TECNOLOGIAS DIGITAIS E FORMAÇÃO INICIAL DE PROFESSORES NO CONTEXTO DA CULTURA DIGITAL: Um olhar para o Curso de Pedagogia da Universidade Federal do Maranhão

Abstract

In the context of digital culture, a profound transformation can be observed in the ways of communication, learning, and knowledge production, marked by the ubiquitous presence of digital technologies and their social, cultural, ethical, and political implications. While this scenario enhances educational possibilities—such as expanded access to information, diversification of languages, and the dynamization of pedagogical practices—it also poses complex challenges to education, including the ethical use of technologies, the confrontation of cyberbullying, the emergence of artificial intelligence in the school context, the risks of algorithmic racism, and the constant tension between technological innovation and traditional teaching models. These transformations directly impact teacher education, requiring the development of digital competencies that go beyond technical mastery and encompass pedagogical, critical, ethical, and socially responsible dimensions. Grounded in the understanding of technology as a cultural and political artifact rather than a neutral tool, this research adopts an interdisciplinary approach that articulates the fields of education, culture, and technology, aiming to analyze how Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT) have been addressed in the Pedagogy undergraduate program at the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), with an emphasis on the development of digital teaching competencies necessary for professional practice in the context of digital culture. This qualitative study is characterized as a case study conducted at the Bacanga Campus of UFMA. The methodological procedures included documentary analysis of normative and curricular references—such as the National Curriculum Guidelines for Teacher Education, the National Common Core Curriculum, the National Digital Education Policy, and the Pedagogy Program’s Pedagogical Projects—with particular attention to the comparative analysis between the 2007 and 2025 Pedagogical Course Projects (PPC). Additionally, an online questionnaire was administered to graduating students in order to understand their perceptions regarding the integration of DICT throughout their initial training. Empirical data were analyzed using Content Analysis, following Bardin (2016), enabling the construction of analytical categories representative of participants’ conceptions and experiences. The findings indicate that, at the normative and institutional level, there is a growing recognition of the centrality of DICT in teacher education, especially in the 2025 PPC, which represents a curricular shift by proposing a critical, pedagogical, ethical, and transversal approach to digital technologies, overcoming a previously predominant instrumental logic. However, from the perspective of students’ lived educational experiences, the integration of DICT still occurs in a punctual and discipline-centered manner, revealing weaknesses related to practical application and transversal integration within teaching methodology courses. Students’ narratives also highlight the need for teacher education to address emerging themes such as artificial intelligence, cyberbullying, and ethical uses of digital technologies, as well as the incorporation of a critical and decolonial perspective that understands technologies as potentially emancipatory when appropriated in a conscious, contextualized, and socially responsible way. It is concluded that initial teacher education in the context of digital culture is undergoing a process of curricular transition, in which normative advances coexist with formative challenges that have not yet been fully overcome. This study contributes by revealing tensions between the prescribed curriculum and the lived curriculum and by pointing to the need for methodological pathways that strengthen the critical integration of DICT in teacher education, in favor of ethical, reflective pedagogical practices committed to social justice and the emancipation of subjects.