Guidelines for Facilitating Online Communities

Description

The lack of interaction in online communities leads to learners’ feeling of isolation. Learning communities can provide learners with an environment conducive to increased interactions and alleviate their feeling of isolation. Guidelines for online instructors to facilitate the development of learning communities in online courses are presented in this paper.
sharon jav
Flashcards by sharon jav, updated more than 1 year ago
sharon jav
Created by sharon jav over 4 years ago
28
0

Resource summary

Question Answer
Guidelines for Facilitating the Development of Learning Communities in Online Courses. J. Yuan & C. Kim (2014) A learning community consists of a group of learners who have a sense of belonging.
Chang (2003) suggests the following qualities: 1. Spontaneous learning and active knowledge construction by individual learners. 2. Idea sharing and information provision for all members of the learning community. 3. Distributed knowledge and experience.
Carlen and Jobring (2005) also, suggest A learning community as ‘a learning atmosphere, a context providing a supportive system from which sustainable learning processes are gained through dialogue and collaborative construction of knowledge by acquiring, generating, analyzing and structuring information.
Salient features of the learning community can be summarized as: Trust, knowledge construction, information sharing, a feeling of being connected, common goals, and a belief that learners’ needs would be fulfilled.
What is a community of learning and who coined the term community of practice? A learning community is a community of practice. The term ‘communities of practice’ (CoP) was coined by Lave and Wenger (1991)
Laxton & Applebee (2010); Roberts (2006) suggest In a community of practice, people demonstrate a passion for the goal they desire to achieve. They interact frequently in order to attain the goal. They develop relationships and identity through interactions. They accumulate and construct knowledge in a field.
What are some guidelines for helping students develop online learning communities? Facilitation strategies, social interaction, and technologies that could be utilized to facilitate the development of online learning communities.
Some questions to consider before going further: 1. When to build a learning community? 2. Who to be involved in the process of building a learning community? 3. Where to build a learning community? 4. How to build a community?
Why learners feel isolated? Online learners tend to feel isolated because of their physical separation from other learners and the instructor.
Lock (2002) in his conceptual paper presented guidelines for creating online communities • Arouse students’ awareness of the community. • Design courses in a way that supports learning communities. • Mechanisms such as technologies should be available to sustain the sense of community. • Create a community throughout and beyond a course. • Conduct research needed to provide guidelines for creating and sustaining learning communities
Liu et al. (2007) in their empirical study presented • Use different strategies to facilitate the development of online learning communities, including encouraging both task-oriented discussion and social interactions, assigning group projects, and using peer critique. • Utilize both synchronous and asynchronous technologies. • Construct a friendly learning environment. • Provide learners with adequate feedback.
Snyder (2009) gave a conceptual framework (cont) • Make use of the pre-existing communities among learners. • Promote social interaction. • Give learners assignments that require collaboration. • Nurture trust. • Provide consistency and predictability in all aspects of a learning community. • Identify the purpose of maintaining a learning community. • Encourage learners to share their expectations and personal information. • Encourage collaboration.
Snyder (2009) gave a conceptual framework • Help learners to attain their goals. • Encourage learning in multiple ways. • Provide learners with the opportunity to facilitate learning. • Provide resources that are related to the learning content. • Utilize technologies to create a virtual space for members to interact. • Acknowledge learners’ contribution and reward learners. • Encourage learners to reflect on their experience.
Garrison et al., (1999) provided further suggestions Research is also needed to examine how an online learning community created following the guidelines influences learners’ cognitive presence. Cognitive presence refers to the degree to which learners could build and confirm knowledge in a community of inquiry.
Summary of the paper It presents guidelines for online instructors to facilitate the development of online learning communities. The strategies should help online instructors design a learning environment in which students have a sense of community.
Show full summary Hide full summary

Similar

Useful Quotes for the Woman In Black Themes
jessmitchell
Isolation
Willti Ofei
10 Mark Question - Set Text part ii
Melissa Kerr
Community
Anonymous 17
Of Mice and Men - Isolation
Aaron Abdon
Teaching and Learning at a Distance
ljdawson0
Socialexams.com Features
balaraman.digivi
Online Learning
Juli Macarthur
e-Learning
Juli Macarthur
Isolation and Barrier Nursing
Laura Smith
Go fast
Nadin Mans