The Universitat d’Andorra virtual environment. The vision of teachers

Abstract

Universities with more or less traditional approaches to teaching and learning are steadily introducing technology as a methodological tool in recent years. Against this general backdrop, where the number of virtual campuses that host learning environments increases gradually, the virtual learning environment at Universitat d’Andorra (UdA) has been operative for the last eight years. In order to come up with proposals for improvement, in this paper we present and discuss how teaching staff at UdA utilize the virtual environment. The analysis is based on a descriptive paradigm that combines both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Data collection was carried out through the audio recording of two focus groups with students and teaching staff (respectively) and by means of a questionnaire distributed among the latter. At the time the research took place the virtual environment was being used almost exclusively as a tool facilitating information exchange. Bearing this in mind, the results help us identify teaching staff training needs, which should help us develop a specific action plan aimed at improving the use of the virtual environment at our university.