Learning in Virtual Learning Communities in Spain: The Case of Teachers in Nonformal Education Settings

• In Event: Sharing Knowledge in Local Settings: International Perspectives on Teacher Learning Communities

Abstract

The rise of new technologies and their widespread use in education has allowed the emergence of a new space of knowledge building for teachers in Spain. Virtual learning communities, based on new technologies, social networks and other devices have facilitated the building of learning communities of geographically separated individuals of different social, cultural and educational backgrounds.
Blanton, Moorman, and Traten (1998) proposed organizing the forms of communication in virtual environments, differentiating between convergent and divergent situations, depending on the interpretations of the users. Starting from that work, Shotsberger (2001) analyzed synchronous dialogues in chat rooms by applying various categories: statement, beliefs, concerns, practice, wishes, intention, query, and result.
There have been recent attempts to go beyond the mere description of the messages in forums of asynchronous learning communities, conceiving them as an opportunity to promote knowledge and learning. The landmark work of Henry (1992) propounds that asynchronous communication can be analyzed from five dimensions: participative, social, interactive, cognitive, and metacognitive.
A growing area of research is the examination of how technologies can help develop high-order cognitive functions in teachers: articulation, reflection, and negotiation (Hara, Bonk, & Angeli, 2000; Van Gorp, 1998). It is claimed that virtual learning communities have the potential to transform education, creating environments more-focused on the students, in which they can interact with their companions.
Hara, Bonk, and Angeli (2000) suggest that virtual learning communities support the principles of constructivist learning because they enable student teachers to articulate, read, and reflect on concepts easily. They state that the tools of asynchronous or deferred-capacity communication enable students to have, for instance, some control over the extent to which ‘waiting time’ increases, and provides opportunities for reflexive learning.
In our research, we analyzed the process of creating, developing a virtual community formed by trainers in the field of informal education. Thirty trainers formed a virtual community around new technologies to support the professional development of teachers in non-formal settings. The research participants were involved in asynchronous communication spaces related to the topic of study. They were from geographical, cultural, social, and learning differentiated backgrounds. The methodology of our research is based on discourse analysis in asynchronous communication, which is used to analyze a system of categories with three dimensions: social presence, cognitive and teaching.
Dimensions Categories
Teaching Presence Instructional design and teaching management
Facilitating discourse
Tasks
Direct teaching
Cognitive Presence Initiation
Exploration of ideas
Integration and knowledge building
resolve the dilemma or problem
Social Presence Affective
Interaction
Cohesion

Virtual learning communities are providing opportunities to learn in informal, horizontal, and more democratic ways. Communication in these environments allows us to advance the case that non-formal trainers use this type of learning communities as a place of cohesion and professional development.
Selected References

Authors

• Carlos Marcelo, University of Sevilla

• Ana Schalk, University of Pacifico