DIGITAL LIBRARY
VIRTUAL COMMUNITY A TOOL FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
Francisco José de Caldas District University (COLOMBIA)
About this paper:
Appears in: INTED2012 Proceedings
Publication year: 2012
Pages: 1941-1946
ISBN: 978-84-615-5563-5
ISSN: 2340-1079
Conference name: 6th International Technology, Education and Development Conference
Dates: 5-7 March, 2012
Location: Valencia, Spain
Abstract:
Since the final of the 20th century, the web has become a fundamental tool for the development of all the processes to world level, from the managerial and commercial until the idle, where the information technologies and the computer science make part of the daily life and they break up with the geographical and temporary paradigms of the currently society.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that beyond of facilitating corporate processes allows to touch the human fibers and to create affective relationships among people through the virtual congregations, this on-line groups share information and experiences under the outline of virtual community or social network.

The virtual communities to differences of the social networks have specific limitations, it means that they center their attention to the development of common interests, therefore there is a need of specialized contents, generated through a continuous interaction and participation of the members of the group, carrying out a search process, selection and consumption of the information.

As it was stated above, this project looks for linking the communication tools, participation and collaboration inside the ecosystem of the researching groups, analizing the possible benefif that could provide it implementation and how it would lead the student community to a new level and to generate new means that support the development of the researching projects.
Keywords:
Educational virtual communities, participation, collaboration, researching groups.