Bounded Community: Baha's Article Reflection

Bounded Community Reflection

Growing up, I always felt that my “classroom community” only started to really coalesce around Christmas. I realize how much face-to-face time that took, along with the huge amount of trust that was forged. In those traditional classroom situations, I truly felt bound to my fellow classmates; and, it wasn’t simply from our shared room number.

As an adult, now both a learner and designer of online education, I find myself longing for the old days of classroom community formed in a face-to-face setting. Bringing learners together in a “bounded online community” is truly a challenge. In my job as an Instructional Designer, I look for ways to instill a sense of purpose and a desire to collaborate. The article made me remember that I need to focus building a community that both develops before and sustains after the training event.

Some ideas to support building a community of online learners is to:
• Create a sense of purpose—blogs, wikis, SharePoint, nings, are all good places to bring participants together before and after a training event.
• Encourage collaboration—connect learners with email, video conferencing tools, document sharing, coaching opportunities, etc.
• Evaluate the community—allow both the students and the instructor to evaluate the bounded community on a scheduled basis [what works and what doesn’t].