Building Virtual Communities: technique that works!

Presenters:

Rena Palloff
Keith Pratt (Fielding Graduate University)

Summary

Reseach on the learning community. Research continues to show that the construction of a learning community. with the instructuo participating. People love to speak about themselves. This is important in the beginning and helps them to stay in the course.

Necessity to teach learners how to learn.
Teaching students how to inquire and construct knowledge.

Competencies of online Instuctors (Davidson, 2006)

• Create a learning community that is intellecutally exciting and challenging
• Encourage learners to perform to the best of their ablilities in all aspests.
• Consistently use process-oriented instructional methods and keep the learning communitiy centered
• Demonstrate effective use of group dynamisc and dialogue techniques
• Use a variety of learning activities and demonstrate instructional methds other than lecturing
• Stress the interrelatedness of the complete curriculum and the value
• Know workplace trends and perspectives related to the subject matter being taught
• Establish objectives and impart learners to achieve them.
• Draw out creativity, innovativeness, and ideas in a collaborative manner
• Integrate curriculum designed to provide learners with a learning environment that is expeientially based and in a learning style that is collaborative and supportive

The Role of Presence

• Social presence - The ability to portray oneself as a "real" person in the online environment.
• Presence is a key correlate in the development of a learning community online
• When there is a high degree of interaction between the participants, the degre of social presence is also high and vici versa (Stein and Wanstreet, 2003)

Social Presence Online Correlates with:

• Increased learner satisfaction
• Greater depth of learning
• Increased perception of learning
• The sense of belonging to a learning community

Techniques for Developing and Sustaining Community Online

Begin the course by focusing on the development of social presence (but don't tell them this is your purpose)

Posting Biographies and Introductions and enhanced through the use of ice breaker actvities that are fun and designed to hep students get to know one another. Use the first week of the course for these activities and delay real engagement with content.The content can be used as a basis for ice-breakers, however.

Establish guidelines for engagement

This can be achieved by posting a set of guidelines developed by the instructor and asking for a response to them by students or students can be given a set of parameters within which they can develop their own guidelines.

Establish minimal participartion guidelines.

The minimum pariticpation expected should be included in the guidelines with an understanding that more is better.

Allow students to disagree

Professional disagreement on issues is healthy ad should be encouraged. Hopefully, as the community develops, students will jump in and mediate if things get heated.

Develop a course that is exciting, challenging, and incorporates collaborative activity and opportunities.

Elements of Community Building

Community

three elements:

• People (Interaction Communitation Presence)
• Process (Refletion, Transformative learning, Social Construtivist, Context)
• Purpose (Mutuality, Negotiated Guideines, Practical Considerations)

Outcomes

• Co-created knowledge/meaning
• Reflection
• transformation
• Increased self direction
• Reinforcement of Presence