This paper discusses some aspects regarding the presence of technology in higher education, starting with what we call in Brazil Distance Education, with particular emphasis on the creation of the UAB - Open University of Brazil and the context of its creation. We emphasize that the project UAB presents certain inconsistencies in legislation and also of purposes and that, so far, it has shown no major pedagogical advancements, having pursued especially the implementation of classroom practices. We argue that the presence of current technologies of information and communication in everyday life, especially in education and pedagogical tasks, including classroom teaching, should be transformative because it assumes a new kind of education, with the possibility of descentralizing the curriculum, empowering students and making use of the presence of strong learning communities and networks of relationship.
Distance Education; Higher Education; Open University of Brazil; Education Technologies