O Google Classroom como ferramenta de ensino de língua espanhola no ensino híbrido da EJA de uma escola de Capão do Leão: uma análise a partir dos princípios de usabilidade

Abstract

The present qualitative approach study aims at analyzing, through the usability principles, the “Platform Google Classroom” (PGC) in the Blended Learning mode for Adult education (AE) aiming at the teaching of the Spanish Language (SL). Through a theoretical framework based on the use of Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICTs), in teaching and learning, it was possible to attest the use of these modern technologies that come across a pedagogy, usually traditional, which lacks the understanding of the classroom without physical limitations. As we consider new views that reshape the idea of “Classroom”, we then consider the concept of flipped classroom (FC) to, then, enable adult education students a teaching that meets the particularities of this mode through blended learning that takes facilities from the face-to-face environment also making use of the advantages of the virtual environments. Therefore, PGC, the main issue of this study, was used as virtual teaching environment through desktop and mobile devices, in which we considered desktops, all electronic devices except for smartphones, which were considered mobile. This research also presents the usability through a timeline that encompasses heuristics from Nielsen and the “User Experience” from Norman, intertwined by the ISO/IEC norms that preceded these studies until the usability of Preece, Rogers and Sharp, Steve Krug, among other researchers. PGC analysis, through its resources, is shown with emphasis on the usability principles approached by Preece, Rogers and Sharp – in their work “Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction” – which we use as theoretical basis, guiding this study. This research has meticulous details on PGC form a perspective of the “Main teacher”, the “Assistant teacher” and the “Student”, in desktop and mobile devices (see Appendix 2), in which - based on the material built - an analysis of the aforementioned platform was carried out as of the usability principles, also considering the observation of teaching practice of the author with adult education students in the teaching of Spanish at a school in Capão do Leão, using systematic monitoring record files analysis and questionnaire answered by then as well as images of instructions created to meet the difficulties faced along the process (see Appendix 2). The exam occurred through analysis of the access of PGC by the teachers – main and assistant – and by the students, in the devices mentioned above. Afterwards, there was the analysis of creating a class by the “Main teacher” and, finally, the participation of the “Main teacher”, the “Assistant teacher”, and the “Student”, in these devices, under the perspective of the problems that hampered the participation of the elements which integrated the process. As problems, it has been highlighted – in the analysis – all the situations in which difficulties of understanding/lack of understanding were found – by the students – of a task which should be intuitive, but it was not, even with the presence of the relevant usability principles, as it could be inferred that this understanding would be caused by possible gaps in the presentation of some graphic element/tool in Gmail or PGC, which confirmed the necessity of the users having a previous knowledge for the usage of this type of resource.