Supporting Distance Learning Activities and Social Interaction: A Case Study

The success of Web 2.0 technologies in providing support for social interaction in educational spaces depends on how learning environments benefit from the affordances of Web 2.0 services. These services can be combined with the management of learning activities as done by IMS Learning Design (IMS LD) compliant systems. In this paper, we analyze the ability of an integrated system (blog, forum, and IMS LD activities) to instigate and support learner activity and interaction with other members of the learning network. This analysis takes the form of a case study in which a small professional learning community uses the integrated system. Four different aspects are studied in this case: The role of the tutor, the role of socially outgoing learners, the influence of the adopted educational approach, and the system's components. The paper explains how each of these aspects can play a role in augmenting learner activity and interaction, and consequently incrementing the success of learning systems.