Virtual forums and collaborative learning: an analysis considering soller's categories

Abstract

This work analyses the use of virtual forums for the development of collaborative learning, implemented as blended learning, in an undergraduate college subject. We consider that the forums do not guarantee the development of collaboration abilities and/or competencies, but they may promote them from pedagogical-didactic proposals which favor interaction. The strategies of evaluation used in the forums of Formación Docente, Currículum e Investigación, in the Teacher training undergraduate program of Computing Science were described. In order to study systematically the participants interventions and to identify the kind of interventions, Soller's categories were used: conversation, creative conflict, or active learning. We took into account: the trigger question initiating the forum, the students’ interventions, the teacher feedback, and the interactions in general, typified according to the attributes and sub-abilities established by Soller. The analysis of the forums allowed us to produce knowledge on the basis of the described situations, which in turn helped us restructure feedback actions, thus favoring students’ participation and the promotion of the collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is a competence that should be acquired in the undergraduate teacher training programs.