Os media sociais na promoção de comunidades de aprendizagem em Física e Química

: o Facebook

Abstract

The digital competences of young learners should be harnessed into forces of change inside the educational system. The access to information and to sources of knowledge is literally permitted anytime, anywhere, supported by the increasing availability of mobile technologies and higher speeds on Internet access. The learning process keeps on showing a strong social component, being set in several dimensions allowed to communities implemented on the virtual space, where cooperation is stimulated and a flux of new information ever present. The typical applications of the Web 2.0 must be tested in educational procedures, both formal and informal, increasing a necessary sense of autonomy and motivation to promote better and deeper learning. The use of Facebook social media by a large majority of young learners suggests a strong potential for educational purposes; the simplicity, operability and all kinds of interactions suggests that it might bring benefits for learning. Implementation of a virtual learning community based on Facebook as a spinning platform for several other applications of Web 2.0 has allowed to conclude that interaction between elements in the community has strengthened the spirit of belonging and the autonomy, and has translated itself in richer learning for those who showed more activity in it

Date of Award	2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	António Andrade (Supervisor)