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Empirical analysis on the interaction of students and academic elements in

a children's course during confinement

AUTHORS: Leslie Venegas

Carolina Analuisa

Carolina Larrea

Cinthia Cruz

Estefanía Cruz

ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE ljvenegas@espe.edu.ec

Reception date:

2021

Acceptance date:

2021

ABSTRACT

The current problem about the global pandemic about Covid-19 has had a

notorious impact on people's daily lives. It has allowed the growth of the use of

digital platforms, where it is possible to create virtual educational programs, such

as the case of the children's course promoted through Humanas y Social social

networks and private invitations. The course was developed from two modules

"Pequeños científicos" and "Pequeños artistas", made up of educational resources

of the interest of children from 5 to 12 years of age. In addition, two synchronous

classes were given with the author teacher. The objective of the research was to

determine the interaction of users with the academic elements proposed in the

vacation course. To do this, an analysis was carried out through sociograms,

where the level of user activity was checked; in this regard it can be mentioned

that the module with the greatest impact is "Pequeños científicos" and the

interactivity in educational elements develops with greater percentage in the

educational resources of the modules "Pequeños científicos” and "Pequeños

artistas" . The limitations that were found are related to the commitment to

complete a virtual course, contribute interactively and the lack of knowledge in

the use of academic platforms.

KEYWORDS: Digital platforms; virtual course; academic elements; sociograms;

global pandemic.

Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESPE). Ecuador.

Independiente. Ecuador. E-mail: jcarolina2412@gmail.com

Independiente. Ecuador. E-mail: nclarrea@gmail.com

Independiente. Ecuador. E-mail: cynthiac1417@gmail.com

Independiente. Ecuador. E-mail: stefy0008@gmail.com

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Análisis empírico sobre la interacción de los estudiantes y los elementos

académicos en un curso para niños durante el encierro

RESUMEN

El problema actual sobre la pandemia mundial acerca del Covid-19 ha tenido un

impacto notorio en la cotidianidad de las personas. Ha permitido el crecimiento

del uso de plataformas digitales, donde es posible crear programas educativos

virtuales, tal es el caso del curso infantil “Ciencia, experimentos y arte infantil”;

el mismo que se promocionó a través de la cuenta oficial de Facebook del

Departamento de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales de la Universidad de las Fuerzas

Armadas ESPE y por redes sociales e invitaciones particulares. El curso se

desarrolló a partir de dos módulos “Pequeños científicos” y “Pequeños artistas”,

conformados por recursos educativos como videos, infografías, tareas y

evaluaciones del interés de niños de 5 a 12 años. Además, se brindó dos clases

sincrónicas con la docente autora. El objetivo de la investigación fue determinar

la interacción de los usuarios con los elementos académicos propuestos en el

curso vacacional. Para ello, se realizó un análisis por medio de sociogramas,

donde se comprobó el nivel de actividad de los usuarios; en cuanto a ello se puede

mencionar que, el módulo con mayor impacto es “Pequeños científicos” y la

interactividad en elementos educativos se desarrolla con mayor porcentaje en los

recursos educativos de los módulos “Pequeños científicos y “Pequeños artistas”.

Las limitaciones que se encontraron se relacionan con el compromiso para

culminar un curso virtual, aportar de forma interactiva y la falta de conocimiento

en el uso de plataformas académicas.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Plataformas digitales; curso virtual; elementos académicos;

sociogramas; pandemia.

INTRODUCTION

Actually, the teaching and learning processes are linked to the use of Information

and Communication Technology, which allow achieving new educational

realities, supporting the development of scientific knowledge, expanding the

possibilities of development and understanding (Esguerra, 2019). ICTs have

allowed the generation of learning spaces within the Learning Management

System (LMS), platforms that manage learning systems and distribution of

educational content, allow interaction between teachers and students. A virtual

community can be created in which content on different topics of interest is

placed, as well as activities, tasks, workshops, and these are structured by

modules, topics and subtopics (Rajmil, 2015).

In the global context, the use of the Internet for education is described with

interactive boards, videoconferences, virtual libraries, online classrooms, among

others; in order to increase learning productivity; it is mentioned that since 2003

around 6.3 million of the world population had been connected to some service

on the internet; By 2015, 7.2 million of the world population did so and by the

end of 2020 it is projected to be approximately 7.6 million of the world population

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(Santoyo et al., 2018). In Europe, it is determined that the use of social networks

can be given by 89% of the European population, 80% for the acquisition of goods

and services in which they define virtual courses and 60% dedicate it to reading

or searching online information (Suárez et al., 2016); in the local context there is

limited information on virtual platforms in the educational field; however, it is

mentioned that for educational innovation in the use of the internet and

promoting educational knowledge it is important that teachers stimulate,

accompany and promote different interconnection environments; to promote in

students the human dimension for the development of research in the

technological and innovative field (Cadena et al., 2017).

Carpentier (2012) mentions that the digital citizen develops activities and

capacities inherent in their real and virtual environment; specially in online

participation; in which it develops its own capacities for the use of technology,

among them we can mention: set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, strategies and

values for the use of digital media and the participation of tasks, communication,

managing information, creating and sharing content in an autonomous and

flexible way for technological empowerment (Torres-Gastelú et al., 2020). The use

of digital platforms in early childhood is fostered by tolerance to the use of the

internet with a time control and establishing routine activities and structured

schedules; to propagate a correct use of it. (Castro et al., 2018). Based on them,

the limited studies on the interaction of digital platforms for virtual courses for

children are identified as the main problem.

Thereby, the question appear of how much participation exists by students in a

virtual vacation course during confinement; Based on this, it is intended to

determine the interaction of users with the academic elements proposed in the

Science, Experiments and Children's Art holiday course.

ICT and educational platforms

The era of technology allows interaction with the web how to search for

information, buy, fill out forms, (Zajicek, 2007) and even take online courses. On

the other hand, according to De Kool & Van Wamelen (2008) in recent years,

virtual evolution goes hand to hand with the evolution of the physical world; in

society the influence of technology is developed through the ease of obtaining

services through the web; this is where groups with common interests can

develop. For Cummings et al., (2009) it is a revolutionary advance that includes

many interaction methods, development styles and content sources. Web 2.0 is

seen as an opportunity to develop content that can be globally spread, where a

network is formed that encompasses a series of connected devices and a

community of collective intelligence of users is developed (De Kool & Van

Wamelen. 2008).

ICTs have allowed the development of educational platforms; Among these is

Moodle that allows to create a virtual educational environment, dynamic

learning, where each student has importance within the teaching-learning

process (Di Cerbo et al., 2008). This is an open source learning management

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system, which supports the creation of online communications, encourages

learning and forms teaching links; potentiates the flipped classroom strategy,

where collaborative learning can be developed through a series of tools focused

on student development and interaction with teachers (Acquila-Natale et al.,

2019). The courses developed through platforms such as Moodle that allow to

the instructor to make the configuration according to the student's needs, also

interact with workshops, evaluation, and activities; and above this all; and above

all the student receives the grades immediately (Torres & Caballero, 2015)

Virtual courses and student participation

Online courses are an opportunity to develop new knowledge, which includes an

introduction to the subject to be developed and training modules. These allow

teachers to develop information strategies based on synchronous and

asynchronous activities, complementary bibliography, forums, organizational

charts and evaluations; Furthermore, relevance is given to the material used to

develop them; the courses must comply with computer development

characteristics such as videos, audios and written material (Di Almeida, 2007).

Online courses must be characterized by interactivity, since the impact it will

have on a group of people depends on this, which is why educational content

designed and appropriate to respond to a need and above all to motivate students

to respond is needed. To technological challenges (Chiappe, 2016). One of the

most relevant aspects to take into account must be the context and in addition

to that, make adaptive and flexible virtual didactic materials that allow

educational practices in virtual teaching-learning spaces on electronic internet

networks (Torres et al., 2019).

The interaction of children and technology is controversial, it is said that the

impact on minors can affect cognitive development; However, pediatric society

advises limiting the time spent in front of the screens, which is why a maximum

of 2 hours a day is defined for preschool children (LeMay et al., 2014), even so,

by limiting the time it is It must take into account that the means used are for

communication between children and adults; with the interaction of parents who,

in addition to taking care of the content observed by their children, are co-

authors of learning and are committed to monitoring the activities of an online

course.

Kebritchi et al. (2017) in their research in the Journal of Educational Technology

about teaching in online courses, they pointed out that a compilation of 104

research articles was made, which includes topics such as “Online courses and

problems”, “Education and challenges online”, “Web-based instruction”, “Online

teaching and problems”, “Course redesign”, “Instructional design and online

learning”, “Online curriculum and teacher design”, “Distance learning”, which

made it possible to determine that

a) The problems related to the students can be summarized in the

expectations, preparation, identity and participation of the students in

virtual courses.

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b) Not all students can successfully participate in online courses, because the

learning styles and skills necessary to participate in online courses must

be identified and adopted; and

c) Recommended best practices for developing content in an online course

are a combination of collaborative activities, clear assessment criteria, and

technology integration.

At Harvard University, a study was conducted on the completion of online

courses, for which a group of randomly chosen students was collected, thanks to

the use of the digital platform, the course teacher could evidence data such as:

Time to do activities, start and end date of the course and how many people

accessed the certificate to complete; For this, the chosen population was divided

into two groups; the first would receive a certain planning to follow the course,

from which it was obtained that 29% of the registered population completed the

course and that 40% paid for the certificate; while the group that took the course

without prior planning showed that among students enrolled in HarvardX and

MITx Courses, who declared in the inscription with the intention of finish your

course , only 22% did (Yeomans & Reich, 2017).

At Indiana University, a study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the

use of digital platforms and to measure personal use of web 2.0, where data was

collected through a survey, it was sent to more than 4,500 students who were

chosen as a representative sample. Of the 4,500 surveys sent, a total of 2,200

(48.9%) were received from 259 subjects with 1,994 (44.3%) usable responses.

The final sample consisted of 77% men and 23% women, which is representative

of the company's employees. The age ranges of the subjects were 25 and less

(8%), 26 to 30 (17%), 31 to 40 (29%), 41 to 50 (26%) and more than 50 (20%),

given this It was determined that the proclivity of a user to use Web 2.0

technologies and provide positive results that demonstrate that before the

experience (consume, contribute) influences Web 2.0. (Cummings et al., 2009).

In a study carried out at the University of Oxford Brookes in the United Kingdom,

the impact that Web 2.0 has on physical accessibility and user acceptability was

determined, where it was determined: (a) the interest and inclination of users

means that the web can be used by everyone, but it must also mean that the

work should not be laborious; (b) Accessibility should not mean that the user will

be able to use some software if he spends two days struggling with it and learning

how to make it work; and (c) if the user is excluded from a service, then it is not

accessible for said place and neither the place for the user (Zajicek, 2007).

DEVELOPMENT

During the Covid-19 pandemic, face-to-face activities in different areas were

converted to activities in virtual spaces. In the area of education, the Universidad

de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE, in the Departamento de Ciencia Humanas y

Sociales planned, designed and implemented virtual vacation courses, among

which is "Ciencia, experimentos y arte infantil" for children between the ages of

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5 At 12 years, the course consists of two modules: "Pequeños científicos" and

"Pequeños artistas".

The dissemination of the course was carried out through the official social

network; Facebook, from the Departamento de Ciencias Humans y Sociales.

Registration was through a form, which remained enabled from August 15 to 18,

2020, with the closing of registrations, 348 children from different provinces of

Ecuador were obtained.

The course was published on the Moodle Platform from August 19 to 31, the

research is carried out from a non-experimental design, with a non-probabilistic

sampling type and for convenience. The research was carried out from the

analysis of the activities proposed in the two modules, tasks that were named as

scientific challenges and experimental challenges, evaluations at the end of two

topics and two synchronous classes at the end of each module.

Through this course, data referring to the activity of each student enrolled in the

virtual course was collected, through navigation and behavior records; to define

from this the interaction of participation of each individual under study.

The study is analyzed from two coding perspectives; the first addresses the

educational elements of the “Pequeños cientificos” module, to determine the

interaction that exists between the participants in the “Ciencia, experimentos y

arte infantil” course; from the extraction of data that are related to the

educational resources used prior to carrying out the activity, the proposed tasks

that were named as scientific challenges and the evaluations. The results are

analyzed through sociograms, since it is intended to identify the interaction with

the relationship of the nodes and the categories; since when mentioning the

nodes, it refers to the participants who observed, carried out and learned with 21

exposed resources; after this, the interaction in the tasks given by the

participants is determined, , an analysis is made of which of the tasks was

delivered in the highest proportion, and finally the number of udders who

participated in the evaluations by receiving a grade in the planned attempts.

The second perspective is defined from the module "Pequeños artistas", in which,

as in the previous perspective, interaction is evaluated from sociograms that

allow defining the participation of users in resources, tasks and evaluations

carried out by the users. Students of the virtual course for this, the categories

were used to classify the interaction of the children against the academic

elements, which are presented in Table 1.

Note: Own elaboration

Table 1: Categories and codes of the course “Ciencia, experimentos y arte infantil”.

Code Category

R Educational resource

T Task

E Evaluation

Meaning

Interactive material with relevant information for student learning

Activities that the student performs

Questionnaire to modify the knowledge acquired

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For the coding of the data, the information downloaded from the Academy

platform (MOODLE) was collected, later the users who participated in the virtual

course were anonymized with the letter N and their number according to the

alphabetical order of their name, being so that for the first The user observes the

code N1, and so gradually, after this a code was given to each category that is

analyzed in the research, as it is an educational resource, it is given the letter R

and the number is given from the subject in the one found, being that within

each module is R1 and successively until reaching R_21, it can be seen in more

detail in Table 2 and Table 5; for the tasks the T code and the activity number

T1-T5 were entered, and finally the E1 and E2 evaluations; in order to continue

with the process, a dynamic table was made where each code and category is

placed in order, finally the sociograms are made the Gephy program, the process

is detailed in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Data analysis process.

Note: Own elaboration

To determine the interactions of the users with the academic elements in the

“Ciencia, experimentos y arte infantil” course, according to the modules, the

results obtained in the sociograms are presented below.

Perspective from educational resources of the “Pequeños científicos” module

Educational resources are those that allow the child to acquire knowledge, since

they transmit information to carry out a task; that is why Table 2 presents the

results obtained from this category, where you can see the resources, the

interaction of the participants and the percentage it represents in relation to the

total group.

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Note: Own elaboration

In table 2 you can see the column that belongs to educational resource, followed

by it the code of each activity is represented from R1-R21, in the next column is

the interaction where it represents the number of children who accessed the

material and in the fourth column are the interactivity percentages, thus being

that the interaction in the educational resources category R-1 belonging to the

topic "Origin of the ink" represents the highest amount of interaction, belonging

to 41.67%, on the other R-2 side corresponds to 39.94% with the topic “Invisible

ink”, followed by R-3 corresponds to 39.08% with “Secret messages experiment”,

and finally “Tutorial: Invisible ink” R-4 represents 38.50%.

Figure 2: Sociogram based on the interaction with educational resources in the “Pequeños

científicos” module. Note: Own elaboration

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The analysis is carried out from the most notorious interaction nodes, which are

represented in Figure 2.

In the analysis of sociograms it is evident that within the 21 educational

resources used for the Pequeños científicos” module, the most representative

nodes belong to R1 41.67%, R2 39.94%, R3 39.08%, R4 38.51% and R5 30.75%.

The second category analyzed belongs to the tasks that were carried out in the

"Pequeños científicos" module, this is a space where user present evidence

according to the issues raised: Invisible ink, foam volcano, jumping egg,

homemade plasticine and non-Newtonian liquid; this is described below in Table

Note: Own elaboration

Table 3 shows that T_1, which belongs to the topic “Invisible ink”, was made by

20.40%; T_2, which is about “Foam Volcano”, was met by 17.24%; on the subject

of "Jumping Egg", T_3 was delivered by 13.79% of users; T_4 that refers to the

task of the topic “Homemade plasticine” was fulfilled by 14.37% of the

participants and finally T_5 that was carried out “Liquid or solid” was delivered

by 11.49%. For the analysis of greater interaction, the sociogram corresponding

to Figure 3 is presented below.

Figure 3: Sociogram of user interaction with the tasks of the “Pequeños científicos” module.

Note: Own elaboration

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In the sociogram corresponding to the interaction of the users in relation to the

tasks that were fulfilled in the "Pequeños científicos" module, it can be seen that

node T_1 is more representative; since it belongs to 20.40% of user compliance

and due to the interaction effect, while when observing node T_5 it is immersed

in the sociogram, that is, it has a lower interaction representativeness, belonging

to 11.49% of user participation.

In the first module "Pequeños científicos" the level of interaction in the

evaluations is analyzed, at the end of the activity "Invisible ink" and "Volcanoes",

the participants were evaluated with a questionnaire of three questions obtained

from educational resources, the second evaluation was carried out from the

activities proposed in the themes "Jumping egg", "Plasticine" and "States of

matter"; The interaction percentages between users and evaluations are detailed

below in Table 4.

Note: Own elaboration

In this table can be noted that E_1 was solved by 22.41% of the participants,

later it can be seen that in E_2 the 16.67% has solved the test. Next, the

sociogram in Figure 4 represents the interaction of the participants with the

evaluations.

Figure 4: The interaction of users with evaluations of the Small Scientists module

Note: Own elaboration

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In the sociogram presented above, it can be shown that the most representative

nodes belong to the E-1, corresponding to the themes of "Invisible Ink" and

"Volcanoes"; which symbolizes the 22.41% of the total of the participants.

Perspective from educational resources of the “Pequeños artistas” module

The following is the analysis of the data obtained from the second module, called

"Pequeños artistas" of which the interaction of 20 educational resources used for

the acquisition of student knowledge is analyzed, later the tasks delivered by the

participants are analyzed and finally the evaluations.

Regarding educational resources, it was implemented through information about

the proposed topics; Puzzle games, coloring graphs were also used and those with

a higher percentage of interaction between users and educational resources will

be analyzed, then the interaction percentages are presented in Table 5.

Note: Own elaboration

In the table the five highest percentages are extracted, among them is R_2 which

is about the activity "Silhouettes of hands" which has a 15.52% interaction

percentage, as well as R_3 which is "Tutorial: Silhouettes of hands”, which also

has 15.52 %, followed by R_4 where the resource of “Shadows of hands” is

identified with 13.79% interactivity, in fourth place is R_6 which is on the activity

named "Blots", which was carried out by 12.93% and finally R_7 about "Tutorial:

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Blots ", which was found with 12.36% in relation to interaction between the user

and their interactivity.

Below is the sociogram that belongs to the educational resources of this module,

Figure 5.

Figure 5: Interaction of users with the resources of the “Pequeños artistas” module.

Note: Own elaboration

In the analysis of sociograms, it is evident that within the 20 educational

resources used for the Little Artists module, the most representative nodes belong

to R_2 and R_3 with 15.52%; R_4 with 13.79%; R_6 which represents 12.93%

and finally R_7 which is 12.36%.

Next, the data obtained with respect to the tasks of the "Little Artists" module is

analyzed. In these activities, the participants had to upload evidence regarding

the work proposed in the course on each topic; among them are: "Figures of

hands", "Abstract art", "Wool", "Color circle" and "Paper". The following Table 6

shows the percentages of interaction in each task.

Note: Own elaboration

In the table it can be seen that in T_1, belonging to the “Silhouettes of hands”

activity, there is a percentage of 10.63% of interactivity; With respect to the T_2,

which is about the topic “Blots”, 9.48% of activity is determined; Regarding T_3,

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it is represented by 7.18% in the theme of "Wool collage", later 6.90% is described

for T_4 in which the theme "Chromatic drops" is developed and finally the

corresponding T_5 to the task of "Crepe paper collage" in which 6.61% of users

participated; It is then presented through a sociogram to determine the level of

interaction, Figure 6.

Figure 6: Sociogram of student interaction with the tasks of the “Pequeños artistas” module.

Note: Own elaboration

In the sociogram that corresponds to the interactivity of the users with the tasks

of the "Pequeños artistas" module, it is determined that the node with the highest

representativeness belongs to T_1 with 10.63% interactivity, while when

observing the least protruding node, it is defined at T_5 with 6.61%.

Finally, the data obtained in the evaluations is analyzed, the same that were

developed in two parts; the first was made from the educational resources of the

topics of "Figures of hands" and "Abstract art", evaluating the students with three

questions to add a total of 10 points, with respect to the second evaluation, this

was carried out based on the themes of "The wool", "Color circle" and "The paper";

Like the previous one, it was evaluated with three questions for a total of ten

points; Below are the interactivity percentages based on the evaluations of the

Little Artists module, Table 7.

Note: Own elaboration

The table shows that E_1 receives an interactivity percentage of 9.20% of student

participation; that is, the users carried out the evaluation and received a rating;

Regarding E_2, it had an interactivity of 8.05% regarding the students who

carried out the evaluation. Next, the sociogram is analyzed, Figure 7.

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Figure 7: Sociogram of student interaction with the Little Artists module assessments.

Note: Own elaboration

In the sociogram, it is evident that the node of E_1 has a higher representation

with 9.20%, which belongs to the first evaluation with the themes of “Silhouettes

of hands” and “Abstract art”.

The objective of the research was to determine the interaction of users with the

academic elements proposed in the holiday course of “Ciencia, experimentos y

arte infantil”, based on the registration of activities in educational resources,

tasks and evaluations; respectively of the two modules "Pequeños cientificos" and

"Pequeños artistas", the results were coded and represented in sociograms to

allow to analyze the interaction in the aspects mentioned above; the interaction

percentages of each user were observed. After the launch of the virtual course

and the participation of children between the ages of 5 and 12, it can be said that

the evolution of the internet, in addition to facilitating the acquisition of resources

for users, also is a space which groups with the same interests and also virtual

courses and educational platforms can be crated (De Kool & Van Wamelen,

2008).

That is why, through the analysis of the results obtained from the Academy

platform, the interaction is determined; In the first place, there is the module

"Pequeños científicos", where a higher interaction in the resources is evidenced,

this refers to the first educational resource that is about the "Origin of the ink",

coded as R_1 (Table 2), the interaction of 145 users was registered; on the other

hand, the tasks registered, in T_1 71 participants were registered who fulfilled

the proposed activity about the “Invisible ink, finally the evaluations, where the

first evaluation E_1 records an interaction of 78 participants and E_2 was carried

out by 58 participants, that is, less 20 participants than the previous one;

regarding the “Pequeños artistas” module, in R_2 and R_3 equal amounts of

users participated; that is, 54 students of the total number of participants; to

continue with the analysis, the T_1 that deals with the topic "Silhouettes of

hands" which was fulfilled by 37 users, finally the (E) of this module indicated an

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interaction in the E_1 of 32 users and the E_2 denotes that was fulfilled by 28

participants.

It is important to analyze the sociograms, to determine the interaction of the

users in the virtual course based on educational resources, task, and

assessments. The "Pequeños científicos" module had a greater interaction than

the "Pequeños artistas" module, with the above it can be said that the Academy

platform allowed the development of a course and the creation of a virtual

educational environment, (Di Cerbo et al. , 2008), however this online study

community showed a notorious decrease in interaction percentages, it is

necessary to include an extrinsic motivation and generate activities that allow

the children's interactions to be increased, for this it is necessary to carry out

prior planning, the same it must be validated to avoid errors (Yeomans & Reich,

2017).

In the "Pequeños científicos" module, the greater interactivity of the virtual course

was generally registered, however, more impact was observed in R_1 with a

percentage of 41.67% of the total participants, followed by R_2 with 39, 94%

interactivity, R_3 and R_4 with a percentage of 39.08% and 38.51% respectively;

However, when analyzing R_ 21 there is a decrease of almost half in references

to the first educational resource, this being 17.82% of interactivity; the noticeable

decrease in student interaction can be summarized in expectations about the

course, prior preparation to access resources and even the study plan (Kebritchi

et al., 2017), since it is complex to adapt the daily study system to an online

mode, even more so when the accompaniment is asynchronous. Regarding the

tasks, it is recorded that T_1 has a 20.40% interactivity, while T_5 has 11.49%

participation; a decrease of 8.91% can be mentioned; because the delivery dates

were not defined and that is why users did not have a planning to follow the

ordered process; planning due dates in an online course can increase interaction

(Yeomans & Reich, 2017). The E_1 and E_2 had a difference of 5.74% of

interactivity by the users.

When analyzing the results in a general way, it can be said that among the three

categories the one that had the least interaction was that of tasks (T). Because

the delivery dates were not defined and that is why users did not have a planning

to follow the ordered process; planning due dates in an online course can

increase interaction (Yeomans & Reich, 2017). The E_1 and E_2 had a difference

of 5.74% of interactivity by the users. When analyzing the results in a general

way, it can be said that among the three categories the one that had the least

interaction was that of tasks (T). Because the delivery dates were not defined and

that is why users did not have a planning to follow the ordered process; planning

due dates in an online course can increase interaction (Yeomans & Reich, 2017).

The E_1 and E_2 had a difference of 5.74% of interactivity by the users. When

analyzing the results in a general way, it can be said that among the three

categories the one that had the least interaction was that of tasks (T).

In the "Pequeños artistas" module it can be seen that in the (R) there is less

interaction than the educational resources of the "Pequeños científicos" module;

Leslie Venegas, Carolina Analuisa, Carolina Larrea, Cinthia Cruz, Estefanía Cruz

134

Facultad de Filosofía, Letras y Ciencias de la Educación. Universidad Técnica de Manabí. ECUADOR.

because the one with the highest percentage of interactivity is R_2 and R_3 with

15.52%, which is even lower than R_ 21 of the "Pequeños científicos" module;

regarding the last educational resource of this module R_ 20, there is an

interactivity of 7.76%; interactivity with digital platforms and accessibility to

information depends on the interest and acceptability of the user, which arises

from the level of knowledge to use it (Cummings et al., 2009).

On the other hand, the recommended time for the use of technology for children

plays an essential role, since it should be a maximum of two hours a day and

under the supervision of an adult, which leads to a commitment of adults in the

accompaniment of a virtual course (LeMay et al., 2014), regarding the fulfillment

of the tasks it is evidenced that T_1 had a greater interaction with 10.63% while

T_5 with 6.61%, that is why the essential thing for the fulfillment of tasks is the

time that is granted to do the proposed activities (Yeomans & Reich, 2017) and

that it is also recommended to teach children structured activities or routines

(Castro-Rodríguez & Lara-Verástegui, 2018), without this order it cannot be

achieved with the fulfillment of the presented block. Finally, the evaluations were

developed by a minimum percentage of participants; E_1 was prepared by 9.20%

and E_2 by 8.05%, although the difference between these two is not very

significant. It can be said that in contrast to the evaluations of the first module

and those of this module there is a significant difference of approximately 10%;

the digital citizen manages to develop capacities in their real environment and

merges it with their virtual environment; however, this is worked from a

technological culture (Carpentier, 2011).

CONCLUSION

This research allows us to analyze that the data obtained from the “Ciencia,

experimentos y arte infantil” course, shows that at the beginning of the course

the interaction that the participants had with the educational elements was high,

however at the end of the course the same behavior was not demonstrated; based

on this, it can be said that virtual platforms allow users to access virtual courses

for free in some cases and mostly in a paid way, even so the virtual course

developed for the research was aimed at children between the age of 5 at 12 years,

due to this the interaction in virtual courses in children is a commitment for

parents; therefore, it is concluded that there is no independence in minors to

freely enter the Academy platform and that in this way they interact in the course,

it also requires the accompaniment of parents and teachers, who commit to

support the learning of the children; it can also be mentioned that there is a gap

in the use of platforms and even a lack of knowledge due to the use of

technological resources, that is why by not being able to enter and use the

platform correctly, the levels of interaction decrease as the contents in the

modules of the virtual course.

Among the limitations that were presented throughout the investigation, it is

mentioned that at first the Academy platform requires the confirmation of users,

so many of them, not being able to enter, lose interest in continuing with a

Revista Cognosis. Revista de Filosofía, Letras y Ciencias de la Educación ISSN 2588-0578

Empirical analysis on the interaction of students and academic elements in a children's course during confinement

Vol. VI. Año 2021. Edición Especial I, abril

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course; on the other hand, the registered interaction decreased as the activities

of each module progressed, which is due to the lack of commitment to continue

with a virtual course; another factor that had an impact was the opening time of

the course; since the activities must be done daily and no deadline for the

preparation of tasks and evaluations was specified, so many users did not comply

with it; finally, the delivery of tasks can be a challenge for people who do not

master technology, because it influences their fulfillment.

Interaction in academic platforms allows users to participate in online courses,

however, it is recommended to create prior plans for the organized development

of activities and determine the interaction in a virtual course based on meeting

dates; in addition, previous instruction is required, in order to achieve higher

interaction percentages in all categories of the proposed course; and a program

that generates greater motivation when participating in online courses should be

promoted, that fosters interest and commitment on the part of users and their

representatives.

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