Network Education and Blended Learning: Cyber University concept and Higher Education post COVID-19 Pandemic

Ana Carolina Carius

doi:10.33448/rsd-v9i10.9340

Ana Carolina Carius

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i10.9340

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Abstract

Educational processes, over the past few years, are changing due to the various changes that society has been going through, driven by the insertion of the internet in daily life. The present study presents an essay on the perspectives for Higher Education from the pedagogical practices developed during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Concepts such as Network Education and Hybrid Education bring to light the reflection on the physical and virtual place of the university, involving economic issues that would make higher education courses cheaper in a virtual modality. Based on an exploratory research, outlined in a bibliographic way, the validity of the thesis about a paradigm shift for Higher Education, built under a hybrid model, was investigated. It is concluded that experiencing the university, from a social point of view, is very relevant, in addition to the accumulation of knowledge without articulation with everyday life, and that Hybrid Teaching is a methodological alternative in the establishment of the Network Education process, effective from Active Methodologies.

Highlights

This study begins with the reflections of Manuel Castells (2019), from the concept of Network Society, on the role of universities in this process of construction and dissemination of knowledge
The present study presents an essay on the perspectives for Higher Education from the pedagogical practices developed during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic
The research question that this study intends to answer is: "Is it possible to identify, from the experiences in Higher Education with technology-mediated education during the COVID-19 pandemic period, a paradigm shift for universities, contextualized in this society strongly defined by networked relationships?" The general objective of this study is to evaluate the consequences of this prolonged period of university closure, worldwide, for the conception of universities and for the form of higher education courses in the post-pandemic moment of COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

This study begins with the reflections of Manuel Castells (2019), from the concept of Network Society, on the role of universities in this process of construction and dissemination of knowledge. It is possible to insure, from this experience, positive and negative perceptions about the classes mediated by technology. This is the research object of this study. The research question that this study intends to answer is: "Is it possible to identify, from the experiences in Higher Education with technology-mediated education during the COVID-19 pandemic period, a paradigm shift for universities, contextualized in this society strongly defined by networked relationships?" The general objective of this study is to evaluate the consequences of this prolonged period of university closure, worldwide, for the conception of universities and for the form of higher education courses in the post-pandemic moment of COVID-19. It is suggested that public universities deteriorate in this perspective, since hybrid teaching privileges actors with better electronic equipment and wide internet access, excluding a significant portion of the population that does not have access to the equipment or the internet

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