Online Learning Communities: Social Presence is Important

Online Learning Communities: Social Presence is Important

To be an effective instructor in an online learning environment, I have learned that when navigating the complex world of distance education, one must develop a sense of connection and community with all participants. As knowledge and information are shared, establishing a clear and prominent professional presence that offers security and belonging is essential. 

How do online learning communities significantly impact both student learning and satisfaction within online courses?

When one considers the benefits of having an online learning community, one inevitably thinks about how the learners will construct meaning from a course, not just from the required resources but also from one another. Learners get to engage with others from around the world of various demographics. This makes learning more exciting and takes some of the burden off the instructor to “know it all” per se’. Online learning communities create a dynamic where facilitators and learners are equal participants (Walden, n.d). In an online learning environment, there is a chance that the instructional designer is not the facilitator. Therefore, a student can take on a leadership role and stir a discussion board in the direction of successful dialog as they may have the knowledge and experience that the facilitator may not. This does not mean the facilitator cannot guide all participants to feel a sense of belonging by prompting them with questions and encouraging them to be open to feedback, as each participant's thoughts will be valued as essential to the overall discussion.

What are the essential elements of online community building?

An essential element of online community building is creating a safe space for all learners to feel welcomed and valued. Learners should know from the onset what is expected of them to be a part of the professional learning community and what to expect from their instructor regarding support and guidance. As Tu and Corry (2002) explained, online learning communities have been considered one of the most important learning concepts in technology-based instruction. The authors explain that community learning can refer to a situation in which learning occurs as a social learning process (Tu & Corry, 2002). This is an even more vital reason for instructors to be apparent from the beginning the guidelines, roles, and responsibilities for all involved to follow so that the objectives can be covered and successfully demonstrated as the development of the learning community develops with the natural progression of the course.

How can online learning communities be sustained?

Timely feedback is one of the best ways to sustain an online learning community. This strategy will promote student-teacher interactions through meaningful and constructive engagement and offer collaborative opportunities between learners, demonstrating effective instruction. Being able to communicate online with one another helps establish a sense of social presence (Walden, n.d). Planning a time and date when each participant should have interacted with others makes creating a social presence more intentional. In addition, using well-constructed software to support group activities and interactions helps to facilitate this behavior toward the desired result of sustainability. For example, within the course design, discussion forums, chatrooms, and video sharing could provide the opportunity to engage with one another actively. 

What is the relationship between community building and effective online instruction?

As mentioned in Teaching to Connect, activities that help cultivate openness, trust, and support are critical to supporting students' sense of community. A collaborative design appears more effective than working individually when examining the relationship between community building and effective online instruction. Both learners and instructors share the responsibility of building an online community. Effective learning occurs in active approaches that present learning as a social process through communication with others (Hiltz, 1998; Mead, 1934). Social interaction is a critical component in social learning, according to Vygotsky's (1978) theory, and online learning requires a social presence. 

In conclusion, online learning requires the community it builds to be more structured, held to the highest standard of accountability, and offer concepts and factors that positively impact learning. 

References

Hiltz, S. R. (1998). Collaborative learning in asynchronous learning networks: Building learning. In WebNet 98' World Conference of the WWW, Internet, and Intranet Proceeding. 

Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Tu, C. H., & Corry, M. (2002). Research in online learning community. E-journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 5(1).

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2010). Online learning communities [Video file].