ABSTRACT

The social distancing and the interruption of face-to-face classes in Brazilian public schools, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, led these institutions to adopt Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). However, migrating from face-to-face teaching to totally remote teaching was not a simple process, causing profound changes in school practice. Therefore, this study, carried out from July to November 2022, focused on identifying the changes and aggregations that occurred in the teaching and learning practices, mediated by Digital Technologies (DT), resulting from the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, from the perspective of 1,812 students, 237 teachers and 75 school managers of the state public high schools in Rio Grande do Norte - Brasil, who participated in this investigation. The research questions focused on identifying (a) the digital technologies used, (b) the remote teaching and learning practices adopted and (c) the intention to continue using practices with digital technologies added during the pandemic in the post- pandemic. In order to achieve its intended ends, the study adopted a multi-method approach, with a two-phase explanatory sequential design. In the first, quantitative phase, online questionnaires were used to collect data and descriptive and inferential statistics, with the support of SPSS software, to analyze them. The results of the analysis of the quantitative phase guided the choice of the sample of the second phase, a qualitative one, which took place through individual interviews, with teachers and school managers, and through focus groups, with students. Qualitative data were analyzed using Thematic Analysis, with the support of NVivo software. The study showed that, despite the lack of preparation felt by the three groups when migrating to remote teaching, due to the lack of access to DT and knowledge to handle them, several resources and strategies were added to the teaching and learning processes. The use of cell phones, messaging groups, especially WhatsApp, Virtual Learning Environments and web conferencing applications, as well as sending and receiving materials via email or social networks stood out. Regarding the intention to continue using the DT incorporated into school practices during the ERE in the post-pandemic, the three groups believe that some or a large part of the DT aggregated in the ERE are already or will be incorporated into school activities after the pandemic, indicating change and innovation in the practices of these individuals.

Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, Emergency Remote Teaching, Information and Communication Technologies, Teaching and learning practices.