Design participativo que importa: um caminho possível para a promoção da autonomia em projetos de letramento digital

Abstract

Studies in Science, Technology and Society point to a new image of science and technology, in which its social context must be taken into account, in a scenario in which citizens are able to make their own decisions regarding the choice and the use of technologies. Likewise, Participatory Design is an approach that provides people with the opportunity and the means to make decisions regarding the insertion of technologies that may have consequences in their environments. The general objective of this research was to analyze how Participatory Design and its practices can contribute to the autonomy of the actors involved in informatics in education projects in communities. The research took place in an university extension project – a partnership between the Porst Graduate Program in Technology and Society, of the Federal Technological University of Paraná, and the Lar dos Meninos de São Luiz. This extension project involved planning and sharing meetings, activities with the community and workshops for digital literacy. So, the problem of this research was how to contribute in a lasting way in the construction of a partnership that considers the autonomy of the teachers and managers of Lar dos Meninos de São Luiz. This qualitative research was composed of a stage of Bibliographic Research, which included a theoretical review, with references from the research areas of studies in Science, Technology and Society and Participatory Design – and with bibliographic mappings, which revealed the state of the art of relevant topics for research – digital literacy of primary school teachers in Brazil, studies with Participatory Design applied to education in Brazil and the role played by teachers in participatory practices in educational environments in the Brazilian context. And it also had a field study stage, carried out from the Data Collection inside the Lar dos Meninos de São Luiz, through Participant Observation. Planning and sharing meetings and workshops for the digital literacy of the Lar dos Meninos de São Luiz pedagogical team were observed, within the extension project addressed, involving members of the coordination and pedagogical team of the Lar dos Meninos de São Luiz and students and teachers of PPGTE, in the year 2019. The data, collected through Field Notes and minutes, were interpreted from the Qualitative Content Analysis, and the results pointed to the relevance of the training processes of the actors involved in projects, to the need to promote democratic spaces. For debates, as well as for the importance of community participation in decision-making processes, since community participation can contribute to the identification of their demands and promote their autonomy.