Connections: An Essential Element of Online Learning Communities (original) (raw)
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Connected: Building Meaningful Relationships For Online Learning
New England Faculty Development Consortium Journal, 2018
This article describes an adaptive instructional design project a professor and two teaching assistants (TAs), implemented in an online doctoral level leadership course (Leadership in Educational Organizations, or LEO). Through a collaborative and iterative process of opportunity analysis, implementation, and reflective practice based on experience and feedback from students, this instructional team aimed to promote deeper learning by building a learning community among themselves and the 26 students from two sections of this course. The resulting plan, do, study, and act (PDSA) cycles informed instructional adjustments using existing technologies and mainstream media resources.
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With the increase demand for distance education, institutions of higher education are actively exploring opportunities to weave self, subject and students for web based distance education. The pedagogical skills necessary to create effective active learning opportunities are explored throughout this chapter as well as lessons learned from research. The authors used vignettes to position effective course design and implementation aligned with both Bloom's Taxonomy and the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) model to enhance online learning environments. Learning objectives and course goals provided direction for developing task for social presence, cognitive presence and a collaborative stance in authentic online learning.
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This paper addresses the rapid increase in online program delivery of college courses and examines the lag in faculty development and training in effective strategies to deliver online courses. In p a r t i c u l a r , this p a p e r e x a m i n e s the i m p o r t a n c e of a s e n s e o f c o m m u n i t y and interaction in online courses and offers practical strategies for the online practitioner.
Making Connections in Our Classrooms: Online and Off
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The growth of the Internet and other technologies has teachers finding themselves once again moving away from the "traditional classroom" into educational domains that have no physical boundaries and incredible potential for interaction and collaboration among classroom participants. A hybrid course maximizes this potential by offering two very different environments-the traditional physical classroom and the online space of the Internet-for course members to interact with one another and the course material thus creating expanded opportunities for uniquely reaching students with different learning styles, backgrounds, and educational goals. The success of these hybrid courses, however, is complicated by the degree to which educators can effectively help students become active members of both the online and the face-to-face learning communities, overcoming online inequity issues and even the interference of technology itself. Along with traditional in-class discussion and meetings that occur once a week, each student has journal space, class forums for posting threaded discussions, chat rooms for synchronous meetings, message boards, space to post/comment on drafts, and of course, e-mail. But students who are struggling simply to find their academic voice may very well discover that this struggle only intensifies in a hybrid course. Current research shows that the type of computer mediated communication used does effect the interaction of its users and ultimately in a course like a hybrid, effects the development of a classroom community. Therefore, it is vital for instructors to be active in creating spaces in both environments for students to speak, because it is becoming all too apparent that "the new technology, when left unattended, creates more opportunities for oppression than for liberation." (Contains 16 references.) (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Strategies for Building Community among Learners in Online Courses
College Teaching, 2020
Building relationships and community in online courses can be challenging, particularly if those courses are also limited by tight time constraints. In this brief commentary, I share some of the strategies that helped me to build relationships with students over distance and within a limited timeframe, including organization, communication, and use of social media. I provide examples from my teaching to illuminate the specifics and effectiveness of each strategy.
Connections/Communities Impact on Online Learning
Journal of Educational Informatics
Building a sense of community within online learning environments has taken on greater significance during the COVID-19 pandemic, where online learning has become essential given the suspension of in-person classes around the world. Theoretical concepts such as the Community of Inquiry theoretical framework (Garrison et al., 2000) and the Fully Online Learning Community Model (VanOostveen et al, 2016) offer a conceptual basis for understanding the importance of online communities. A method of measuring virtual communities is necessary to track both their development and identify curriculum and instructional practices that foster and maintain their success. Rovai’s Classroom Community Scale (2002) and other measurement tools were found to be critical for measuring student connectedness and learning, and how virtual communities can meet the educational needs of students. Furthermore, analyzing the implications of technology on user perception and sustainability of virtual communitie...
The Internet and Higher Education, 2010
In this study the authors investigated the perceptions of educational leadership graduate students with regard to how well their face-to-face, online and hybrid classes built a sense of classroom community. Perceptions were measured using the Classroom Community Scale (CCS), which included three measures: total classroom community, connectedness, and learning. Classroom community was evaluated by students who attended online, face-to-face and hybrid masters degree educational leadership classes. It was found that there was a significant difference in the perceived total classroom community and connectedness of students attending both face-to-face and hybrid classes as compared to those attending classes online. A greater sense of community was perceived by students who received all or some face-to-face contact with their professors. Students in online classes scored total classroom community and connectedness scores lower than did students in face-to-face and hybrid classes. There was no statistically significant difference; however, in students' perceptions of learning across all three structures. Findings suggest that faculty members in graduate programs consider developing or modifying their course delivery to include building a sense of community in their online classes.
A student's guide to strengthening an online learning community
TechTrends, 2010
Students usually have plenty of experience with online social technologies, but they lack understanding about how to use these tools and methods for course learning. This article is designed to help college students who are anxious about participating in an online learning community or do not know how to build one effectively. With ideas derived from research and practice, this guide has been written to inform online students about learning communities, the benefits they offer, and how students can assist in building a successful online community.