Bounded Communities - Ann Hagen

Why it is important for online learners to be part of a community:

Communities provide a social context to the material, helping learners to feel more connected to what it is they are learning. Communities can also help bridge the gap between education and the real world. They do this with the help of other community members by learning to appreciate multiple perspectives. Communities help learners belong by reducing feelings of isolation, especially in online courses. Learner attitudes also improve when they are part of a community. Overall, learning communities can allow for richer and more authentic learning environments.

I believe that learning communities form more naturally in a classroom setting than a distance setting. However, it is just as important for communities to form when at a distance, because natural communities do not form as easily.

What strategies and techniques are best to establish and maintain that online community:

Community participants must have a joint purpose, shared access to resources, and mutual engagement. It is important that communities are designed ahead of time with extra thought by the instructor. Communities are successful if they foster trust and support of the learners and help all individuals work toward a shared goal. Perhaps the most obvious way to maintain a learning community is to include high levels of social interaction among online learners, including opportunity for students to communicate through chat, voice, message boards, etc. This includes allowing all members of the community to be respectful of one another. A good community also allows all members to be both learners and teachers. The teacher should be the strength of the community, providing the base, modeling for the learners, supervising, giving feedback, and helping learners establish relationships. Again, this may be more difficult and time consuming in a distance course, but is especially important because communities may not form as easily when distance is a factor.