Title:

Promoting Collaboration & Building online Communities

            In an online learning environment participant interaction is critical to engagement and learning. The instructor must clearly collaborate with the learners in order to build or develop a cohesive learning community and to achieve the desired learning outcome for the course. Effective collaboration enables learners to acquire an in-depth level of knowledge and at the same time move from independent to interdependence which will strength the online learning community.  When learners are able to efficiently and effectively collaborate with each other through activities; they will begin building a learning community in which they are interdependent and working, talking and coming together online about positive group community and collaboration (Palloff & Pratt (2007). According to Oosterhof, Conrad, & Ely, (2008) the concept of online interaction and collaboration is one key to an effective online course. Interaction occurs between the student, course resources, peers and the instructor. Activities must go beyond interaction to promote learner collaboration and establishing a goal of independent learning community.

Instructions:

In a face-to-face learning environment, group discussions and interactions are often a natural component of the learning process. People share ideas, debate topics, elaborate on each other’s thinking, and grapple with course content to complete projects or solve problems. In an online environment, this kind of collaborative learning is not necessarily as organic but it is just as critical to the learning process.

For this assignment the student will learn strategies for Promoting Collaborating and Building online Communities. To begin this assignment the students will research several strategies that can be used to promote collaboration and build a community in an online environment that t is critical to the success of the learning community. The student will use the resources that are provided by the instructor and any additional reliable outside resources available.

Learning Objective:

Students Will

v  Research 5-6 strategies that can be used to promote collaboration and build a learning community in an online environment.

v  Write a one page paper that includes 5-6 strategies for promoting collaboration and building a learning community in an online environment.

Resources

• Book Excerpt: Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  (Palloff, R., & Pratt, K., Promoting Collaborative Learning, Building Online Communities). Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons Inc. Used with permission from John Wiley & Sons Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.
• Chapter 8, “Promoting Collaborative Learning”

Media

Video: “Assessing Interaction and Collaboration in Online Environments” (Approximate length: 26 minutes) In this program, Drs. Palloff and Pratt discuss strategies for assessing interaction and collaboration in online environments. http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/72033/CRS-CW-5693742/Documents/Paloff_Ch8.pdf

Scoring Rubric Link
Rubric Link: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.phpscreen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2106297&

References

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2007) Promoting collaborative learning: Building online communities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Palloff, R. Pratt, K. (2010). Assessing Interaction and Collaboration in Online Environments:

[Motion Picture].

http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5693742&Survey=1&47=6669230&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1