Author: Consuelo García Tamarit
Programme: Doctoral Programme in Education and ICT (e-learning)
Language: Spanish
Supervisor: Dr Antoni Badia
Faculty / Institute: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. eLearn Center (eLC)
Key words: Cognitive processes, learning, higher education, collaboration, virtual environments
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Summary
Traditionally, research on collaborative learning in virtual groups has adopted different perspectives, according to two far apart conceptions of learning, considering it as knowledge acquisition, an individual cognitive process, or as participation in a social practice, a constructive process of interpersonal character. These conceptions have approached the investigation of this phenomenon by dissociating the social from the individual aspect of collaboration. Our research proposes an inclusive perspective to relate the individual and social dimensions of collaborative learning. Our results confirm a positive and significant relationship between the students¿ participations, students¿ learning strategies, collaborative organizational structure of the group, and the learning outcomes of students both individually and as a group. This study proposes a comprehensive view of the analysis of collaborative learning in virtual environments, a methodology which is increasing its use as technology facilitates more and more learning in human beings.