Types of interactions on Facebook based on an exercise on informal education supported by mathematical challenges

Abstract

The possibilities offered by web applications and their massive use from a large number of electronic devices recreate new spaces and dynamics in the educational field, understood beyond the formal school processes. The gap between formal and informal education is increasingly diffuse, deepened by the accelerated curricular transformations brought about by remote methodologies. In an attempt to incorporate the facilities of electronic devices in organizational and knowledge management, school institutions integrate Learning Management Systems packages with obvious shortcomings in the social aspect. From there arises the application of the connectivist theory in the educational field, strengthened by the web 2.0, which provides an educational perspective based on the spontaneous, chaotic, informal and complex, which happens in the networks of individuals. These connections are the metaphor for the interactions that occur in complex communication processes mediated by ICT.

This research is approached from the qualitative hermeneutical paradigm. The study counted on the voluntary participation of the subjects registered in a group on Facebook, within the framework of an informal educational proposal. The processes were framed in an immersion, teaching performance, a constant observation of the interactions and an interview with some participants selected in a sampling by criteria. The data were triangulated, emerging various types of interaction (direction, theme, purpose, extension and format) significantly related to the performance of the researcher who presented himself as a teacher and the publications he made. It was determined that there is a relationship between the elements, which led to the proposal of a multilinear scale to estimate the level of interaction of the messages. In addition, the importance of teacher participation in the type of group interactions was glimpsed.