Building geographical knowledge together: the case of a Geography teaching on line course

Abstract

This contribution introduces the experience of a geography teaching on-line course offered by the University of Padua. The main focus is on the learning environment organization, which was meant to make geography a more interesting and motivating discipline, and on the learning process, which was expected to become more and more autonomous. Particular attention has then been given to interaction and knowledge construction, according to two models of analysis: the MDE TAT, elaborated by the Athabasca University research group, and France Henri’s Computer Conferencing and Content Analysis. Finally, a practical application of the models is proposed to check the coherence between the epistemological assumptions and the methodological approach of the course, and to consider the organizational, methodological and teaching presence aspects in a socio-constructivist environment. As the course was mainly addressed to experienced teachers, we have tried to verify if their way of interacting, building and sharing knowledge could be related to a “community of practiceâ€.