Toward an integral semiotic analysis proposal of virtual learning environments

Some investigations have pointed to the fact that messages that combine verbal with other kind of resources such as images or animation, are stored on the brain in two different ways, and that they are more likely to be remembered by the user. Regarding the latter, it is now considered that other kind of media should be implemented on teaching practices, besides the verbal component. However, most courses that integrate technologies lack such components. Moreover, it is true that there is a wide variety of perspectives and models focused on to the study of online education, but all of them are centered on analyzing verbal aspects, letting aside the relation between speech and other models of different nature such as images or even hypertexts. With the purpose of shedding some light on the understanding of these connections, this study aims to analyze the way in which different activities are presented on network learning environments. In order to achieve this goal, some online courses were studied from the perspective of multimedial language. The main finding came from the way the forums and most activities are presented on a verbal made using this learning space; it is just in rare occasions that these activities are introduced using labels or the native "Activities" tools of the platforms. Thus, there's almost a nonexistent presence of multimedial resources.