From face-to-face to virtual space - The importance of informal aspects of communication in virtual learning environments

While issues of formal communication for day-to-day learning tasks have been well investigated, the need for informal communication and its proper support by learning environments has been undervalued in instructional and technical design. Starting from constructivist theory, the paper expands the background for informal aspects towards the concepts of self-organization and awareness in learning processes. The discussion ponders the apparent paradox of spontaneous action versus preconceived infrastructure and suggests some constructive guidelines.