Técnicas para el análisis y visualización de interacciones en ambientes virtuales.

Abstract

Asynchronous forums, e-mail lists, and chat rooms create virtuaql environments where it may not be easy to detect communication problemas among the participants. Anyone who wants to teach through an online environment finds that current learning management systems do not provide enough information about the communication structure of the group, level of participation, and other structural characteristics of the interactions that happen in this environment. In this work, the use of social network analisis methods (SNA) and visualizations for online environments had been explored. The procedures to create the visual objects that represent intangible online interactions are shown and the usefulness of these images as devices for data pattern recognition is analized.The validity of SNA techniques and visualizations as tools for instructors of online courses and researchers to evaluate participation and interaction in discussion forums was examined. This study showed that SNA metrics and the visualization of interactions are useful and potentially effective tools to analize online interaction patterns.

Keywords

• Online interactions – Virtual environments – Visualizations.