THE MODELS AND THE EVALUATION OF HIGHER DISTANCE EDUCATION IN BRAZIL

Brazil is in a consolidation phase of distance education in all sectors and levels of education. After a phase of experimentation, where there was an intense learning and searching for more appropriate models for each institution, we are in a phase of maturity, more government regulation, more concern about growth, infrastructure, methodology of teaching and learning. The main models are "teleclass" (class satellite), online, video-class with more or less local support. A current legislation in Brazil favors the bimodal model, with close monitoring of students and shows the pattern of mistrust the online monitoring, especially in undergraduate courses. Distance education is becoming an important reference for a change of higher education as a whole. It uses increasingly hybrid methodologies, making more flexible the need for physical presence, rearranging the spaces and times of teaching and learning.