Students' navigation on online forums and collaborative learning

The study mapped navigation in hypertextual contents and virtual learning environment. The goal was to understand how students from distance learning courses navigated and how this contributed or interfered with learning. The results indicated the virtual forum as the focal point of the actions, where interactions described as nonlinear navigation with skimming, nonlinear navigation with detailed reading, navigation for sharing and file access and navigation intercalated in the forum, classes and internet occurred. Students interacted, setting up collaborative and learning actions, expanding the boundaries of the contents of the subjects and the student's role as a producer of knowledge.