O uso educacional de smartphones no Ensino Remoto Emergencial na pandemia da Covid-19: possibilidades e limitações em percepções e vivências de professores/as de Matemática da Rede Estadual de Educação Básica do RS

Abstract

The present research has the general objective of understanding and discussing the possibilities and limitations of the educational use of smartphones in the pedagogical practices developed during the Emergency Remote Teaching implemented in the Covid-19 pandemic.This perspective is based on the experiences of Mathematics teachers working in the Basic Education for the Rio Grande do Sul state. Given this purpose, narrative research was adopted as the investigation method parting from a qualitative approach. The data collection and production instruments used were a form (Google Forms) and individual online interviews via the Google Meet application. Eight (8) teachers who participated in 2017 in a training on the use of this digital technology in Mathematics teaching, organized by the extension project "Rede Colabora" at the Federal University of Pelotas, were interviewed. In the development of data analysis, the principles of Content Analysis were employed, and thus, three categories were elaborated: "Smartphones: emergency educational technology?"; "Emergency Technological (Self)Formation"; “Post-Pandemic: the use of smartphones in teaching perspectives”. The results pointed out that the specific characteristics (mobility, convergence, ubiquity) of these devices equipped with software programs and internet access facilitated the teachers' contact and interaction with students and the development of asynchronous activities (posting and sharing study materials and assessments) and synchronous activities (online classes via Google Meet) in formal spaces (Google Classroom platform) or informal spaces (Facebook and WhatsApp) for learning. The use of WhatsApp prevailed, considering the resistance and difficulties students found when accessing other virtual spaces because of the lack of internet access and/or limited familiarity with those other environments. However, privacy, digital security, overload, precarization, and monitoring of teaching work were limitations identified in the use of these spaces. Faced with the urgent necessity of professional improvement, teachers used smartphones for Emergency Technological (Self)Formation and Collaborative Technological Training. They explored the potential of digital tools and resources independently or through interaction and collaboration with other teachers and/or family members. In the post-pandemic period, teacher narratives uncovered the continued use of these mobile devices for online lesson recording, communication with students, access and sharing of digital materials, automation of assessment processes, and exploration of mathematical educational software. The objective was to overcome the learning deficit identified upon the return to in-person teaching. Nonetheless, the precarious condition of connectivity in public schools has affected the development of these activities, and the sharing of mobile internet data with students became a common practice adopted by teachers. Thus, the present dissertation concluded that smartphones emerged as an educational technology tool during and after the experience of ERT. In the daily use of this technology, teachers enabled a Mathematics education beyond calculations when identified that this possibility could contribute to the construction of mathematical knowledge and the professional development of educators.