SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN DISTANCE-LEARNING COURSES

Scientific research is of great importance in the training of undergraduate students, because one of the purposes of higher education is the incentive to research. In Brazil, the University Reform Act of 1968 established research as an inseparable activity in undergraduate courses. This importance is noted in classroom-based courses, including the offer nationally established by the Institutional Program for Scientific Initiation Scholarships (PIBIC). This reality, however, does not reach distance-learning courses, where the greatest emphasis has been on the teaching-learning process.

The distance-learning courses, implemented through the current political and financial model of the Open University of Brazil (UAB), do not encourage research and extension activities. We know, however, that research and extension activities integrated into the education process allows for a more extensive training, where the students are not just focused on theory, but can also develop activities applied to their own reality. So we understand that scientific research and extension activities are of great importance to academic training. Therefore, distance-learning courses cannot be left out of this reality.

Even though research is not institutionalized in distance-learning courses at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), managers who have worked there over the years have always sought ways to implement these activities in the courses offered and contributed to the currently modified scenario.

This study aims to present an overview of the implementation of research and extension activities in distance-learning courses at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco since the first initiatives, with works like "The sound waves: the body speaks, do you listen?" "Computer use by hearing-impaired students" and "Physics in early childhood education". This panorama goes through formal initiatives such as the Volunteering Program of Scientific Initiation in the Bachelor's Degree in History and Visual Arts; the "Scientific and Professional Exhibition", the first project that received funding from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and presently with the first fellows of the Institutional Program for Scientific Initiation Scholarships (PIBIC) at the Academic Unit of Distance Education and Technology (UAEADTec), in partnership with the Professional Master’s Degree Program in Technology and Management in Distance Education.