LOOKING FOR A RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical foundation about scientific research, focusing the epistemological principles pointed out by the group of researchers in the Digital Technology Center applied to Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (NUTED/FACED/UFRGS). We also express concepts of technological characters, based on the interactionist theory of Jean Piaget. Then, we describe the Virtual Learning Environment ROODA and its resources, which was used during the research. We also try to emphasize an interpretation of the Virtual Learning Environments in the perspective of complexity, based on the authors Edgar Morin and Pedro Demo. In this way, we propose to relate the characteristics of the Virtual Learning Environments in an interactionist and complex perspective with the participative research, in an attempt to look for a proposal of a research methodology in Virtual Learning Environment. Besides, we analyze the data throughout the environment ROODA in order to illustrate the procedures considered in this paper.