A small shift changes the whole story: when the environment stops forcing us to “learn the tool” and instead lets us “use the tool,” creativity starts to move. The article by Peralta Hernández and Tirado Segura tells that transition with a workshop-like logic: from a rough Moodle wiki to Google Docs with “slots,” from “they’ll figure it out” to Zoom sessions with teacher guidance, and from vague scripts to explicit task charts.
The methodological choice (design-based research, four iterations with 81 students) avoids nostalgia for grand theory and focuses on an operational principle: collaborative creativity flourishes when there is technological familiarity, clarity of product, and shared time to negotiate ideas. The data confirm it: recorded contributions increase, and perceived creativity improves, with statistically significant differences separating the first cohort from the last.
The study’s greatest strength lies in its perspective as an “experience architect” rather than an “external evaluator.” It doesn’t seek a “trick” to make students creative but rather an assembly of conditions: initial autonomy (individual ideas), visibility of contributions (slots), teacher scaffolding at key moments (tutorials), and a choreography of tasks that integrates the individual and the collective.
It also complements perceptions with real traces of activity (edit histories) a rare gesture in research on educational creativity. The result is a map of design decisions that any instructor can adapt to their own context without needing exotic infrastructure.
Still, the study leaves loose ends for the next round. Creativity is measured mainly as “perceived creativity” by the teams themselves; blind expert evaluations, comparable rubrics, or finer indicators of originality and usefulness are missing.
The change of tools coincides with a pandemic and cohort composition differences, which complicates causal attribution. Nor is the Pro-C level of creativity traced beyond the course. Even so, the takeaway is clear and actionable: in virtual environments, design matters more than technological polish; creativity is not invoked, it is enabled.
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How to Cite: Peralta Hernández, J., & Tirado Segura, F. (2023). Designing a Virtual Learning Environment to Promote Collaborative Creativity in University Students. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 26(2), 175–197. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.26.2.36209
