3 tips - comparison of Good Practice Tips with Bounded Community article

In "Distance Education: Guidelines for Good Practice", we see the teacher needs to stay in charge.

"1. Faculty must retain academic control"
from Guidelines for Good Practice

We see this same exhortation in article: "Bounded Community":
"Unlike spontaneous communities, BLCs develop in direct response to guidance provided by an instructor, supported by a cumulative resource base."

In both cases, the teacher's role is crucial.

5. Close Personal Interaction must be maintained
from Guidelines for Good Practice

"Students taking online courses often feel isolated and disconnected from the instructor and other enrolled students. Fostering a sense of community can reduce feelings of isolation, improve the learner's attitude toward the course and the content, and ultimately boost student retention (Ludwig-Hardman and Dunlap, 2003)."
from "Bounded Community"

6. Class size should be set through normal faculty channels
Specifically, the "Guidelines for Good Practice" suggests that "Class size should encourage a high degree of interactivity."

The impact of group size on the quality and quantity of social interaction is often thought of in the physical classroom setting. Here we can think of the extremes: the 101 lecture hall with 600 first year students in chemistry, biology or physics as a UC campus. Or, the small tutorial groups of a dozen or less, where a Teaching Assistance meets with these same students to discuss the material as a group. One method is lecture, the other discussion. A single course may combine both.

The same is true with a virtual classroom found in Distance Education. Group size affects social interaction.

The point about the affect of group size on a required high level of interactivity is not a point made explicit in "Bounded Community". Social interaction is sensitive to group size. Given any fixed period of time, say a semester, the level of interactivity is inversely related to group size. A one-on-one tutorial being the maximum amount of interactivity, and a large lecture hall being the other extreme. Interaction takes time. For a fixed time, there is just less time per participant the larger the group.

That said, one could have a one-on-one lecture, with little to no interactivity. There is also many questions about the nature, purpose and timing of the interactions. Here, the "Bounded Community" is quite clear. Interactivity is require to create inclusion, foster a shared identity, and to create bonds between the members. So, while "Bounded Community" does not make the point about group size explicitly, the types of interaction that is advocated implicitly suggests a smaller group size [towards 45 or less] rather than the larger, lecture hall size [of say 600].