RSA #2 Online Learning Communities – the Human Factor
In Pallof and Pratt’s (2007) book, Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom, they state that interactions among course participants are key to the learning process (p. 4). Just as face-to-face class participants create a community, online class participants create communities, too. Although their presence or “the degree to which a person is perceived as “real” in the online environment” may take more time and effort to reveal, the interactions and sometimes the lack of interaction with other participants establishes one’s presence (p. 12). As in any community, members lead various roles and interact according to their personalities, interests and requirements.
According to Palloff and Pratt (2007), online communities must have people, purpose and process in order to produce “reflective transformative learning” (p. 17). They go on to say that “interaction and collaboration are critical to community development” because they increase communication among the participants (p. 18). This interaction creates meaning and knowledge for the participants. Interaction of the people involved is the human factor.
In Exter, Korkmaz, Harlin and Bichelmeyer’s (2009) study, Sense of Community within a Fully Online Program: Perspectives of Graduate Students, graduate students’ desire to interact and their support for community building was investigated. They compared the students’ satisfaction with their levels of interaction and found no significant difference between distance and residential students in regards to whether they felt connected to the learning community. However, factors that contributed to the distance education students’ sense of community included relationships that grew from working on group projects and faculty members who enhanced interaction with technology (p. 189). Again, the human factor is critical in gaining a sense of community.
In the DiPamio and Wolverton (2006) study, Integrating Learning Communities and Distance Education: Possibility or Pipedream?, a survey was used to rank learning principles and develop a framework of three components of learning communities for both students and faculty. These components were: connections, experience and responsibility. In their conclusion, they stated that “the question of learning communities and distance education may be more about the human factor, particularly for faculty, and a willingness to embrace creative new ways to address the educational needs of today’s learner” (p. 111).
All three sources agree that people are key to successful and satisfying learning communities. As educators, we should be careful not to assume that the technologies we employ in developing online learning communities are a substitute for the human factor. We cannot forget that people are social by nature and that social characteristics enhance our learning. Teachers who participate in the learning process and model communication within the learning community are the human factor that builds strong learning communities among his students.
References
Exter, M.E., Korkmaz, N., Harlin, N.B., Bichelmeyer, B.A. (2009). Sense of community within a fully online program: perspectives of graduate students. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 10(2), 177-194.
Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=cbd1d9c8-10db-456a-9020-a52ef2a1af98%40sessionmgr10&vid=17&hid=18
Palloff, R.M., Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
DiRamio, D., & Wolverton, M. (2006). Integrating learning communities and distance education: possibility or pipedream?. Innovative Higher Education, 31(2), 99-113.
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