El componente social. Un indicador del trabajo colaborativo online

Abstract

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación que busca establecer si el componente social (denominado “dimensión social” en la misma) sirve para determinar si la interacción que se produce en una actividad formativa en red dirigida a docentes de inglés que son tutores de un curso de inglés a distancia puede identificarse como el primer paso hacia un trabajo colaborativo encaminado a la construcción de conocimiento a través de la participación en los distintos foros de discusión que se han habilitado para la actividad formativa. Pese a que el reducido número de respuestas a los mensajes publicados podría hacer pensar que este trabajo colaborativo no se lleva a cabo, un análisis detallado de las intervenciones de los participantes en el curso demuestra que eso no es así y que, por el contrario, diversos descriptores de la categoría de “dimensión social” que se emplean para dicho análisis demuestran que sí que se puede percibir, y que además este es valorado de forma positiva por los participantes.

This paper presents the findings of a research study which aims to establish whether social component – called „social dimension‟ in the study – is useful so as to determine whether interaction within an online training course may be identified as the first step towards collaborative learning. This research study was carried out concerning an online training course for English teachers who are instructors in a distance English course. In the training course taken as reference, collaborative learning would aim at knowledge building in the online course through participation in the discussion forums enabled. Even though the small number of responses to the postings might lead to think that it does not take place, their detailed analysis proves this conclusion wrong. On the contrary, many descriptors of the category „social dimension‟ which are used for this analysis reveal that collaborative learning may actually be perceived and that it is also highly valued by the participants in the course

This paper presents the findings of a research study which aims to establish whether social component – called „social dimension‟ in the study – is useful so as to determine whether interaction within an online training course may be identified as the first step towards collaborative learning. This research study was carried out concerning an online training course for English teachers who are instructors in a distance English course. In the training course taken as reference, collaborative learning would aim at knowledge building in the online course through participation in the discussion forums enabled. Even though the small number of responses to the postings might lead to think that it does not take place, their detailed analysis proves this conclusion wrong. On the contrary, many descriptors of the category „social dimension‟ which are used for this analysis reveal that collaborative learning may actually be perceived and that it is also highly valued by the participants in the course.