Virtual ethnography methodology for researching networked learning
Résumé
This article describes the application of a qualitative method based on digital ethnography in research on networked learning in Higher Education. The proposed method tends towards a solution for the need of innovative techniques for the study of new forms of interaction emerging in computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) and their effective uses. The method used is based on three phases: first, initial exploration and systematic collection, then organisation and comparison of data, finally analysis. The corpus is composed of various data (audio-visual recordings, images, texts): audio-visual and textual data are organised and compared. The results suggest that an analysis of the process in its development is possible. The interpretative course is built thanks to the effective situations of uses. The ethnographical methodology applied to the study of the technological environment brings a concrete visibility of the tracks of implementation and manners and gives the possibility of having access to the development of the non stop process. The taking into consideration of all the constituent elements allows to encircle the diverse activities of the actor. It permits to analyse phenomena that would be invisible with a quantitative method.