Design and validation of an analysis grid of social networks (virtual communities)

Abstract

The Internet and communication technologies have caused profound changes in the circulation of information, and consequently in the ways we teach, learn, and interact with each other. A research project was initiated in the year 2009 in order to investigate whether virtual communities, created from the existing social software on the web, provide the development of meaningful learning, the result of interactions, and knowledge sharing among its members. The first phase of the presented project assumed the design, development, and validation of an analysis and evaluation grid of virtual communities, which in the social web developed around the central theme Education-Training- Technologies.