The Nucleus for Teaching Methodology (NME) of FGV’s Sao Paulo Law School (Direito SP) held a meeting on December 6 to discuss participatory distance learning. The event was attended by experts in the fields of distance learning (EaD) and information technology to discuss the key challenges and opportunities to improve participatory distance learning initiatives.

The event was conceived within a context of increasingly easier access to new technologies, as well as a greater demand for the democratization of access to higher education in Brazil, ultimately increasing the popularity of distance learning courses. Distance learning has had a significant volume of enrollments over the last few years, unlike attendance courses. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), distance learning should account for half of all higher education enrollments in Brazil within a period of five years.

According to professor Marina Feferbaum, Coordinator of NME, tutors, instructional designers, and content professionals will be largely responsible for the quality of Brazilian higher education within this scenario. “We need to think about how those in charge of distance learning can improve what they are already doing, adopting new distance learning methodologies along with the range of technological tools available,” she said.

The meeting also brought up insights from the first edition of the distance certification program for higher education professors, held by FGV in 2017 through four online courses offered by FGV’s Direito SP and FGV’s Institute for Educational Development (IDE).

Opened by the Institutional Coordinator and Deputy Dean of FGV’s Direito SP, Adriana Ancona de Faria, and the Director of Academic Programs and Processes of IDE, Gerson Lachtermacher, the event was also attended by NME researchers Guilherme Klafke, Stephane Lima, and Luiza Corrêa, as well as Mary Murashima, Maristela Tavares, Carolina Mendonça, and Sandro Bonadia, from FGV’s SOL. The event’s panels also included Maria Alice Passos Mendes, Superintendent of Online Products at FGV; Maria Alice da Justa Lemos, Superintendent of Internal Controls at FGV; Márcio Sanches, Coordinator of the Corporate University of the Union of Higher Education Maintainers (Semesp); Flávio Roberto Bueno, expert in institutional design; tutors Cláudia Acosta, Leilani Dian Mendes, and Clio Radomysler; as well as the distance certification program students Júlio César Ferronato and Luciana Ribas.