Online Learning Communities
Learning communities significantly impact both students learning and satisfaction within online courses because an effective learning community pulls students together in an online community to support one another explore content together to construct meaning and knowledge about that content, it empower students to challenge each other and enable them to draw thing out of each other and give feedback to each other. Learning communities creates a dynamic where facilitators and learners are equal participants. In the online community the instructor is not the focus it is the students. The facilitators must explain to the students how they will be supporting them in a learning community in order for the learners to be more at ease. Facilitators should create an environment that is safe and conducive to learning, allowing students to be all they can be without having to worry about their opinions. The instructor should let the students know that he/she is there for them (Palloff & Pratt, 2011). If these essential components are present in an online community it will greatly impact both the student leaning and the satisfaction within the online course.
Elements of a Learning Community
The essential elements of online community building include people, purpose and process. Within these elements are other embedded elements. You need people in order to have a community and how you bring them together; which is the purpose for that community such as people coming together to take online classes is how the people are connected. Process is the way in which the course is delivered such as blogs, wikis, discussion forms, multimedia, articles and etc. The people have to be able to interact and communicate and connect with one another which are considered the method in how this is obtained. Within the element of Purpose there need to be guidelines about how the learners will engage, how often learners are expected to participate and how often the institutions expect learners to participate for official purposes (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
Sustaining Learning Communities
Online learning communities can be sustained when the power of learning communities is learner to learner engagement. It can be sustained when students are empowered to be responsible for their own learning. Also, online learning communities can be sustained when students are engaged to figure out the content together and reflect on what they have learned. The goal is a sense of co-created knowledge and meaning though dialogue collaborative activities where they are engaged with one another. They also reflect on the transformation of the learning experience. In the learning community it is everyone’s responsibility to create a successful learning community. The facilitator is the most vital component in the community. Faculty, students and administration are active participant in this learning community. The instructor must be actively engaged in the online learning. When the courses are delivered through a learning community, there is a high rate of students’ satisfaction. Their perception of learning increase, they feel as though they are a part of a larger community and there are social pressures to succeed. The outcome from a learner community focus is much stronger (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
Developing Relationship between community Building and Effective InstructionTo develop relationships between community building and effective online instruction, the students should be allowed to get to know one another through a special activity facilitated by the instructor. Students need to be introduced to the Learning Course Management System (LCMS). Learners should be oriented to the philosophy of the online learning. During the orientation both the student and the instructor will be able to determine who has the skills and tools essential for online learning. The first two weeks of the course is where you will lose students or retain them. During the first two weeks students are getting acclimatize to other online student, they get to know each other, talk about self-directed learning, how they are going to structure their time, what can of support system they will have?, the goals they have set, what they can expect from their instructor and fellow cohorts? Instructors could design an area in their (LCMS) that is devoted to community building. There is also a forum that can be created where learners can enter and communicate with the other learners and the instructor about any school related issues they may have. There are also other fun ways and activities that can be created that are not related to the course that can enhance community building (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
For the adult learner who does not have the computer skills, instructors should keep everything simple and gradually building their technology skills so that they are not complete overwhelmed. Only incorporate activities and technologies that are required to get to the outcome of the course that are mandated by the faculty. The instructor should make the course easy to navigate. The instructor should make the classroom feel warm and inviting. During the first two weeks of school it is essential that the instructor visit the classroom multiple times per day to facilitate inquiries of students and just make them feel more comfortable. The instructor should encourage students to post a bio and then relate to students personally. The instructor can also create and icebreaker for students to get to know each other without it being mandatory (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
Reference
Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2011). Online learning communities: [Motion Picture].
Learning communities significantly impact both students learning and satisfaction within online courses because an effective learning community pulls students together in an online community to support one another explore content together to construct meaning and knowledge about that content, it empower students to challenge each other and enable them to draw thing out of each other and give feedback to each other. Learning communities creates a dynamic where facilitators and learners are equal participants. In the online community the instructor is not the focus it is the students. The facilitators must explain to the students how they will be supporting them in a learning community in order for the learners to be more at ease. Facilitators should create an environment that is safe and conducive to learning, allowing students to be all they can be without having to worry about their opinions. The instructor should let the students know that he/she is there for them (Palloff & Pratt, 2011). If these essential components are present in an online community it will greatly impact both the student leaning and the satisfaction within the online course.
Elements of a Learning Community
The essential elements of online community building include people, purpose and process. Within these elements are other embedded elements. You need people in order to have a community and how you bring them together; which is the purpose for that community such as people coming together to take online classes is how the people are connected. Process is the way in which the course is delivered such as blogs, wikis, discussion forms, multimedia, articles and etc. The people have to be able to interact and communicate and connect with one another which are considered the method in how this is obtained. Within the element of Purpose there need to be guidelines about how the learners will engage, how often learners are expected to participate and how often the institutions expect learners to participate for official purposes (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
Online learning communities can be sustained when the power of learning communities is learner to learner engagement. It can be sustained when students are empowered to be responsible for their own learning. Also, online learning communities can be sustained when students are engaged to figure out the content together and reflect on what they have learned. The goal is a sense of co-created knowledge and meaning though dialogue collaborative activities where they are engaged with one another. They also reflect on the transformation of the learning experience. In the learning community it is everyone’s responsibility to create a successful learning community. The facilitator is the most vital component in the community. Faculty, students and administration are active participant in this learning community. The instructor must be actively engaged in the online learning. When the courses are delivered through a learning community, there is a high rate of students’ satisfaction. Their perception of learning increase, they feel as though they are a part of a larger community and there are social pressures to succeed. The outcome from a learner community focus is much stronger (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
Developing Relationship between community Building and Effective InstructionTo develop relationships between community building and effective online instruction, the students should be allowed to get to know one another through a special activity facilitated by the instructor. Students need to be introduced to the Learning Course Management System (LCMS). Learners should be oriented to the philosophy of the online learning. During the orientation both the student and the instructor will be able to determine who has the skills and tools essential for online learning. The first two weeks of the course is where you will lose students or retain them. During the first two weeks students are getting acclimatize to other online student, they get to know each other, talk about self-directed learning, how they are going to structure their time, what can of support system they will have?, the goals they have set, what they can expect from their instructor and fellow cohorts? Instructors could design an area in their (LCMS) that is devoted to community building. There is also a forum that can be created where learners can enter and communicate with the other learners and the instructor about any school related issues they may have. There are also other fun ways and activities that can be created that are not related to the course that can enhance community building (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
For the adult learner who does not have the computer skills, instructors should keep everything simple and gradually building their technology skills so that they are not complete overwhelmed. Only incorporate activities and technologies that are required to get to the outcome of the course that are mandated by the faculty. The instructor should make the course easy to navigate. The instructor should make the classroom feel warm and inviting. During the first two weeks of school it is essential that the instructor visit the classroom multiple times per day to facilitate inquiries of students and just make them feel more comfortable. The instructor should encourage students to post a bio and then relate to students personally. The instructor can also create and icebreaker for students to get to know each other without it being mandatory (Palloff & Pratt 2011).
Reference
Palloff, R. & Pratt, K. (2011). Online learning communities: [Motion Picture].
Posts
In response to the significance of knowing the technology available to the facilitator, no one ignores that the success of online teaching and learning experiences depends on best practices. Boettcher & Conrad (2010) presented ten of the best practices as “the tip of the iceberg in developing expertise in teaching online” (p. 47). A part from the ten best practices, institutions would have to infuse facilitators’ effective pedagogical practices with technological training (Bailey & Card, 2009) to enhance their online teaching, and enrich learning with interaction and interactivity as important pillars in an online learning for learners.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, Web 2.0 technologies, for instance, include, but are not limited to blogosphere, wikis, podcasting, Google Friends Connect (Huett, Moller, Foshay, & Coleman, 2008) and other forms of content creation facilitators need to have upper hands on and help equip their learners. Students' technological abilities influence their predisposition to succeed in online classes. It would be very difficult for online participants to be clueless about technology, especially in this digital age.
References
Bailey, C. J., & Card, K. A. (2009). Effective pedagogical practices for online teaching: Perception of experienced instructors. The Internet & Higher Education, 12(3/4), 152–155.
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Coleman, C. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, (52)5, 63-67.