began to be used as support for medicine and the family, in cases of virtual access to patients unable to receive visits from their relatives, a fact which was reported in important Brazilian and international media.

Ribeiro makes us think that for some, the pandemic scenario has led to facing difficulties, for others, the need to face new challenges. In this sense, he asks: whose difficulties or challenges? At that moment, the lecturer discusses the confrontations of subjects who need to use digital technologies to access remote classes, for example. The author adds that other imagery about Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT), piloting and incipience was required. New imaginary, related to the radical, unforeseen and improvised uses of DICT to carry out remote education in this pandemic period. The professor points out that all this movement of reframing teaching practices has led us to reflect on the after, that is, the post-pandemic.

The lecturer continues her speech, reflecting on the research carried out by the graduate and research programs, on the reports of experiences that had as object of study the uses of digital technologies in education, thus provoking a reflection on the continuity of these projects and research and its legacy for today's confrontations. Thus, she asks: to what extent has education appropriated DICT (before)? What we will imagined doing? After reflecting on how we rely on research carried out before the pandemic, the author asks another important question: to what extent has education appropriated DICT (now)? What will be learned? What will be abandoned? These questions are provocations for teachers to reflect on what this moment of need for appropriation of DICT has taught about teaching practices for the return of activities in the future. Will we continue to carry out the old practices? Will we abandon the experiences and learning of those facing the pandemic and the sudden need for remote education? These are some of the questions that Ribeiro's speech leads us to reflect on.

Following, Ribeiro exposes on the radical uses of DICT, the platform realized because many school units in the creation of their VLEs, with this, we ask: how will these virtual environments be used in the future? Will there be a continuity of its uses? The teacher continues to discuss the “appropriate” qualification for teachers. If there is any adequate training to deal with pandemics. However, at this point, the question remains: when did we qualify for the uses of digital technologies? In undergraduate courses, specializations, open courses, how much time did we have for that? Ribeiro states that in Brazil, we had at least thirty years to qualify and seek training. The teacher's speech is critical of the initial and continuing education of teachers and their needs, especially for the appropriation of digital technologies for pedagogical uses.

Given the above, the teacher points out that there are at least two major precariousness faced by education during the Covid-19 pandemic: the lack of structure (equipment, software, network) and the lack of training (graduated or otherwise). Even facing so much precariousness, the author argues that educators are doing very well.

At this point, like Ribeiro, we understand that there is a huge gap with regard to teacher training for digital technologies here in Brazil and the reflection of this is observed in the fear that many teachers have in using active teaching methodologies (FILATRO; CAVALCANTI , 2018[5]) and the development of digital literacy for social practices in digital culture (LÉVY, 2010[6]).

The speaker continues her presentation, returning to the question of the improvised uses of students during the pandemic period: no broadband, no connection, which requires a new organization of time and life from everyone. Ribeiro points out that the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC, 2017[7]) is a document that always points to the uses of digital technologies in schools.

Ribeiro concludes his presentation, pointing out that if we abstract the epidemiological problem, the Covid-19 pandemic can be a time of experimentation and changes, it can also be a time to present to those who have always resisted, a time to think carefully about the consequences , to review ideas, writings, thoughts and it's time to conduct research. Opportunities to review and redo, to see our context, to dispense what is not up to us. It is still necessary to think locally, to act with global resources. Think about improving infrastructure for schools and teacher training.

We emphasize the relevance of the conference and the topicality of the theme, we recommend that teachers, students and other education professionals attend the lecture. Certainly, it will contribute significantly to the formation and personal and professional reflection of each one, as well as on the pedagogical practices of coping during the pandemic.