CLASSROOM OR DISTANCE LEARNING: DOES THE MODALITY INFLUENCE ON LEARNING?

Distance Education (DE), a mode of education in which the learning process occurs without a physical presence and through information and communication technology, is the fastest growing of its type, in Brazil. In order to verify the influence of DE on learning, an experiment was conducted with two classes of undergraduate business students at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul: one classroom based, and the other only using distance learning. The performances in individual and group tasks, a test and class participation showed that the two groups achieved similar results, albeit with the DE students demonstrating better performance for the majority of the indicators. Thus, despite the general public's, students' and teachers' low opinion of and prejudice regarding distance learning, it exists as an option for obtaining the desired result. Based on the students' opinions and what was seen over the classes, it was found that success in teaching-learning when using DE depends on the suitable exploration and use of the virtual resources and tools available, as well as on the incentives to participate and the continuous refinement of the techniques and methodologies employed.