Developing Community in Online Distance Learning

Describes how a sense of community was developed among a group of learners participating in a course in teaching and training online conducted primarily online at a distance via FirstClass computer conferencing software. Drawing on the literature of online communities and their experience of running virtual team projects, the authors developed a method for creating a sense of community among course participants. This method included establishment of an email list prior to course commencement, a two-day face-to-face meeting which concentrated on developing knowledge and skills for participation as well as community building, and inclusion of community building activities among the initial online course exercises. Students responded positively to this combination of activities. Tutors spent less time assisting students with socialisation and adjustment to the online environment, increasing the time available for content-related tutoring. The authors confirm the importance of sense of community among online learners, and recommend closer attention be paid to factors associated with early development of community, including functional factors such as familiarity with the online environment. They conclude with recommendations for more structured research on how antecedent factors and events are associated with the development of online community

Pheromone therapy: design for learning online

Learning online presents challenges for tutors and students alike. Resource materials have to substitute for face to face contact whilst also providing impetus and stimulation. Retention is recognised as a key issue when courses are delivered at a distance and the social aspects of learning online have been suggested as prime motivators in building a sense of collegiality. The Pheromone Therapy online course was designed to include opportunities for social interaction but students demonstrated how the learning experiences which were situated in practice, with opportunities for shared participation, created the greatest cohesion and sense of community

Microblogging as a Facilitator of Online Community in Graduate Education

Part-time and distance-learning students can experience a sense of isolation from their peers and the university. Concern about this isolation and resulting student attrition has increased in the midst of explosive growth in online course enrollments. One possible solution: building a stronger sense of community within the online graduate classroom using microblogging technology such as Twitter. Unfortunately, scholars across disciplines define community in different ways with some rejecting the concept altogether in favor of other theoretical constructs. And, few scholars have examined the notion of online classroom community from an English Studies perspective exploring the rhetorical exigencies that underpin this concept. Scholars often write about online community in aspirational terms and fail to demonstrate its existence empirically (Kling and Courtright, 2003). Through the application of two existing pedagogical theories (Rovai\u27s (2002) concept of classroom community and the well-established Community of Inquiry framework) this dissertation empirically documents the existence of online classroom community in two cases studies of graduate distance-learning summer sessions. This mixed-methods research study then demonstrates that microblogging technology is capable of both supporting and facilitating the growth of that sense of online classroom community. Because it stands at the convergence of a student\u27s academic and personal interests, social media software such as Twitter—whether used as a front- or backchannel to the course—is uniquely positioned to serve both as a virtual third place and as a venue for exercising Brooke\u27s (1999) writing underlife activities and extending Mueller\u27s (2009) notions of where and how these activities can be played out in a digital context. Finally, this dissertation also offers a five-part alternative definition of online classroom community that strongly links the digital space itself with the affective/emotional concerns addressed in some other theoretical constructions of community

Together But Alone:Belongingness and Troublesome Socio-Academic Identities of Distance Doctoral Students

Doctoral studies can be daunting and arguably even more daunting when studied from a distance away from the university. In this context, the relevancy of questions surrounding how a sense of belonging is built via interacting from a distance becomes more salient as well as how the student is viewed by members of the doctoral community (peers and staff members). This study aims at exploring how distance doctoral students interact towards building their belongingness and identity within their doctoral community. Through the lenses of Hodgins’s (2018) Psychological Construct of Belonging, the study explored the data collected from semi-structured interviews using a narrative inquiry approach. The interviews involved 25 distance doctoral students across six higher education institutions in the United Kingdom (UK). The students were studying in various doctoral programmes and at various stages of their programmes. The results contribute significantly to the existing body of knowledge, but also highlight some relevant issues that can enable or constrain the development of a sense of belonging and identity from a distance. Key recommendations are offered that oscillate between those that are within the control of the institutions and those that are not

DESIGNING AN ONLINE LEARNING COMMUNITY AMONG TEACHER EDUCATORS

Online course delivery is rapidly growing among educational institutions all over the world, especially in Open and Distance Learning institutions. The frequent criticisms on distance education for having only limited interactions between teachers and students as opposed to traditional face to face teaching can be significantly minimized with the increased use of online methods, due to its unique instructional capabilities. Online learning provides ample opportunities for students learning at a distance to constantly interact with their teachers as well as peers, sharing experiences and working collaboratively. The creation of a sense of social presence is essential to establish a collaborative online learning environment, as it is a most important factor that helps people actively collaborate, thus increasing a sense of belonging to the learning community. The Faculty of Education of the Open University of Sri Lanka offered the online course, "Teacher Educator as an Educational Technologist" in December 2007, using the learning management system Moodle. The course was designed using a collaborative learning model, allowing adequate opportunities for the distant learners to actively engage in their learning process, engaging in a number of learning and assessment tasks with the support of learning resources and instructor guidance, while collaborating and sharing experiences among each other, mainly through discussion forums. Using the case study approach, an investigation was carried out to find out the specific strategies and techniques adopted by designers, instructors and students in enhancing community building among the participants in the online learning environment. It further explored the impact of community building on the distant learners, who were also novices to online learning. This paper discusses the development process in the building of an online learning community and emphasizes on the roles of designers, teachers, and learners

Journalism and Community: A Case Study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS)

This is a case study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) – a three-year-old, award-winning, online-only journalism source at www.milwaukeenns.org. A longtime journalist and communications professional leads a small team of part-time reporters, interns and volunteers as NNS seeks to provide professional and objective reporting about 17 low-income communities in America’s 30th largest city. This research examines the extent to which NNS has achieved its goals by analyzing and interpreting a significant sample of the 750-plus stories published on its website. It also focuses on the individual and shared experiences of the news service’s staff as it uses journalism to help construct a sense of community. In addition to how other media and institutions have reacted to its work, the study also examines how NNS contributes to the ongoing discussion of journalism and community journalism – and how and why journalism matters to how a neighborhood is perceived – even as the news service’s supporters consider its sustainability. NNS is based at Marquette University, which is a short distance from the targeted communities. But unlike community journalism initiatives that are curricular highlights at academic institutions elsewhere, NNS stems from a unique partnership between a university and community-building operations. This study is mindful of prior consultant reports by two recognized media stalwarts as it also looks at how the news service views itself and its work in hopes of better understanding its overall purpose. This research reviews the vast critical thinking concerning the concepts of community and sense of community as well as journalism, community journalism, public (or civic) journalism and online journalism. The social construction of reality is used as a theoretical framework from which to create four guiding questions: 1) How does NNS imagine its work? 2) What defines its work? 3) How have others in the community and elsewhere described or presented its work? 4) Who has done the work and what have they learned about journalism and community? This study ends by discussing the implications that the news service has for journalism education as well as for journalism and community

A Room Without Walls: using problem based learning in a collaborative real-time virtual space to develop critical research skills in an FE college

The student profile at the University of Sunderland is highly diverse and is noted for its widening participation activity amongst the UK Higher Education community. In the 2011/2 student cohort of 19200, 35% students study off campus both in the UK and overseas and of these, 1600 study locally in FE colleges. Many of our students studying at local partner colleges are unable to use the library in person due to distance and work or family commitments, relying on the library’s electronic resources, although not always successfully. Traditionally, library staff visit our partners to provide induction or one-shot sessions, but many of our partners are at a distance from the University and this can be time consuming and impractical for staff. In 2011 Sunderland University Library began experimenting with digital real-time collaborative tools, including Vyew, to support overseas distance learners. Following positive feedback from students and academic staff, we saw an opportunity to replicate this model of delivery to our local partner colleges. In this paper we will outline: - how we used the online collaborative tool, Vyew, to deliver skills for learning workshops to a cohort of partner college students, building upon the initial one-shot session. - how we incorporated problem based learning using collaborative tools available in Vyew, encouraging students to think critically by analysing and solving complex problems in real life situations. - how we measured the outcomes and planned for the future. The collaborative work of librarians and FE college lecturers led to a sense of ‘connectedness’ enabling the activation of ideas, both inside and outside of the university. This connectedness had helped to enable students to make their own intellectual links between the content of the subject they were studying and the skills they would need to acquire to be active and successful learners

The promise and perils of asynchronous learning: how faculty, students, and administrators can collaboratively increase retention and satisfaction in the online classroom

This paper explores some of the major challenges faced by faculty, students, administrators, and support staff in retaining online students, and doing so while earning high marks for the quality of each course. A number of strategies are explored beginning with the need to carefully consider effective mixes of technology, structure, and content in the classroom environment. With an emphasis on social presence and careful consideration of how students use technology to access the class learning management system (LMS), the paper offers a variety of options to build classroom spaces that foster a sense of community and collaboration. Thereafter the paper addresses best practices to turn well‐ considered design elements into a classroom experience which addresses issues related to retention, achieving learning outcomes, and ensuring students and faculty invest in the learning process from day one. By addressing concerns shared by the major actors in the field of online education, realistic best practices can be identified to help ensure online learning achieves, if not exceeds, retention and satisfaction levels seen from brick‐and‐mortar classrooms