Analysis of the Use of Educational Resources in a Virtual Learning Environment and the Impacts on Student Dropout
Distance Education, Virtual Learning Environment, Higher Education, Open University of Brazil, Educational Technologies.
Many educational problems are complex and there are no quick fixes with immediate answers to solve them. Evasion is one of these problems and deserves special attention, which justifies the need to carry out studies, research and critical reflections on the nuances that underlie, permeate and constitute approaches that can contribute to understanding and combating this phenomenon.The use of Information and Communication Technology brings people together, even if they are physically distant, but it can create a problem for those who do not have access to technological resources, which makes it an obstacle for people who do not have or have not developed certain skills.The technology resources that Distance Education uses, through Virtual Learning Environments, allow the construction of knowledge to occur in different spaces, with teachers and students developing activities in different places or times. Thus, the use of these educational technology resources available in Virtual Learning Environments will be addressed in this work from a mapping of educational resources used in undergraduate courses of the Open University of Brazil program at the University of Brasília. This research is characterized by being an exploratory case study and a qualitative approach was adopted, in which the data
analysis carried out identified the most used resources and related them to the dropout rate of the respective courses. The results obtained suggest that the diversity of resources can impact dropout rates.