LDL FORUM: AN INTERACTIVE TRIAD

ABSTRACT

Nowadays the distance education in Brazil is filled of various challenges because of the lack of technological competency and methodology on managing educational softwares, especially when focusing on the teacher’s and student’s action. Throughout this aspect, the fundamental question of this study came. The issue surrounds the absence of interaction on the electronic forums in Brazilian Higher Education. Therefore, the research sphere has focused in one assessment activity in an electronic forum in a conversation circle scenario of a distance education postgraduate course of a High Education Brazilian Institution. Regarding on the referred, the aim of this study is to examine which of the teacher’s strategies impact and bring critical consideration beyond the student’s contribution. To verify the fundamental aspects in a knowledge-based field and to justify the significance of the use of communication in these environments. For achieving those goals, it has been appealed to instruments, techniques and methods of data-gathering and content analysis which intended to verify the communicative efficiency between the participants of the group through the description in the messages in the guidelines above. For that, it has been chosen the qualitative perspective, in an analytical descriptive slant and the case study as a research strategy. Since it was an only case in its singularity, it has methodologically led to the data-gathering which has occurred from the focused observation, from the investigation through interview and from the register of student’s participation. Concerning to content analysis, it has been elected a semantic singularity for it all. The assessment grid of the cognitive, social and teaching presence, the heuristics of Garrison et al. (2000) have allowed the interconnection of the information. Because of validating the post contents previously mentioned, it was evidenced the essentiality of the teacher’s commitment to interfere in the student’s action, and therefore both transform an empty environment into a learning environment.

KEYWORDS: Online Collaborative Learning; Discussion Forum; Assessment of online learning; Content analysis.