Research in Internet-based teaching and learning contexts

an ecology of knowledge skills

Abstract

In view of the growing interest of researches in humanities and social science dealing specifically with teaching and learning empirical contexts and the use of digital information and communication technologies, to understand practices, conditions and impacts of Internet use in education, this article aims to discuss the academic production, especially those related to literacy practices involving empirical contexts in schools through the use of Internet. To do so, a theoretical-methodological framework is utilized to develop a qualitative epistemological discussion about knowledge based on the Foucauldian concepts of savoir and connaissance, on the plural conception of epistemology, and on the notion of critical literacy, so as to (re)think the very knowledge construction in the perspective of an ecology of knowledge skills. One considers that this perspective allows us to rethink research based on two founding points: the first one is its qualitative nature, since qualitative studies seek to describe and understand the practices of the participants involved in any investigation; and second, its socio-political dimension, since empirical studies in online teaching and learning contexts can contribute to the development of both basic and higher education.