Interação em salas de aula virtuais: a contribuição da linguagem gráfico-visual

Abstract

The educational system, within the context of communication and information technologies, makes use of learning virtual environments (LVE). Environments where multiple languages are worked in order to establish an efficient and effective, educational and communication process. The Virtual Classroom graphical interface is considered, (VC), a space within an LVE intended for the development of subjects/courses, a facilitator tool in the user interaction with the environment and the content within it. The concepts and elements of graphic-visual language are focused and how they are joined with the ergonomic criteria of usability in the graphic design of these interfaces. The purpose of this research is to examine to what extent a Virtual Classroom planned according to the graphic and visual language principles interferes in the student interaction with the environment. To achieve that goal the LVE is thought as a space that contains resources that can manage courses, content, activities and users within a pedagogical project; the Moodle VLE, platform used during the research, is also described; the case study was taken as a research strategy. We observed the VC graphical interface of distance education, offered by a federal institution of higher education. A new format was proposed for the VC according to the graphic-visual language and ergonomics and usability criteria. These VC were used and examined by their students. It was concluded that the use of the graphic-visual language associated with ergonomic criteria of usability in the construction of a VC graphical interface positively interferes in the interaction of students with the environment and therefore it has the potential to contribute to learning process by facilitating learning. It is believed that this research and reflection exercise will contribute in the debate on a stronger education by using the paths the virtual that the virtual world offers with its many languages and formatting possibilities