Walline Alves Guimarães, a doctoral researcher at CeiED, defended her PhD thesis in Education, with a focus on Communication and Education, on July 22nd, at Lusófona University in Lisbon. Her research investigates how online educational communities are formed in digital environments and explores which communicational and pedagogical strategies support their effective construction and sustainability.

Entitled "Education and Communication in the Digital Age: Strategies and Challenges for Building Online Educational Communities", the thesis is based on the premise that developing meaningful online educational communities requires more than the use of technology: it demands ethics, pedagogical intentionality, and communication and engagement strategies that challenge the logic of distraction and consumption that dominates social media.

The aim of this research was to analyze the communicational, educational, and social elements and strategies present in social networks and online educational communities, in order to outline guidelines for creating a digital educational community to serve as a foundation for teachers and scientists, fostering innovation in knowledge dissemination and the popularization of scientific understanding.

The study followed a predominantly qualitative paradigm, complemented by quantitative analyses of data extracted from digital social networks. The research approach was netnographic, a model designed specifically for studying digital cultures and communities.

The researcher analyzed the role of teachers and digital influencers in shaping learning ecosystems on Instagram and YouTube. Teachers were selected based on criteria such as the relevance of their professional work and the achievement of significant national and international education awards in Brazil, Portugal, and England.

In the first phase of the study (netnographic research), the researcher examined content, comments, and audience reactions from a sample of 2,374 posts. Additionally, she conducted four interviews, each analyzed through a structural decoding method centered on the individual narrative. The second phase focused on developing a framework identifying essential factors across dimensions and practical actions to support the creation and maintenance of online educational communities. It also included a survey of teachers and scientists from the State of Maranhão, the researcher’s home state in Brazil, who act as disseminators of education and science on digital social networks, identifying their areas of teaching and research.

“Studying these communication and education elements and strategies was essential to understanding current trends and shaping the future of education and science dissemination in a digital world, building bridges between experts and society,” says Walline Guimarães. She also emphasizes, through her study, that digital influence is directly tied to the construction of social capital and the development of genuine connections. “Effective, human-centered educational and scientific communication is essential for engaging diverse audiences, strengthening communities, and democratizing knowledge,” she adds. However, Walline also notes that the study highlights major challenges related to algorithmic control and reliance on commercial platforms.

In the digital age, to educate and communicate is to understand that we are embedded in a market logic where people’s attention is constantly fragmented and contested. Digital platforms, while expanding access to knowledge, operate under models that prioritize time spent and engagement as commercial assets. Ultimately, Walline argues that the digital age has broadened the possibilities of educational monetization, transforming educators into potential entrepreneurs—whether by choice or necessity for sustaining online educational communities.

The thesis argues that beyond technological tools, what truly sustains an online educational community is the continuous construction of bonds, trust, relevance, and collective purpose. The research contributes to the fields of digital communication, education, and network culture, offering both theoretical and practical insights for those wishing to transform digital environments into real spaces for learning, social connection, and knowledge exchange. “Education on social media cannot be just an extension of traditional teaching. We must understand the codes, emotions, and dynamics of these platforms to educate in truly meaningful ways,” the author concludes.

The thesis was supervised by Professor Vítor Duarte Teodoro and defended within the PhD in Education program at Lusófona University. The work was approved with distinction and honors by the examination committee.

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