Interacción virtual y aprendizaje cooperativo. Un estudio cualitativo

Authors

Ángel García del DujoSalto de línea Cristóbal Suárez GuerreroSalto de línea Universidad de Salamanca. Facultad de Educación. Departamento de Teoría e Historia de la Educación. Salamanca, España.

DOI

10.4438/1988-592X-RE-2011-354-008

Abstract

Virtual Interaction and cooperative learning. A qualitative analysis

Education today is charged with the task of rediscovering the potential of cooperation in the new communication coordinates offered by virtual technologies. This task involves extending theory and deploying broad empirical analyses that will allow us to better understand and subsequently prescribe the social interaction processes involved in virtual education. Within this general frame, the objective of this research project is to understand how cooperative relations are built amongst students under conditions of technological mediation. Thanks to a research methodology based on current virtual ethnography applied to the world of university education, the authors managed to learn how networks of cooperative interaction are woven amongst physically distant students in today’s new environments through tools of technological mediation. Specifically in this case the weaving of networks was based on the exclusive exercise of text language on discussion forums. The research led the authors to structure a series of pedagogical propositions that can be synthesised as follows: virtual technology, by modulating the interaction flows according to a written asynchronous communication system, adds to the basic form of cooperation a matrix of temporal (and spatial) representation from which students reconfigure their opportunities and strategies for action when learning as a team. That is, interaction time is part of the learning strategy with which and from which students cooperate. The article reveals an emerging line of research in the virtual training field. It constitutes a methodological toehold for gaining a more thorough knowledge of the different modes of educational interaction that are interwoven by virtue of the Internet. The article thus confirms the hypothesis that the virtual environment adds an element to learning, and educational processes must be rethought on that basis.

Keywords

Virtual interaction, cooperative learning, written asynchrony, technological mediation, educational processes, virtual ethnography.