Teacher`s development of electronic competences for distance education: a study in a federal university

Abstract

This study aims to discuss the profile and skills development of the Distance Education teachers. For the achievement of the objective, we conducted a basic interpretive qualitative study. Eleven teachers linked to Federal University of São Francisco Valley (UNIVASF) and operating in the distance education answered the semi-structured interviews. Data were examined by content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011) with the help of specific software for qualitative research, ATLAS.ti. Technological readiness and interaction among the participants were the most important skills cited by teachers. The development of such skills, however, happens by learning from their own professional experiences (whether teachers or not) or exchanging experiences with their peers. It is suggested, for future research, organizational context analysis in which the specific needs and challenges are defined and the individual competence is developed by analyzing the interference of institutional conditions of higher education institutions in the development of electronic skills of teachers.