The Role Of Community In Online Learning

Abstract

This project examined learners’ perceptions of the learning community construct, whether learners’ online and face-to-face interactions led to the development of learning communities and whether the process of building community was different in face-to-face and web-based courses. Courses requiring learners to interact on a personal level early in the course were more likely to develop into learning communities. The degree of distance within the course did not make a difference in whether these learning communities developed. Rather, a sense of trust and of shared hardship as they worked through the course assignments were seen as more important by these learners. In situations where communications were considered inappropriate, developing communities were derailed or development never began. A definition of community emerged from the data that identified characteristics of shared learning goals, exchanging ideas, assisting each other, and an element of trust among the learners within the community.