Exploring online learning community development: The relative importance of influencing factors (original) (raw)

The Learning Community Development Model: A lens for exploring community development in online learning

2007

This paper presents an exploration of the community experience in online settings where the development of a learning community was a key instructional aim. The inquiry used the Learning Community Development Model (Brook & Oliver, 2003) to guide the exploration of the community experience in online settings The paper reports the findings of a multi-case study that sought to investigate instructor actions that support community development in online settings.

Designing For Online Learning Communities

This paper investigates the development of sense of community among learners engaging in online learning where the principles of collaborative learning are considered key instructional strategies. In particular this paper explores the development of learner's sense of community as an outcome of engaging in instructor initiated activities that are intended to promote community development. The paper discusses design principles for the development of sense of community identified in contemporary literature. In addition it ...

Exploring the development of learning communities in online settings

2002

Abstract This paper discusses the notion of community as an outcome of working within an online environment. In particular, the paper explores the concept of users' development of a sense of community as an outcome of working within an online environment designed to support the professional and personal development of its users.

Analysing an Online Learning Community from Personal, Interpersonal and Community Planes of Development

Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting learning have a bearing on the facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper elaborates on the value of adopting a multiple planes of development (Rogoff, 1995) analytical framework to investigate the development and conduct of an online learning community. The analysis is grounded in a case study of a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate course in a New Zealand tertiary institution. Evidence is advanced that while development and change along the personal, interpersonal and community planes of development can be understood as distinct, each plane influences and mediates the other two planes. Such a framework allows for a comprehensive understanding of the active processes involved in shaping a community’s individual and collective knowledge growth. It is a useful tool for responding to the complexity and 'messiness' of real life socialcultural conte...

Exploring system factors that influence community development in online settings

2005

Abstract This paper presents an exploration of the community experience in online settings where the development of a learning community was a key instructional aim. The inquiry used the Learning Community Development Model (Brook & Oliver, 2003) to guide the exploration of the community experience in online settings. The paper reports the findings of a multi-case study that sought to investigate system factors that influence the development of online communities of learning.

Behaviour Attributes that Nurture the Sense of E-learning Community Perception

Procedia Technology, 2014

Today organizations have attempted to define and implement feasible models of building and nurturing e-learning communities in order continuously activate -group dynamics, gain highly interactive learning experiences of different types, by significantly enhance their members' sense of community. These conducts to efficient collaborative learning processes, customize to each virtual learner and facilitate the knowledge transfer into organizational practice. Through this research, there have been identify some behaviour attributes (the membership perception, individualgroup influence, perception on needs fulfillment and perception on sharing emotional connections) that characterize and nurture the sense of community perception. After a brief introduction into the research context there will be described the considered conceptual model (Presage -Process -Product, (3P) model) that have been adapted for the exploitation reason. The presented case study will show the state of the behavior elements in order to characterize the sense of a cluster e-learning community (for the E uropean Certification and Qualification Association, ECQA).

Developing Online Communities: A Study Of The Processes That Facilitate And Foster Online Learning Communities

2017

The purpose of this naturalistic case study was to investigate students’ perceptions of community at a mid-size American college. This study sought to identify the learning environments, interactions, and activities that are most predictive of developing and fostering a sense of community in online courses. Study participants were full-time teachers, librarians, or instructional technology facilitators working in K-12 environments. Qualitative and quantitative data included interviews; online learners’ experience surveys; transcripts of online discussions; recordings of synchronous sessions; and researcher observations. Data analysis was based in Charmaz’s (2006) constructivist approach to grounded theory. Findings revealed that 1) age and experience with online courses did not make a significant difference in perceived sense of online community for these participants; however, gender did; 2) learning environments influenced students’ perception of community; 3) shared experience an...

Designing for Community: Understanding Sense of Community in Virtual Learning Environments

As researchers and developers continue to push the boundaries of virtual learning environments, one theme in the design of these online spaces remains consistent: how to support learning communities in virtual environments. This paper focuses on the creation of a theoretical framework for understanding an individual’s sense of community as central to these virtual environments. This conceptual and operational framework can assist researchers as they investigate online learning environments and developers as they design virtual learning environments that build on an individual sense of community.

A framework for developing and implementing an online learning community

Developing online learning communities is a promising pedagogical approach in online learning contexts for adult tertiary learners but this is no easy task. Understanding how learning communities are formed and evaluating their efficacy in supporting learning involves a complex set of issues that have a bearing on the design and facilitation of successful online learning experiences. This paper describes the development of a framework for understanding and developing an online learning community for adult tertiary learners in a New Zealand tertiary institution. In accord with sociocultural views of learning and practices, the framework depicts learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. Evidence for the value of the framework is grounded in the findings of a case study of a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate course. The framework informs our understanding of appr...

Developing online communities: personal goals, roles, relationships and critical incidents

In this paper we discuss outcomes of research into the roles and relationships that have developed in an international Masters programme and the concerns, tensions and difficulties that can arise as illustrated through a number of ‘critical incidents’ and the analysis of student ‘reflections’. This paper focuses on the learner’s viewpoint in the Digital Multimedia Application module and builds on ongoing research (Hudson, Hudson and Steel, 2002) by using data collected from a variety of sources which include end of module questionnaires, focus groups and the analysis of critical incidents. In designing and planning the module considerable emphasis has been placed on enabling collaborative activity in multinational teams. In relation to this aspect we share the general perspective offered and the distinction between co-operation and collaboration made by Lehtinen et al. (1999). The module enables the students to gain a critical appreciation of the development process and also a better understanding of the potential and limitations of Digital Media Applications. Student activity includes working online in international project teams to produce a DMA prototype. The activity is used as the basis for personal reflection, the outcomes from which are compiled into a digital portfolio for assessment. The paper draws on current thinking associated with on-line communities of learning and emphasises the role that virtual learning environments can play to support, facilitate and encourage communal aspects of study. It explores the relationships that develop around an ‘orchestrated’ online project-based activity and the role of the tutor in dealing with negotiation of meaning and the clarification of goals. This aspect of the tutor’s role has been found to have a direct bearing on student satisfaction and experience of learning. Finally it presents some reflections on the way that pedagogical practice can be enhanced to achieve the optimum environment for collaborative learning and teaching.