Abstract:

This study presents partial results of the research under development with the Post-Doctoral Program linked to the Open University - Portugal, Department of Education and Distance Education. The data and analyzes presented refer to an exploratory study that consisted in verifying the profile of the use of virtual spaces (Barros, 2009, 2011; Barros & Terçariol, 2017) of Pedagogy students regarding access, use and appropriation of social networks. Students of the Pedagogy course, offered by a higher education institution of the private network of the State of São Paulo / Brazil, were subjects of this research stage. Specifically, data collection took place in the second half of 2017 under the "Technologies Applied to Education" subject, offered online, under the responsibility of one of the researchers who at the moment also acted as teacher / trainer. As a data collection tool, a questionnaire, built in Google Form, was used to describe the Styles of Use of the Virtual Space. The results showed that of the five groups that participated in the sample, three presented, in a significant way, the predominance of styles A and B, that is, a highlight for the participatory use in the virtual space, including the accomplishment of diverse searches and researches. While two other groups signaled, in addition to styles A and B, also the style D, in which the preference for concrete actions and productions in the virtual space prevails. In addition, it was also pointed out that social networks are already present in the context of future educators, especially Facebook and WhatsApp. It was concluded that the prior identification of the styles of use of the virtual space in the scope of the courses directed to the formation of teachers, especially in Pedagogy, becomes of extreme relevance, considering the need to create differentiated strategies that encourage and propitiate the digital literacy of these educators and, consequently, the insertion of these social media in their future contexts of action, more precisely in Basic Education.

Keywords:

Social Networks, Education, Initial Teacher Training for Basic Education, Styles of Use of the Virtual Space.