The Distributed Educational Influence Model A Conceptual and Methodological Tool for the Analysis of Collaborative Learning Processes in Digital Environments

Abstract

The concept of educational influence (EI), developed in the framework of a series of works on the analysis of educational practices in face-to-face contexts, refers to the interpsychological processes through which teachers, and in their case other educational agents or actors present in the context of learning, help students to build progressively richer, complex and valid meanings on the contents of teaching and learning. For EI exercised by the teacher or other actors to be effective, it must be contingent and adjusted to the development and evolution of the learning process. The concept of distributed educational influence (DEI) reflects the idea that in collaborative learning settings the exercise of EI is distributed among all participants, since all can and should contribute with their actions to achieve an effective collaboration that promotes the communicative, social and cognitive processes involved in learning. The work presents a theoretical and methodological model of analysis of collaborative learning processes in digital environments based on the concepts of EI and DEI and describes the results of some research aimed at deepening some of its components and exploring some of its practical implications.