Abstract:

Unlike traditional pedagogical approaches focused on the instructional activity of the teacher, for constructivist approaches of sociocultural orientation, the students are the main agents around which educational processes are mobilized. Within these constructivist approaches, the students are active agents precisely because they build learning experiences by themselves through collaborative work and mutual regulation; consequently, those learning experiences are more relevant and meaningful to the group. In the last decade, the tasks of online discussions have become one of the constructivist pedagogical proposals with greater recognition in higher education. In order to carry out the online discussions, asynchronous communication tools are often used because of their potential to establish communication among students located in different places and different temporary spaces; furthermore, these enable the development of cognitive skills for critical, assertive and argumentative thinking. The purpose of this research was to identify structural patterns of participation and communication developed by university students during their online discussion within an asynchronous forum. Through a case study methodology, 24 discussion forums were analyzed; 35 university students participated, randomly distributed in four work groups. The results highlight that when the groups display a greater amount of discussion topics, they also develop high and balanced profiles of participation among their members.

Keywords:

Higher education, online communication, discussion among students.