Module 4: Building An Online Community

In this module

The nature of learning
Increasing interaction
Online community

The nature of learning

"It turns out that learning is not merely a cognitive phenomenon, it is a social phenomenon as well. People need much more than information: they need to know why they are getting this information, how it can be used, how other people are using it, how other people understand it. They need support, encouragement, and relevance" (Downes, 1996). This quote speaks to the social/communal nature of learning. Strategies for eliciting student performances are grounded in Vygotsky's (1986) stance that concepts are developed and refined through social interactions. Distance education research supports the idea that interactivity is at the core of successful programs (Wagner, 1994).

It has also been found that collaboration in mediated environments increases social-cognitive growth by exposing students to multiple perspectives (Bonk, Medury, & Reynolds, 1994).

Increasing Interaction
How do you increase interaction in distance learning environments? Moore (1989) identified three types of interactions that are potentially available in noncontiguous settings:

• learner-content interactions in which the learner interacts with sites to increase their understanding of a content area (such as WebQuests),
• learner-learner interactions in which learners share ideas with one another to reach a common goal (occurring through listserves, newsgroups, email, and document exchange),
• learner-instructor interactions in a two-person dialogue (commonly done through email and document exchange).

Each of these modalities has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we have found that a combination of all three generally work best for our students. It is important to remember that people have diverse learning styles. By providing options, there is an increased chance of providing appropriate opportunities in tune with individual needs--thereby increasing the opportunity for learning (Salomon, 1983).

Online community One important, but often overlooked point about building an online community is that it takes work on the part of all involved, and for this to occur there needs to be some perceived benefit. A true learning community does not just happen by itself; the instructor and students must actively pursue this goal. Most failures in network learning communities occur when there is a lack of appropriate mediation at opportune times.

In Module 3 you learned how to create a learner-content interaction in a WebQuest. Although your WebQuest was done individually, they most often are completed by teams of students. This encourages not only the learner-content interaction, but also the learner-learner interaction as they research and share their results to create a common solution. Finally, the results are shared with an instructor, who provides feedback to the team, thereby including the learner-instructor interaction.

How are learner-learner and learner-instructor communications facilitated? Most often through email, document exchange, listserves, and newsgroups. In the following component of this module, we will show you how to apply the first three of these exchanges. Newsgroups will be discussed in the Extend section of the module.

Page authors: Gail Lucas & Donn Ritchie
URL: edwebiii.sdsu.edu/t3/module4/connect.htm
Last updated: 5/20/97