Linear algebra and technology: limitations and possibilities in the context of online distance education

Abstract

This project proposes an investigation about the use of digital technologies in distance undergraduate courses in mathematics related to Brazil's Open University (UAB). This is a qualitative research. Data will be constructed from several sources and methods. Firstly, linear algebra classes of distance courses will be observed and recorded, and subsequent interviews will be conducted with teachers, students and other people involved in order to highlight the use and role of digital technology in the subject. Interviews may be either virtual or face-to-face. Also, interactions that occur between teachers or tutors and the students in Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) used by the surveyed institutions will be. In addition, researcher notes will be recorded in a field diary. The analysis will be done based on Borba and Villarreal (2005) and their peers, who argue that knowledge is constructed by collectives of human and non-human, and that, the non-human actor in this construction, the media, has a role so important as the individual, because it shapes the way that knowledge, particularly the mathematical one , is produced. I intend, with this proposal, to proceed to discussions on the essential components, not yet defined, of Online Distance Education in Brazil and also to advance the discussion on the use of digital technologies in order to enhance the production of knowledge of concepts in linear algebra.