Online collaborative learning: A study of communicative interactions in a Latin American university environment

Abstract

The Collaborative Learning has been a reference learning theory in higher education, nevertheless, learners don’t recognize and take advantage of its potential, or how to reach approaches and coregulate with peers. The current post-pandemic scenario has generated new opportunities for interaction in virtual environments. However, the low or inconstant students’ participation in them has given way to research seeking to know the causes and whole scenario of process and suggest alternatives to enhance communicative interactions and collaboration on online platforms. In this article we study how can communicative interactions and collaboration mediated by information and communication technologies be fostered, enhanced, or increased in university e-learning environments. This research was developed using the qualitative perspective with a hermeneutic methodological approach. For the study, 124 primary studies of the literature and 42 e-learning environments of the Academic U-Virtual platform of the ‘Universidad de Medellín’ -Colombia were analyzed. The application of the research method allowed us to find four major components as a result: motivation and feedback, mediation/interaction, didactic, and technological. Such components can integrate and promote communicative interactions and online collaboration in university environments. As main conclusions, we found that the proposed components will allow: (i) to distinguish the particularities of communicative interactions; (ii) to facilitate tasks oriented to promote skills centered on collaboration, self-learning, and flexibility; and (iii) to design improved virtual environments by using synchronous and asynchronous tools that encourage the communicative interactions and the permanent collaboration of professors and students on e-learning platforms.