E-Learn 2013--World Conference on Elearning in Corporate, Government,

Healthcare, and Higher Education

Las Vegas, NV, United States, October 21-24, 2013

The Process of Building Learning Communities in an Online Course

Mariam Abdelmalak, Ph.D.Curriculum & Instruction Department College of Education

Agenda:

• Overview• Why Is Building Communities Online Necessary?• How to Build Learning Communities in Online Courses?• A Practice for Building Online Learning Communities

Face-to-Face Online Class

Why Is Building Communities Online Necessary?

• Positive learning outcomes (Sadera, Robertson, Song, & Midon, 2009).

• Satisfaction with the learning experience (Rovai, Wighting, & Lucking, 2004).

• Enhanced learning achievement (LaPadula, 2003).

• Sense of well being (Walker, Wasserman & Wellman, 1994; Wellman & Gulia, 1999).

How to Build Learning Communities in Online Courses?

• Developing ways to create a community of learners early on in online environments (Dixon, Crooks & Henry, 2006; Palloff & Pratt, 2005; Conrad & Donaldson, 2004)

• Establishing “human-to-human contact before the

interaction involved with the course content begins, a means by which presence can be established (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, p. 12).

Building Community From the First Day of Class

Discussions Forums • Personalize and humanize the course (Palloff & Pratt,

2007).

• Enable students to learn from each other (Carr-Chellman & Duchastell, 2000).

• Provide accessibility to each other’s thinking (Peterson & Slotta, 2009).

• Enable students to participate even more than in live classroom discussions (Paloff & Pratt, 1999; 2007).

Collaborative Activity

• Explaining reasons for including collaborative activity in an online course (Palloff & Pratt, 2005) .

• Giving clear instructions and guidelines regarding the tools of communication (Dell, 2004)

• Pairing learners for an activity (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Palloff & Pratt, 2005).

• Using contract among group members (Murphy, Mahoney & Harvell, 2000; Doran, 2001).

Web 2.0 Technologies:

• Web 2.0 technologies can play an important role in the development of a learning community among students in online courses (Kearns &Frey, 2010; Palloff & Pratt, 2009; Gunawardena et al., 2009).

• The inclusion of a variety of Web 2.0 technologies can serve to facilitate the development of communities in an online course (Palloff & Pratt, 2009)

A Practice for Building Online Learning Communities

Building Community From the First Day of the Class

Discussion Forums  with Well Crafted Questions

Using Web 2.0 Technologies

Pairing Students in Activities

Encouraging Collaborative Activity

Conclusion:

• We educators should intentionally work to build and foster learning communities among students in online courses. A review of the literature suggests that instructors teaching at a distance may promote sense of community by 1) building a learning community from the first day of the class, 2) using Web 2.0 technologies 3) using threaded discussions, 4) pairing students in activities before collaborative work, and 5) encouraging collaborative activities.

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Q & A

Thank You