Red UAM

Grupos virtuales de aprendizaje colaborativo

Abstract

A variety of experiences in higher education, both in virtual and distance education, have shown that the technological revolution has brought about changes in education which promote the professional training of those young people and adults who would otherwise find it difficult to develop initiative and autonomy to self-direct their own learning processes and to collaborate in virtual groups, by means of a critical and reasoned use of a variety of technological and educational tools and resources. This article attempts to a) analyze the nature and basic aspects of virtual learning communities and collaborative virtual learning groups, and b) report on the progress and limitations of three research and development projects at the UAM-Xochimilco. These are; 1) The UAM electronic network for virtual training of instructors and researchers in systems for distance learning in higher education (SESAD). 2) Training instructors for teaching and learning in physical, virtual and distance environments. 3) Interaction and cooperation between two different types of learning groups, the modular system of the UAM-Xochimilco and those of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC.