DISTANCE EDUCATION AND DISTANCE POST-GRADUATION STRICTO SENSU IN BRAZIL: A THEORETICAL APPROACH

Abstract

Distance Education is an educational modality regulated by the Law of Guidelines and Bases in Education, currently predominant in higher education. Current paper discusses what may be done in DE within the process of the formation of candidates for the master´s degree. ED within the context of post-graduation in Brazil is discussed with special reference to the structure and formation of a Master´s course in the formation of Math teachers who use DE, or rather, the Professional Master´s degree in Mathematics in the national network (PROFMAT). Documentary and bibliographical research deal not merely with the literature on DE and post-graduate courses but also with the main documents that foreground PROFMAT, its regime and its Supplementary Evaluation Report. The paper´s aim is not to proffer judgment on DE or on the PROFMAT, but to show the way on the improvement of possibilities and limits of technology for the development of a post-graduate course stricto sensu in Brazil.