Práticas avaliativas na ead: formação continuada para tutores de EAD em saúde do NUTEDS/UFC

Abstract

The use of Distance Learning (DL) has been steadily growing as a teaching method in healthcare education, primarily due to the use of digital technologies as facilitators of the teaching-learning process. This study highlights the evaluative practices from the DL health tutor’s perspective, reflecting on the role of this professional in the planning and execution process of the DL evaluation and identifying the challenges they face to ensure the quality of evaluation processes in this type of education. The context of the study was the Continuing Education Course for DL Health Tutors carried out by the Health Technology and Distance Learning Center at the Federal University of Ceará (Núcleo de Tecnologias e Educação a Distância em Saúde da Universidade Federal do Ceará – NUTEDS/ UFC) from July to December of 2014. The target audience was composed of the 41 participants of the Continuing Education Course, all active in DL specialized courses at the SUS Open University (Universidade Aberta do Sistema Único de Saúde – UNA-SUS). This course was taught in partnership with NUTEDS/UFC. The methodology used was composed of the qualitative analysis of the participation of the tutors in the discussion forum entitled “Evaluation of Learning in a Virtual Environment”. The speeches of the tutors were analyzed with the help of a tool called Wordle.com, through which it was possible to identify the most frequent content units in the dialogues of the people at that forum. It is believed that the approach to this subject in the continuing education process enabled the reflection on the tutor’s role in the evaluation of DL education courses and their impact on the quality and effectiveness of evaluations in this modality.