Suricato - Educação Colaborativa: uma proposta de rede colaborativa para apoio à educação básica

Abstract

With the popularization of internet access, we see in the use of network technologies an opportunity for the development of tools that contribute to the minimization of societal problems, including educational issues. In this context, several initiatives focusing on collaboration among individuals have gained momentum. The present study, conducted in the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias Educacionais em Rede (PPGTER), specifically in the research line of Management of Networked Educational Technologies, focuses on the establishment of a collaborative network in education called Suricato – Educação Colaborativa. Its main goal is to bring together the community and public schools, creating possibilities for the construction of diverse knowledge. The research seeks to answer the following problem statement: What are the challenges and possibilities of the collaborative network Suricato - Educação Colaborativa, which, with the support of the community, aims to provide relevant pedagogical activities to students in public schools for their educational development? The research adopts a qualitative approach and employs the case study as the main methodological procedure. As main results, we identified that the Suricato – Educação Colaborativa project can be an important ally in bridging the gap between the community and public schools since students, school administrators, and volunteers from the three participating schools expressed highly positive perceptions about the implemented actions. Furthermore, schools and volunteers involved in the experiences demonstrated an interest in continuing the initiated partnership, which reinforces their satisfaction with the conducted activities. Despite facing some challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, limitations of the Wix platform, and slow communication in some schools, we identified that this project has significant growth potential (involving additional schools, volunteers, and themes) and is highly scalable, capable of being replicated in other educational contexts. We observed that, with the support of the community, it was possible to create diverse learning opportunities for students in partner schools. Moreover, we emphasize that even after the data collection phase, new opportunities for involvement continued to arise organically within the collaborative network. This reinforces the need for project continuity, which can significantly strengthen education in micro and macro contexts in the long run.