A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ SENSE OF LEARNING COMMUNITY IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v10i1.1774Keywords:
Learning Community, Sense of Community, Community of InquiryAbstract
This paper looks first at some of the often unspoken epistemological, philosophical, and theoretical assumptions that are foundational to student-centered, interactive online pedagogical models. It is argued that these foundational assumptions point to the importance of learning community in the effectiveness of online learning environments. Next, a recent study of 2314 online students across thirty-two college campuses is presented. This study reports on learners’ sense of community and it is concluded through factor and regression analysis that elements of the Community of Inquiry model —specifically learners’ recognition of effective “directed facilitation” and effective instructional design and organization on the part of their instructor contributes to their sense of shared purpose, trust, connectedness, and learning—core elements of a community of learners. Gender also appears to play a small role in students’ sense of learning community with female students reporting higher levels than their male classmates. Implications for online learning environments design are discussed.
References
Garrison, D. R., T. Anderson, and W. Archer. Critical Inquiry in a Text-based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education. Internet and Higher Education 11(2): 1–14, 2000.
Hiltz, S. R. Collaborative Learning in Asynchronous Learning Networks: Building Learning Communities. Paper presented at the WEB98, Orlando, Florida. Online: http://eies.njit.edu/~hiltz/collaborative_learning_in_asynch.htm.
Sergiovanni, T. The story of community. In J. Retallick, B. Cocklin, and K. Coombe (Eds.), Learning Communities in Education: Issues, Strategies and Contexts, 9–25. London: Routledge, 1999.
Swan, K., and P. Shea. Social Presence and the Development of Virtual Learning Communities. In: Hiltz, S. and Goldman, R. (Eds.), Learning Together Online: Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks, 239–260. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005.
Palloff, R. N., and K Pratt. Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc, 1999.
Ludwig-Hardman, S. Case study: Instructional design strategies that contribute to the development of online learning community. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado, Denver, 2003.
Bruner, J. The Culture of Education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Barr, R. B. From Teaching to Learning: A New Reality for Community Colleges. Leadership Abstracts. League for Innovation in the Community College 8(3): Mission Viejo, CA, 1995.
Barr, R. B. and J. Tagg. From Teaching to Learning—A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education. Change Magazine 27(6): 12–25, 1995.
Schon, D. A. The Reflective Practitioner: How Processionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books, 1983.
Shea, P., A. Pickett, and W. Pelz. A Follow-up Investigation of Teaching Presence in the SUNY Learning Network. The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 7(2): 61–80, 2003.
Shea, P., E. Fredericksen, A. Pickett, and W. Pelz. The SUNY Learning Network. In: T. Duffy, and J. Kirkley, (Eds.), Learner Centered Theory and Practice in Distance Education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003.
Shea, P. C. S. Li, K. Swan, and A. Pickett. Teaching Presence and Establishment of Community in Online Environments: A Preliminary Study. The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 9(4): 2005.
Rovai, A. P. A Preliminary Look at Structural Differences in Sense of Classroom Community Between Higher Education Traditional and ALN Courses. The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 6(1): 41–56, 2002.
Rovai, A. P. Development of an Instrument to Measure Classroom Community. Internet and Higher Education 5: 197–211, 2002.
Anderson, T., L. Rourke, D. R. Garrison, and W. Archer. Assessing Teaching Presence in a Computer Conferencing Context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 5(2): 1–17, 2001.
Cattan, M., M. White, J. Bond, and A. Learmouth. Preventing Social Isolation and Loneliness Among Older People: A Systematic Review of Health Promotion Interventions. Ageing and Society 25(1): 41–50, 2005.
Yeh, S. J., and K. L. Sing. Living Alone, Social Support and Feeling Lonely Among the Elderly. Social Behavior and Personality—An International Journal 32(2): 129–139, 2004.
Vandervoort, D. Social Isolation and Gender. Current Psychology 19(3): 229–223, 2000.
Shumaker, S. and D. Hill. Gender Differences in Social Support and Physical Health. Health Psychology 10: 102–111, 1991.
Bostock, S. and W. Lizhi. Gender in Students’ Online Discussions. Innovations in Education and Teaching International. 42(1): 73–86, 2005.
Goldstein, J., and P. Sadhana. The Brink of Change: Gender in Technology-Rich Collaborative Learning Environments. Journal of Science Education & Technology 13(4): 505–523, 2004.
Brown, R. The Process of Community Building in Distance Learning Classes. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks 5(2): 18–35, 2001.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
As a condition of publication, the author agrees to apply the Creative Commons – Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY) License to OLJ articles. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
This licence allows anyone to reproduce OLJ articles at no cost and without further permission as long as they attribute the author and the journal. This permission includes printing, sharing and other forms of distribution.
Author(s) hold copyright in their work, and retain publishing rights without restrictions
