SILVA, D. D.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/9555051619335470; SILVA, Dayvid Daniel da.
Resumo:
Dropout in Higher Education Institutions in Brazil is a problem that generates financial and social
impacts for the entire population. In the Computer Science course at the Federal University of
Campina Grande (UFCG), the dropout rate concerns professors and managers, especially in relation to
students entering the course. The UFCG's Tutorial Education Program (PET) in Computer Science has
developed a complementary and collaborative approach to training senior and newcomer students,
called Gesto, to reduce the dropout rates of newcomer students in this challenging phase at the
beginning of the university experience. The approach is based on the practice of volunteer work and
on the social construction of meanings of the study of computing through activities to develop
technical skills (hard skills) and non-technical skills (soft skills) chosen by the students in a portfolio
offered to them semiannually. This study presents an analysis of the impacts of this approach based
on the study of three activities chosen by the newcomer students among those available in the
portfolio offered during the 2022.1 semester. The results of the evaluations answered by the
participants, newcomers, and seniors students indicate that this approach can, along with other
actions, decrease the dropout rate in the Computer Science course at UFCG.