The transformation of an online learning community from an organised facility to an organic fraternity (original) (raw)
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Abstr act The current study explored the interaction patterns of a cohort of international students in a Professional Doctorate of Higher Education program (EdD) in order to establish the extent to which (if at all) the cohort evolved into an authentic online learning community. Phase 1 of the study consisted of a retrospective audit of three out of the nine modules taught in the program (beginning, middle, and end). The audit explored a cohort of students' interaction patterns within and between the three modules. In phase two, eight cohort members participated in thorough interviews designed to gain insight into the issues that were identified in phase 1 of the study. Using the Community of Inquiry model, we discovered that a majority of the students did not feel their cohort resembled an authentic online learning community. Although cognitive and teaching presence was evident, social presence was less evident in the modules. Among the literature reviewed, there has been no single agreed definition of " Online learning community ". Tu and Corry (2002) define online learning community as electronic interactions of students as they engage in learning and activities. This definition implies that any group or cohort of online learners becomes an online learning community. Contrary to that perspective, Ke and Hoadley (2009) pointed out that not all learning environments are learning communities. Ke and Hoadley (2009) further argued that " online learning communities evolve from simple cohorts when learners elevate their engagement with each other to an emotional sense of community " (p. 489). Therefore, community members have a sense of belonging and commitment to individual and group needs (McMillan & Chavis 1986 as cited in Ke and Hoadley, 2009). According to Palloff and Pratt (1999) and Rheingold (2000), a learning community needs to be designed and continuously nurtured in order to evolve online, otherwise, it may run the risk of becoming a static entity. McConnell (2006), who carried out a study on an online master program, adds that " the cornerstone of the online community lies in the presence of 'socially close, strong, intimate ties', the development of trust, shared values, and social organization " (p. 23). In the present study, we conceptualized online learning community as it was defined by Garrison and Anderson (2003). According to Garrison and Anderson (2003), the main three elements of " community of inquiry " are cognitive presence (as a higher order learning intent, reflection, and discussion), social presence (as emotional and social connection with other students), and teaching presence (as the mediator and facilitator actor between cognitive presence/learning and social presence).
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Handbook of Research on Transnational Higher Education, 2014
In an increasingly global world where students are increasingly mobile and not bound by the same rules of proximity as before (Beckmann, 2010; Healey, 2008), it becomes critically important to understand how learning can take place and how community can be built through virtual communities. This chapter reports the results of a study that investigated whether preservice and beginning teachers involved in the dialogue of an emergent online social networking community engage in meaningful educational and professionally enriching experiences. The researchers specifically examined how online social networking in teacher education programs addresses issues related to: (1) the isolation students feel while in the field; (2) the lack of community and dialogue among students; (3) the disconnectedness between classroom knowledge and field experiences; (4) the limited reflective practices observed among novice teachers; and (5) the need to appreciate multiple perspectives and diverse cultures.
Discovering the Meaning of Community In An Online Master's Degree Program
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This paper reports on a study aimed to better understand teaching and learning in an online learning environment through the development of a learning community to facilitate successful learning experiences. To achieve this aim, a qualitative interpretive methodology was adopted to case study an online lecturer and his 14 students' experiences in a semester long fully online asynchronous graduate course in a New Zealand tertiary institution. Based on the findings, a model for understanding and developing an online learning community for adult tertiary learners is proposed. In accord with sociocultural views of learning and practices, the model depicts successful online learning as a mediated, situated, distributed, goal-directed and participatory activity within a socially and culturally determined learning community. The model informs our understanding of appropriate conditions for the development of online learning communities and has implications for the design and facilitation of learning in such contexts.