| Popis: |
We present a case study, the goal of which is to observe how students in Higher Education (N=100) democratize the virtual classroom by assuming responsibility for their learning and that of the other members of the class; participate actively in social, cognitive, and teaching issues; and collaborate by creating a learning community and reflecting individually and as a group. We use a mixed methodology including: (a) content analysis with a categorization system adapted from the Community of Inquiry (CoI) approach and (b) two questionnaires for observing students’ perception of the democratic elements in the virtual classroom. The results show that the students assume democratic principles of responsibility, critique, participation, and collaboration. We observe the role that the professors play in facilitating democratization of the classroom through flexible design of instruction, promotion of social relationships, and direction of the debate toward the learning objectives |
