Contributions of Information Science to the design of digital interfaces for user-centered teaching and learning

Abstract

Virtual learning environments can be seen as devices for social inclusion in the distance learning modality, as they favor the role of students in teaching and learning processes and favor activities to democratize access to Education. But, the students' relationship with the didactic contents depends on an interface to enable interactions and appropriation of contents in digital format. The research starts from the hypothesis that the design of this interface needs to meet requirements linked to the needs and expectations of the user, according to assumptions of Information Science and aimed to investigate the requirements for design and implementation of digital interfaces centered on users of these environments. This is an exploratory research with a qualitative approach, based on the literature analysis and case study of a virtual learning environment used in technical education. It is concluded that studies and theoretical and methodological contributions of Information Science are essential to understand the mediation process present in the user-system relationship and, as a result, a proposal is presented for a set of guidelines to implement interfaces that can facilitate the process of appropriation of information by users of virtual learning environments.