Letramentos demandados em cursos on-line: por uma redefinição do conceito de letramentos hipertextuais

Abstract

This thesis aims to redefine the concept of hypertextual literacy, coined by Bolter (1998), since this does not include the current social practices mediated by hypertext. The theoretical basis supporting this academic enterprise proceeds mainly Bolter (1998), Semali (2001), Soares (2002), Cavalcante Jr. (2003), Street (2003), Martin (2008), Barton (2009), Lemke (2010) and Pinheiro; Araújo (2012). The methodology which made feasible the aforementioned goal was the case study of the online pedagogical materials designed for undergraduate distance learning courses provided by Federal University of Ceará (UFC – Universidade Federal do Ceará) in partnership with Open University of Brazil (UAB – Universidade Aberta do Brasil). The subjects who participated in the research were the professors responsible for the discipline organization and for designing the curricular contents available for access on the Online Learning Environment (AVA – Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem) of Virtual UFC Institute, and team of professors, a part of the group responsible for the hypertextualisation process, whose work is to do the didactic transition. The instruments and techniques used to build the data were: (i) semi-structured interviews with the subjects, (ii) observing the development of materials by professors through a software that record all the operations on screen and the surrounding sounds, allowing professors to perform a verbal protocol, and (iii) monitoring the work of the group of didactic transition by means of a journal in which I’ve made notes about this moment. Furthermore, I analyzed the material produced in its three versions: the initial version designed by professors, then the one designed by the group of didactic transition, and the final version available on the online environment. The analysis leads to conclude that literacy practices developed by the subjects can be categorized into traditional, oral, visual, technological, communicational and informational, which are interrelated, and one or the other can stand out. Thus, we define the concept of hypertextual literacy as social practices mediated by hypertext, through which one can identify different types of literacies that jointly create the meaning.