Abstract:

According to Cerny [1], project management of educational technology development is anchored on the basis of triad I) training; II) production of materials; and III) research and evaluation of collaborative pedagogical management. For the author, to develop systems of development of technologies means to propose a dynamic of development of care with the processes, not centralized, but shared between the different participant’s spheres of actions. In this sense, for this conception to be part of the day-to-day research and development of products/services of an interdisciplinary team, it is understood as an important part of conducting research, training and study groups. In the case of a platform of digital educational resources, focused on basic education - the object of research and development of a team made up of designers, education researchers, teachers, programmers, among other professionals - possibilities were sought for participation of teachers during the design process. When it comes to the nature of the project, this dialogue with the school was understood as fundamental, since several times this institution is separated from the decision-making processes about the products that are developed for it. This article aims to systematize theoretical reflections about the practices of an interdisciplinary team in the search for a critical perspective of the design, aiming the development of the interface of a platform of digital educational resources, linked to the Ministry of Education of Brazil, in the context of a laboratory of management and development of digital technologies of information and communication, allocated in a Brazilian federal university. Based on the collaborative pedagogical management model proposed by Cerny [1], the project team was challenged to rethink the social function of Design in the development of digital interfaces, through Critical Theory of Technology [2]. For that, a literature review was conducted in the area of Design, focusing on the philosophical currents that could guide the team's design practices. In this way, in the search to develop processes of production of digital interfaces as possibilities of training and democratization of the technologies, the Participatory Design (PD) presented itself as a relevant methodological possibility in aligning with the perspectives assumed in this project. As well as, it enabled the planning of a dynamic of collaborative creation of the front page interface of the platform with teachers of basic education, detailed in Camata [3], since PD involves professionals and researchers from different domains who share a concern with the knowledge, voices and rights of end users in the design context [4]. Thus, it is understood that the Participatory Design approach enabled the team to understand the meaning of developing digital products in a critical and collaborative manner, reflecting on research methods and techniques and on the social function of design.

Keywords:

Critical Theory of Technology, Participatory Design, Collaborative Management, Critical Education and Digital Interface Design.