Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt were featured in a training video in which they discussed the nature of online learning communities and some best practices of using online learning communities. The audience members were all doctors in different fields of study. They mentioned quite a few different ideas to make online learning communities successful. The use of these strategies impact student learning, higher satisfaction and improve student retention.
Dr. Pratt stressed that, “It’s everyone’s responsibility to create a successful learning community.” He stated that it was not just the faculty member to make the online learning experience successful, but also the students and administrators responsibility. Within the learning community it is the facilitators job to perform as an equal member, fostering student-to-student learning while guiding the students to learning conclusions. What this basically means is that after the instructor sets up the course and gives instructions, they do not step out of the picture, but remain throughout the course to facilitate and contribute to discussions. The administrators need to support the instructors and students. The students need to submit their assignments on time and respond to discussion prompts in a manner laid out by the instructor. If everyone plays their role, it will provide for a successful learning community.
Some of the essential elements of online community building is to get the students to view each other as real people and involved in the course, not as an isolated distance learner. Another way to build the online community is to have an orientation to the course management system in order to ensure there is no confusion throughout the course. It is also an important tool because it will allow students to decide if the online learning method is something that they will be successful at. After the online learning community is built, the next step is to ensure that it is sustained.
There are several ways to sustain the online learning community. Part of the way to sustain the online learning community is to make sure that the learning management is easy to navigate. Dr. Palloff also says to start the course off on a positive note is to make the course welcoming by introducing the facilitator and the students introducing themselves to each other.
Another question I thought about was the idea of using the information to become a better instructor online. Dr. Palloff had some good ideas including to name the student lounge something humorous, introduce yourself as a person rather than as a list of accomplishments and education and to have an ice-breaker. The book Engaging the Online Learnerhas many different ice-breakers listed in it. One that we are using in our current course is “Name that Movie” where students post two songs that reflect their life in the past and the present. Then other students can make up movie titles. I thought sounded like a fun idea and it helps the learners get to know each other a little better. I currently do not use ice-breakers in my class, but I am going to start when my next class begins.
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References:
Conrad, R. Donaldson, A. (2004). Engaging the online learner. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Online learning communities. [Multimedia]. Retrieved on
March 1, 2011 from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=4894963&Survey=1&47=6064455&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.
