El aprendizaje en una comunidad en internet de profesores de español como segunda lengua: estudio etnográfico virtual de la comunidad Todoele

Abstract

In the digital era the availability of resources for online learning has multiplied along with personal learning environments. Proof of this is the proliferation of phenomena in the internet like Open Educational Resources or the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and the vast diversity of Online Communities of Practice (OCoP). The former is the object of study in the present Thesis. As Juan Freire (2012: 71) wrote: “The education is already happening, specially outside of educational institutions and formal process of education.” The OCoP garnered attention in the research community during the last few years. And, according to published research, online communities are turning into an emerging phenomena not only for “digital natives” (White, 2011) but also for lifelong learning (Wenger et al, 2002; Dubé et al, 2006; Lai et al, 2006) and specially as a tool for teacher training (Garrido, 2003; Murua, 2015). Teachers develop, through these tools, networks of self support, share didactic material, and look for solutions to common problems while undertaking initiatives towards even more collaboration. The present thesis is a study of Comunidad Todoele (CT) one of the most reputable networks for Spanish as a Foreign Language Teachers (ELE, from it’s Spanish acronym). Currently the community has near 11,000 members and it’s main purpose is researching, describing, and theorising the formative processes that happen inside the network from the perspective of those experiencing it. Debate is centred on the questions: What relevant knowledge do the teachers get from the community? In which way are these processes of learning developed? In other words, How, and what, do teachers learn in these environment?..