Towards a Model for Cultivating Online Learning Communities
Keywords:
online learning, community, online students, collective responsibilityAbstract
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36896/3.1fa2
With the growing number of online students, universities must provide support for students in developmental education to engage, collaborate, and co-construct their learning in socially dynamic ways. Online learning communities provide spaces for students to identify with others, communicate openly and candidly, and develop professional relationships. With social constructivism utilized as a frame to guide this formative experiment, researchers examined social interactions and engagement among students of a PhD cohort across online platforms and apps. Through collective responsibility and the consideration of multiple entry points, the B.E.S.T. (backchannels; engagement; social media; tutoring) framework was established by the researchers and continues to evolve according to students’ needs. Discussion includes highlights and future opportunities to extend and enrich online communities of practice to benefit developmental education programs.
References
Abe, P., & Jordan, N. A. (2013). Integrating social media into the classroom curriculum. About Campus, 18, 16-20. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21107
Atkison, C. (2010). The backchannel. New Riders. Bonk, C. J., & Cunningham, D. J. (1998). Searching for learner-centered constructivist, and sociocultural components of collaborative educational learning tools. In C. J. Bonk & K. S. King (Eds.), Electronic collaborators: Learner-centered technologies for literacy, apprenticeship, and discourse (pp. 25-50). Erlbaum.
Brook, C., & Oliver, R. (2003). Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(2). https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1708
Carpenter, J. P. (2015). Digital backchannels: Giving every student a voice. Educational Leadership, 72(8), 54-58.
Chen, C., Jones, K. T., & Xu, S. (2018). The association between students' style of learning preferences, social presence, collaborative learning and learning outcomes. Journal of Educators Online, 15(1). https://www.thejeo.com/archive/2018_15_1/chen_jones_xu
https://doi.org/10.9743/JEO2018.15.1.3
Chisholm, J. (2018). Using backchanneling technology to facilitate dialogic discussions about literature. In E. Ortlieb, E. H. Cheek, Jr., & P. Semingson (Eds.), Best practices in teaching digital literacies (pp. 75-92). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2048-045820180000009006
Chuang, I., & Ho, A. (2016, December 23). HarvardX and MITx: Four years of open online courses - Fall 2012-Summer 2016. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2889436
Chugh, R., & Ruhi, U. (2018). Social media in higher education: A literature review of Facebook. Education and Informational Technologies, 23(2), 605-616. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-017-9621-2
Church, K., & de Oliveira, R. (2013, August). What's up with WhatsApp? Comparing mobile instant messaging behaviors with traditional SMS. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (pp. 352-361). ACM.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2493190.2493225
Clinefelter, D. L., Aslanian, C. B., & Magda, A. J. (2019). Online college students 2019: Comprehensive data on demands and preferences. Wiley.
Covey, S. R. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people. Simon & Schuster.
Croft, A., Schmader, T., & Block, K. (2015). An underexamined inequality: cultural and psychological barriers to men's engagement with communal roles. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 19, 343-370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868314564789
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2002). The paradox of achievement: The harder you push, the worse it gets. Improving Academic Achievement: Impact of Psychological Factors on Education, 61-87). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012064455-1/50007-5
Di Capua, I. (2012). A literature review of research on Facebook use. The Open Communication Journal, 6, 37-42. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874916X01206010037
Education Today. (2019). Who are the distance learners? Student demographics. https://blog.classesandcareers.com/education/infographics/student-demographics-infographic/
Flynn, L., Jalali, A., & Moreau, K.A. (2015). Learning theory and its application to the use of social media in medical education. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 91, 556-560. https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2015-133358
Gee, J. P. (2009). New digital media and learning as an emerging area and "worked examples" as one way forward. MIT Press.
https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8563.001.0001
Girves, J. E., & Zepeda, G. (2005). Mentoring in a postaffirmative action world. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 449-479. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00416.x
Gordon, D. (2011). Return to sender: Schools continue to deliver new graduates into the workplace lacking the tech-based "soft skills" that businesses demand. Experts blame K-12's persistent failure to integrate technology. Technological Horizons in Education Journal, 38(3), 30-32, 34-35.
Gresalfi, M., Barab, S., Siyahhan, S., & Christensen, T. (2009). Virtual worlds, conceptual understanding, and me: Designing for consequential engagement. On the Horizon, 17(1), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120910936126
Hartnett, M., Carvalho, L., Lamond, H., Murray, F., O'Hara, D., & Fields, A. (2018). Inhabiting the multiple places, spaces, and time for learning. Journal of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning, 22(2), 1-9.
Henry, S. K. (2012). On social connection in university life. About Campus, 16, 18-24. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.20083
Holley, K., & Caldwell, M. (2012). The challenges of designing and implementing a doctoral student mentoring program. Innovative Higher Education, 37(3), 243-253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-011-9203-y
Hou, H. (2015). What makes an online community of practice work? A situated study of Chinese student teachers' perceptions of online professional learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 46, 6-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.10.005
Hsu, S. (2011). Who assigns the most ICT activities? Examining the relationship between teacher and student usage. Computers & Education, 56(3), 847-855. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.10.026
Huerta, T. M. (2011). Humanizing Pedagogy: Beliefs and Practices on the Teaching of Latino Children. Bilingual Research Journal, 34(1), 38-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2011.568826
Iqbal, M. (2019, February 19). WhatsApp revenue and usage statistics. https://www.businessofapps.com/data/whatsapp-statistics/
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1994). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Jonassen, D. H. (2002, March-April). Learning as activity. Educational Technology, 42(2), 45-51.
Jonassen, D. H., & Land, S. M. (Eds.). (2012). Theoretical foundations of learning environments. Routledge.
Joanassen, D. H., Pec, K. I., & Wilson, B. G. (1999). Learning with technology: A constructivist perspective. Prentice Hall.
Kapur, M., & Bielaczyc, K. (2012). Designing for productive failure. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(1), 45-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2011.591717
Kent, D. (2018). Analysis of timeline posts to a language teacher organization public Facebook group. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 17(1), 1-10.
Kent, M., & Leaver, T. (Eds.). (2014). An education in Facebook? Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315883458
Kim, A. J. (2000). Community building on the web. Peachpit Press.
Klein, T. (2000, July 1). From classroom to learning community: One professor's reflections. About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience, 5(3), 12-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/108648220000500305
Kuh, G. D. (1996). Guiding principles for creating seamless learning environments for undergraduates. Journal of College Student Development 37(2), 135-148.
Kuh, G. D. (2003). What we're learning about student engagement from NSSE. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 35(2), 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091380309604090
LaPadula, M. (2010). A comprehensive look at online student support services for distance learners. American Journal of Distance Education, 17(2), 119-128. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15389286AJDE1702_4
Leaver, T. (2014). Facebook, student engagement and the 'Uni Coffee Shop' group. In M. Kent & T. Leaver (Eds.), An education in Facebook (pp. 121-131). Routledge.
Lederman, D. (2018, November 7). Online education ascends. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/11/07/new-dataonline-enrollments-grow-and-share-overallenrollment
MacGregor, J. (1991). What differences do learning communities make? Washington Center News 6, 4-9.
McMillan, D. W. (1996). Sense of community. The Journal of Community Psychology, 24(4), 315-325. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199610)24:4<315::AID-JCOP2>3.0.CO;2-T
Mese, C., & Aydin, G. (2019). The use of social networks among university students. Educational Research and Review, 14(6), 190-199. https://doi.org/10.5897/ERR2018.3654
Moisey, S. D., & Hughes, J. A. (2008). Supporting the online learner. In T. Anderson (Ed.), Theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed., pp. 419-439). Athabasca University Press.
Moore, M. G. (1989) Three types of interaction. American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1-6.
https://doi.org/10.1080/08923648909526674 https://doi.org/10.1080/08923648909526659 https://doi.org/10.1080/08923648909526645
Niu, L. (2019). Using Facebook for academic purposes: Current literature and directions for future research. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 56(8), 1384-1406. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633117745161
Ortlieb, E. (2014). Theoretical models of learning and literacy development. Emerald Group. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2048-045820140000004014
Ortlieb, E., Biddix, J. P., & Doepker, G. M. (2010). A collaborative approach to higher education induction. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11(2), 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787410365655
Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Pendell, K., Withers, E., Castek, J., & Reder, S. (2013). Tutor-facilitated adult digital literacy learning: Insights from a case study. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 18(2), 105-125. https://doi.org/10.1080/10875301.2013.800013
Pohl, A., Gehlen-Baum, V., & Bry, F. (2011). Introducing backstage-A digital backchannel for large class lectures. Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 8(3), 186-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/17415651111165410
Preston, D. (2018). The move to online teaching: A head of department's perspective. In J. Baxter, G. Callaghan, & J. McAvoy (Eds.), Creativity and critique in online learning (pp. 241-259). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78298-0_12
Qi, C. (2019). Social media usage of students, role of tie strength, and perceived task performance. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(2), 385-416. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633117751604
Reinking, D., & Bradley, B. A. (2007). On formative and design experiments: Approaches to language and literacy research. Teachers College Press.
Rios, T., Elliott, M., & Mandernach, J. B. (2018). Efficient instructional strategies for maximizing online student satisfaction. Journal of Educators Online, 15(3), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.9743/jeo.2018.15.3.6
Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing social presence in asynchronous text-based computer conferencing. Journal of Distance Education, 14(3), 51-71.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and wellbeing. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. https://jotamac.typepad.com/jotamacs_weblog/files/Connectivism.pdf
Slavin, R. E. (1983). Cooperative learning. New York. Song, H., Kim, J., & Luo, W. (2016). Teacher-student relationship in online classes: A role of teacher self-disclosure. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 436-443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.037
Stewart, O. G. (2015). A critical review of the literature of social media's affordances in the classroom. E-Learning and Digital Media, 12(5-6), 481-501. https://doi.org/10.1177/2042753016672895
Stewart, O. G., & Jordan, M. E. (2017). "Some explanation here": A case study of learning opportunities and tensions in an informal science learning environment. Instructional Science, 45(2), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-016-9396-7
Snyder, M. M. (2009). Instructional-design theory to guide the creation of online learning communities for adults. TechTrends, 53(1), 48-56.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-009-0237-2
Toven-Lindsay, B., Rhoads, R. A., & Lozano, J. B. (2015). Virtually unlimited classrooms: Pedagogical practices in massive open online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 24, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2014.07.001
Visher, M. G., Weiss, M. J., Weissman, E., Rudd, T., & Washington, H. D. (2012). The effects of learning communities for students in developmental education: A synthesis of findings from six community colleges. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED533825.pdf
Yilmaz, R. (2016). Knowledge sharing behaviors in e-learning community: Exploring the role of academic self-efficacy and sense of community. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 373-382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.055
Zembylas, M. (2018). Rethinking the demands for 'preferred' teacher professional identities: Ethical and political implications. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 76(1), 78-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.08.011
Zhao, C.M., & Kuh, G. D. (2004). Adding value: Learning communities and student engagement. Research in Higher Education, 45(2), 115-138. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:RIHE.0000015692.88534.de
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
