Instruments for evaluating learning in an online discussion forum: a theoretical and practical contribution

In this article we are going to present three instruments that are destined to the analysis of the asynchronous communication (discussion forum) that occurs in Virtual Learning Environments - VLE and virtual communities. These instruments are intended to assess the three theoretical constructs that determine the occurrence of an effective educational experience in online environments: social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. To do so, we will begin by characterizing the aforementioned concepts, proceeding with the presentation of the analysis instruments that we developed and validated based on the original instruments proposed by the authors. We continued discussing the application possibilities, hoping in this way to contribute to the improvement of the analysis and evaluation processes of learning in an online environment.