A PROFESSOR’S CONSTRUCTION IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

a professorcommunicator in video teleconferencing

Abstract

This paper discusses some of the changes in professors’ work brought about by the use of video teleconferencing as the main resource in distance education. It defends that mediatization occurs in the classroom because the technical tool becomes the environment/interface itself, rather than just an additional resource. Thus, requirements regarding the professor-communicator as a producer/user/mediator may broaden. Based on the collection of perceptions and strategies exposed by professors in the on-site/virtual Master’s Program in Production Engineering at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, I have concluded that distance education through video teleconferencing requires that professors become “mediatic”, i.e., a professor who works in the virtual environment and has a good command of audio lingual languages, as if they were the essence of his/her way of teaching, rather than just a tool.