Communication and collaboration through a MOOC experience

Abstract

The following text presents an analysis of communication and collaboration as two central aspects in the design of virtual learning environments, noticing that in many offered courses the design does not necessarily focus on creating learning communities, but to develop a series of learning activities that basically maintain a control scheme by teaching through moderation and instructions, which leaves little margin for autonomy and self-management among students. To this end, has been analyzed the MOOC Information and Communication Technologies in Education in the Coursera platform. The working methodology was based on the review of the main concepts (communication and collaboration) discussed in relation to the AVA, the main topics of discussion forums, management students in learning communities, participation in various communication channels, results of course approval. These results demonstrated that communication and collaboration is possible in MOOCs, and how autonomy and motivation is substantial for collaborative efforts among hundreds of participants. The study confirmed that collaborative products can be made voluntarily, if participants have a common language and similar incentives.

Keywords

• e-learning
• teamwork
• collaboration
• communication
• online courses
• virtual learning environment
• community of learning
• wiki
• mooc
• online discussions