Analysis of Social Worker and Educator's Areas of Intervention through Multimedia Concept Maps and Online Discussion Forums in Higher Education.
2015; Academic Conferences and Publishing International; Volume: 13; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1479-4403
AutoresEsteban Vázquez Cano, Eloy López Menéses, José Luís Sarasola,
Tópico(s)E-Learning and Knowledge Management
ResumoThis diachronic study describes an innovative university experience consisting of the development of multimedia concept maps (MCM) in relation to social educators and social workers main intervention areas and an active discussion in online forums about the results obtained. These MCMs were prepared by students who attended the Information Technologies and Communication course as part of the Degree in Social Education and dual Degree in Social Education and Work during the academic years 2010-13 at Pablo Olavide University (Seville-Spain). Following a methodological framework based on virtual, collaborative action-research, a qualitative analysis is implemented to analyze 213 MCMs created by students and their interventions in ad hoc online discussion forums with a twofold methodological approach: firstly a qualitative analysis of word frequencies in MCM through the use of Atlas-Ti software and secondly a forum discussion categorization through a reticular, category based social network analysis using UCINET and yED Graph Editor. Among the most relevant conclusions, we can highlight that a combination of MCMs and discussion forums are highly interactive and collaborative digital resources and are especially beneficial when applied to social studies. Students were able to identify and categorize key areas of social and educational intervention, including: seniors, children, teens and drug dependence, people with disabilities, adults, mental health, socio-community care, and immigrants.
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