Abstract:

Immersion and tele-immersion, collaborative learning in virtual laboratories and classes, together with other new technologies applied in education replaced in many cases face-to-face social contact between master and pupils. Effective use of cyberspace in education produced new common grounds for the exchange of information and share of values, including spiritual ones.
In our paper we analyze various theoretical frameworks in which the phenomenon of spirituality is placed, to find out how much individual beliefs, predispositions, motivations and values influence or even improve the effectiveness of distance learning. Effectiveness of distance learning is measured by the level of satisfaction of a learner after completing the course as well as by the objective results as assesed from the outside.
Research had the aim in studying spiritual conditions making collaborative e-learning more effective. Virtual cooperation proves to be easier and of better quality if correlated with advanced spiritual development of the members of collaborating group, even if they communicate only online. Hence, the advanced spiritual development may be one of predictors for better, more effective collaborative learning. In the paper we will discuss the results of the study and put forward conclusions concerning the importance of spiritual development for distance learning in collaborating groups in particular and for any kind of distance learning in general. In our research we look for specific micro-factors determining this improvement of distance learning effectiveness as corelated with spiritual development. We also place this set of factors or micro-factors in broader spectrum of necessary condition for intelectual and emotional development in the life-span, and especially in the age of emerging adulthood.

Keywords:

Collaborative learning, spiritual development, distance education.