A FORMAÇÃO DE UMA COMUNIDADE VIRTUAL DE APRENDIZAGEM SOB A PERSPECTIVA DA TEORIA DA ATIVIDADE

Abstract

Virtual learning is distinguished from previous models of distance education for its capacity of creating virtual communities, since students want to have social experiences and be connected to other people. The virtual environment is appropriate for facilitating learning, since students are stimulated to meet each other and work together. However, without the formation of a virtual community that builds knowledge together, nothing new or different is being done. Nor studying in an online environment is a proposition for the community formation. Thus, studies about pedagogical actions related to the building of virtual learning communities, which is the scope of our work, are necessary. Considering that learning is a process that happens in the interaction among the members of a group that build knowledge from a shared action, we emphasize the importance of social exchange and use of tools for the development of the individual´s potentialities. Because of this, the objective of this research is to verify the process of a virtual learning community formation, identifying factors that foster, through interactions, or constrain, through contradictions, the building of this community in an online educational context. The theoretical underpinnings are Activity Theory (LEONTIEV, 1978; ENGESTRÖM, 1987; 1997), a philosophical and interdisciplinary framework for studying different forms of human practices (activity), and Vygotsky‟s assumptions. The context of this investigation is the discipline Português Redacional Básico online (PRB) delivered to two groups in the virtual learning environment TelEduc. We conclude that distinct factors contribute to build a virtual learning community contributing, in many ways, to its formation. Besides these factors, though, there are others that limit the formation of the same community, bringing conflicts to the central activity system