Building Community

Online learning communities can significantly impact both student learning and satisfaction within online courses. Students who take properly designed and facilitated distance learning experiences feel connected, function as a community, and are supported on their educational path by the instructor and their peers whereas students who take poorly designed and facilitated distance learning experiences feel isolated and have no real sense of community. According to Conrad & Donaldson (2004), “The involvement of the learner in the course, whether one calls it interaction, engagement, or building community, is critical if an online course is to be more than a lecture-oriented course in which interaction is primarily between the learner and the content or the learner and the instructor” (p. 6). Although the majority of online courses utilize a constructivist design approach, asking students to produce and create artifacts that demonstrate student skills in areas such as reading, writing, speaking, listening, research, and technology, a successful distance learning experience must include collaboration and connection between all participants.

The essential elements of online community building include recognizing Conrad & Donaldson’s (2004) Phases of Engagement. Understanding the difference between a “Newcomer” and an “Initiator/Partner” as well as the process to follow with either is important as it is best practice to have at least one solid model to follow for accomplishing any goal or objective—or for establishing and maintaining a sense of community in an online environment. Saba (2011) explains that using theory and its principles to drive instruction increases the chance to create effective instruction as it provides a map of sorts that can guide decisions and development. In applying the Phases of Engagement is the recognition of the timeline for developing the community within a course. It is important an instructor be aware of their role in establishing and maintaining this type of community. Beginning as the “Social Negotiator” to the “Structural Engineer,” to the “Facilitator,” concluding as the “Community Member/Challenger” is the instructor’s role which will (if the course design aligns with supportive activities) establish and maintain a sense of community with each participant. In essence, as Palloff & Pratt (2011) say, no longer is the instructor the sage on the stage, such as with the traditional face-to-face classroom, instead, the instructor is the guide on the side. Serving almost as a mentor, the online instructor supports students on their individual educational paths.

Online learning communities can be sustained throughout the life of the course if the instructor does is required of them to establish and maintain a sense of community. Using Boettcher & Conrad’s (2010) Ten Core Learning Principles can help an instructor establish and maintain a sense of community. While all the principles are important and have their place, among the more important principles I find useful include number 5, “Every learning experience includes the environment or context in which the learner interacts” and number 6, “Every learner has a zone of proximal development that defines the space that a learner is ready to develop into useful knowledge” (20).

Understanding the objectives and thinking about how students will arrive at the outcome is an important step in online design and facilitation that can anticipate problems and anxieties. Utilizing Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development can assist the design and facilitation as proper scaffolding can clarify expectations and help students with organizational challenges. These principles can provide an instructor reminders and guidelines for establishing and maintain a sense of community in an online classroom.

The relationship between community building and effective online instruction is built with a course designed and developed using sound principles and theory and with an engaged and educated facilitator who has a process to establish and maintain a sense of community within the online environment. In either case, design or instruction, models are needed that provide maps to successful distance learning experiences and well prepared courses and instructors will seek such models, use them, and enjoy the many benefits of distance learning.

References

Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. A. (2004). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2011). “Online Learning Communities.” Video Program. Laureate.

Saba. F. (2011). “Evaluating Distance Learning Theory.” Video Program. Laureate.