Developing Online Learning

CommunitiesInnovative Teaching Seminar Series, Charles Darwin University 18th September 2015.

Dr Greg Shaw, Associate Professor, School of Education; and Dr David McConnell, Senior Higher Education and Training Developer, Office of Learning and Teaching.

Overview of the SeminarPart 1: A)The CDU context. B) An understanding

of learning communities and their potential importance in online learning and teaching

Part 2: CDU examples of online practice that focus on developing and sustaining online learning communities

Part 3: Questions, discussions, viewpoints examples

The CDU context and learning communities

What is a learning community? What forms can they take? What is their pedagogical basis (social constructivism)?

Why is it worthwhile designing online courses as Learning Communities?

Brief outline of their importance in higher education and professional development For the learner: active learners, social engagement, deep

learning, collaboration, peer support, increased course satisfaction, develops learning skills …..

For the lecturer: increased student satisfaction, workloads issues (plus and minus), when done in a flipped classroom can improve learning

Understanding what goes on in Online Communities:

Social Networks compared with Online Communities

Social Networks

Members of social networks:

Display companionship and social support and engage in information exchange

They show weak ties

Have a sense of belonging, but relationships are intermittent, specialized and varying in length

Lack deep interaction, and interactions often ephemeral

(Castells 2001; Wellman and Gulia 1999)

Online CommunitiesMembers of online communities:

Have a set of shared values and interests (Rheingold 1993)

Engage in social organization (Castells 2001)

Members’ interpersonal ties provide sociability, support, information exchange, a sense of belonging, and social identity (Wellman in Castells)

Members’ show socially close, strong, intimate ties

They engage in the sharing of personal experiences and information, and in the development of trust (Wellman & Gula 1999)

They are likely to reveal their personal identity, and will draw on emotional energy (Castells 2001)

What do we know about learning communities and their importance in online

education?

“A Learning community is a cohesive community that embodies a culture of learning. Members are involved in a collective effort of understanding. The learning community attends to issues of climate, needs, resources, planning, action and evaluation.

A key feature of the idea is that responsibility for learning is ‘shared’ among community members. No one individual is responsible for knowing everything: rather, the shared knowledge and skills are distributed among members. Individually, each contributes to the group endeavour, enabling the group to accomplish more than the individual members might separately, with the key gain of deepened understanding of both content and processes by individual members of the group” (McConnell 2006)

What do we know about learning communities and their importance in online

education?

“Sense of Community”: “a shared emotional connection between members is considered to be the ‘definitive element for true community’…..shared participation in activities is a key factor in the development of shared emotional connection, along with members being able to identify with the history of the community.” (Reeves & Gomm, 2015)

“…the ideas of relations and connections suggest that learning is not confined to the individual mind or the individual learner. Rather, learning and knowledge construction is located in the connections and interactions between learners, teachers and resources, and seen as emerging from critical dialogues and enquiries. (Ryberg, Buus & Georgsen 2012)

Groups and Communities Although there are differences between groups and communities, in

practice many online learning communities involve students in carrying out group work

Student learning is usually competitive and

individualistic

What about cooperative and

collaborative group and community

Learning?

What are the benefits of

cooperative & collaborative group work to

learners?

What is the impact on achievement of competitive, individualistic and cooperative learning?

In cooperative/collaborative learning:

Mastery and retention of material: higher in cooperative learning environments

Quality of reasoning strategies: focusing strategies are used more often in coop learning; higher level reasoning is greater; problems solved faster

Process gains: production of new ideas greater

Transference of learning: group to individual transference high Johnson and Johnson, 1990

Summing it up: In Online Learning Communities……..

Members attend to issues of climate, needs, resources, design, content, planning, action and evaluation - ie democratic processes of learning together

Purposeful conversations/relationships

Quality of peoples’ relations is important characteristic

Socially close, strong, intimate ties are shown

Commitment to the common good

Reflection and inquiry shape the learning

Trust and respect need to be developed

Reciprocity of effort is required

Implications for Practice Design courses / units specifically for meaningful, intentional

learning in communities

Ensure students know and understand the meaning of community and the potential learning benefits to them

Train students in working together cooperatively and collaboratively

Embed learning processes that support and reward community learning

Focus on forms of self-peer-tutor collaborative assessment

Involve students as course designers (creating content and processes) and evaluators (judging the worthwhileness of course design and learning processes)

Part 2: Examples of Online learning Communities from

CDU Academic Staff Presenters are:

1. Creating online communities: To group or not to group. Dr Yoshi Budd. Lecturer in the School of Education

2. Using UCROO to build community among first year programming students Rebecca England, School of Engineering and Information Technology

3. Transforming professional identity in a collegial online community Karen Sinclair, School of Education

4. Engaging with the Ephemeral – creating an online learning community using Facebook Robyn Williams, Bachelor of Health Science Coordinator, School of Health

Presentation OneCreating online communities: To group or

not to group. Dr Yoshi Budd. Lecturer in the School of Education

Presentation TwoUsing UCROO to build community among

first year programming students Rebecca England, School of Engineering and Information Technology

Presentation ThreeTransforming professional identity in a

collegial online community Karen Sinclair, School of Education

Presentation FourEngaging with the Ephemeral – creating an

online learning community using Facebook Robyn Williams, Bachelor of Health Science Coordinator, School of Health

Part 3: Questions, Viewpoints, Discussion……

Discussions, questions, viewpoints…….

Thinking ahead..

What is the future at CDU for designing learning communities into our courses/units?

What is needed in order for courses/units to be designed as learning communities?

Is it possible to have a learning community in the Learnline system?

References Castells, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and

Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press

McConnell, D. (2006) E-Learning Groups and Communities. OU/SRHE Press

Reeves, T. and Gomm, P (2015) Community and contribution: Factors motivating students to participate in an extra-curricular online activity and implications for learning. E-Learning and Digital Media 12 (3-4) 391-409

Ryberg, T, Buus, L., Georgsen, M. (2012) Differences in Understandings of Networked Learning Theory: Connectivity or Collaboration? Chpt 3 in Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., Hodgson, V. and McConnell, D. (2012) Exploring the Theory, Pedagogy and Practice of Networked Learning. Springer, NY

Wellman, B., Gulia, M. (1999) Virtual Communities as Communities: Net Surfers Don’t ride Alone. In Smith, M. & Pollock, P (eds) Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge

Wenger E (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge, University Press.