Posted 5:08 PM by George Siemens
Statements I hear occasionally: "Online learning is impersonal"..."Online learning isn't as effective as classroom learning"..."Students are isolated in online learning"...etc.

These types of statements have a hint (or perhaps a bit more!) of truth to them. IF online learning is not well organized, with structured interaction, it is impersonal, ineffective, and isolates students. There is, however, a means of connecting students and educators...through communities.

Communities are an excellent example of what I've been babbling about in ERN...not all learning has to happen under the forced direction of an instructor. Learning can occur between learners...and the instructor plays a facilitative role...after all, the learner is the teacher is the learner.

What is a community?

• A community is a gathering place (physical or virtual) for ideas/concepts/information/knowledge and people. This gathering place should include like-minded people who share and receive value (in the form of resources, suggestions, or discussions).
  
• A community is an evolving organism that changes to serve the needs of its members. Information is quickly disseminated in communities
  
• A community is a place to learn...a place of security...a resource place to go to in order to learn skills/ideas to better perform tasks in daily work.
  
• A community offers depth and breadth of a subject. A variety of subjects can be discussed at great depth, allowing for "cross-pollination" (another trendy word I don't like!) of ideas.
  

What are benefits of communities?...as alluded to above, knowledge sharing and dissemination. Communities can be catalysts for change, sparking organizations to transformation and innovation (for instructors and staff)...and allowing in-depth discussion of concepts and deep learning (for students in a course).

Perhaps most importantly, HOW does an instructor create a community in an online course?? Connections (which are the basic building block of communities) occur as a result of communication. Two things are needed for online communication:

1. Collaborative tools - CHAT, discussion boards, white boards, VoIP, file sharing
   
2. Collaborative activities - these should be designed to occur regularly during a course, drawing students into interactive, collaborative work/discussions.
   

With that said, here are some links relating to communities...


Evolving Communities of Practice
Quote:"Driven by a knowledge economy, organizations need their employees to become “knowledge workers,” that is, individuals who constantly draw on a wealth of knowledge to devise new responses and solutions for a rapidly changing marketplace. To perform well in this knowledge economy, individuals must constantly apply and add to their own bodies of knowledge."

Comment: Excellent article. The author speaks from the perspective of communities at IBM...focusing on the many facets of community growth and development. Five stages of communities are highlighted...and each stage is analyzed in the categories of fundamental function, people behaviour, process support, and enabling technology. While the focus of this article is not on education...the principles of learning and knowledge management are certainly relevant to any education institution, or corporate training department.

Sociability of Collaborative Learning (Alex, I'd like to buy a syllable)
Quote:"The environment is based upon a theoretical framework that suggests embedding certain properties in the environment to act as social contextual facilitators - social affordances - to initiate and sustain learner’s social interactions."

Comment:This article highlights the importance of designing "social affordances" into courses...so that it is not only the responsibility of the instructor to foster interaction...but also the designer. Interaction does not occur just because tools are available. Students need to develop skills for online interaction...Instructors should be aware of the learning curve that a student goes through before he/she interacts with others or with content.

Community Standards
Quotes: "Communities form around a shared purpose...We're not changing human nature; we're just changing the tools of communication...Repeated encounters are what allow people to work collaboratively."

Comment: Good article...good resource at end titled "12 steps to Real Community"

As always...feel free to forward your comments/questions/disagreements...:-)