Evaluation of a Graduate Course Administered under e-learning Modality from a Socialized Learning Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this evaluative study was to promote the achievement of the competency of managing courses in a virtual learning environment. The educational experience was developed during the period of May to July, 2014; it was a 12-weeks long program in which theoretical and practical academic activities took placed, in a virtual classroom designed in Moodle platform, at a public university in Barquisimeto city (Venezuela). The results indicate that: (a) students learned about instructional design, academic management and theories and concepts; (b) 94% of them felt that their satisfaction level with the learning achieved was between the categories of "Completely satisfied" (76%) and "Fairly satisfied" (18%); (c) 59% self-assessed their learning performance as "Excellent"; while 35% considered it as "Good"; (d) the most valued aspects of the course were: the quality of tutor, interaction, content and assessment rubrics; (e) 94% prefer e-learning for future formation; (f) the course was rated "excellent" by 76% of participants and "Good" by 24%; and (g) there was a wide acceptance of techno-socio-constructivist pedagogical model being used.