Abstract:

The society is in a constant evolution that has so many repercussions in social level as in personal and professional life. IT has had a greater impact every time, bringing new challenges and paradigms to Education.

The traditional paradigm of education is not seen as adequate as in this digital era. The transition from this paradigm to the information age has brought pedagogical methods and approaches that value experimentation, discovery, research and the integration of knowledge and skills. Pedagogues advocate meaningful, diversified, integrated and socializing active learning.

In recent years, universities and later secondary schools have adopted LMS as a means of teaching (distance learning) or complement to classroom teaching (b-learning). With the emergence of social networks, with complementary features to the LMS, and its adoption in broad spectrum were adopted in the teaching / learning process in a short time.

The synergy of these two tools fosters learning environments with a social and interactive presence of capability of fostering students' success in virtual environments.

The aim of this paper is to identify the functions of each one of the tools that promote the improvement of these environments in formal and informal learning situations. The methodology used to achieve the objective besides the literature review, is based on an exploratory study, using surveys and interviews.

Different studies have shown that virtual learning environments reach levels of integration, socialization, participation and learning which are greater than traditional ones. It is true that the use of IT adds value to the teaching / learning process; however, strategies, methodologies, practices and contents have to be aligned.

Keywords:

Virtual learning, formal environments, informal environments, paradigms to Education, LMS, social networks.