RSA4: Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework

RSA4: Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework

Online Article

In Building Online Learning Communities, Palloff and Pratt examine the elements that are necessary in order to create a successful learning community.  It is stated that student introductions are very important in order to allow students to get to know one another (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 162).  Another important aspect of promoting collaborative learning is creating assignments related to real-life scenarios that the students might find themselves in.  By doing so, students can relate to the assignment and thus find it more interesting and applicable to their life (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 169). The lack of collaboration between students can lead to low participation and a low communication rate overall (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 183).  Another topic discussed in Building Online Learning Communities is transformative learning – the idea that learning takes place when students reflect and interpret the events they have experienced (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 185).  The reading suggests that instructors ask students questions that allow them to reflect on their learning.  By doing so, students are essentially able to learn more about the way in which they learn. (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 194).

In the article titled “Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework” by Chris Brook and Ron Oliver, the importance of “community” is discussed.  By encouraging students to identify similarities, establishing a common purpose, and allowing for frequent communication, an instructor has control over whether a community is formed (Brook and Oliver, 2003).  Various learning perspectives are discussed including cognitive, sociocultural, and constructivist.  The authors state that the sociocultural perspective mostly pertains to learning communities because of the importance of social interactions in such communities (Brook and Oliver, 2003).  Lastly, Brook and Oliver explain the importance of the following for an online learning community to be successful: appropriate technology access, the instructor’s knowledge of an online community, the format of the class, the number of participants, the course level, and students who are active and engaged in the class (Brook and Oliver, 2003). Without the above factors, an online community would be very unproductive and would not be beneficial.

Both articles discuss characteristics of an online community that will create a comfortable and beneficial learning environment for the students.  Of the characteristics discussed, introductions and communication appeared in both articles.  One of the main differences between the two articles were the learning theories that the authors believe contribute significantly to learning communities.  Palloff and Pratt state that the constructivist theory has the most impact due to the reflection that is necessary to student understanding of the learning process (Palloff and Pratt, 2007, p. 185).  Brook and Oliver state that there are three different theories that contribute to the success of learning communities, and the most important theory is the sociocultural theory (Brook and Oliver, 2003).  However, overall, the articles supported one another and shared many similarities.

References

Brook, C. & Oliver, R. (2003). Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(2), 139-160.

Pallof, R. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: effective strategies for the virtual classroom (2^nd ed., pp. 3-65). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.