Guidelines for facilitating the development of learning communities in online courses

Abstract

Online learning has grown exponentially in recent years; however, dropout problem remains challenging for some online programmes. The dropout problem can be attributed to a number of reasons, with a lack of interaction between learners and the instructor constituting one of the main reasons. The lack of interaction also leads to learners' feeling of isolation. Learning communities can provide learners with an environment conducive to increased interactions and alleviate their feeling of isolation. Unfortunately, there are no clear rules that instructors can follow to help learners create learning communities. In this paper, we propose guidelines for online instructors to facilitate the development of learning communities in online courses. We first review the definition of a learning community, importance of a learning community and factors affecting the development of a learning community. Afterwards, based on a review of the existing guidelines and other relevant literature, we propose guidelines for facilitating the development of learning communities in online courses.

Online Education and Its Effective Practice: A Research Review

“…To establish such a community, several studies we reviewed pointed out the significance of promoting social presence, interaction, and collaboration (Brindley et al, 2009;Cox & Cox, 2008;Kehrwald, 2009;Swan et al, 2009;Whipp & Loentz, 2009;Yuan & Kim, 2014). We thus argue that both learners and instructors have to make a joint effort to get deeply involved in constructing interaction and collaboration between the instructor and students and among students to create an effective online learning community.…”

“…Online learners benefit greatly from online learning communities in the following ways: (1) because of their connectivity with one another, they are able to share knowledge and fulfill common goals, which can reduce students' dropout rates; (2) the relationship and interaction between the instructor and learners and among peer learners can increase student performances and their satisfaction of the course; and (3) learners can receive supports and help from their peers, and at the same time they can add their knowledge base through their interactive actions (Yuan & Kim, 2014). Yuan and Kim (2014) provided the following guidelines for the development of an online learning community:…”

“…Yuan and Kim (2014) stated that a learning community was the creation of a sense of belonging by a group of learners, where learners trusted one another, constructed knowledge, shared useful information, established connections by getting to know one another, set up common objectives for learning, and believed that their needs would be fulfilled. Cox and Cox (2008) contended that asynchronous, threaded discussions can be effective in creating a collaborative learning environment as well as interpersonal and group dynamics.…”

“…Yuan and Kim (2014) provided the following guidelines for the development of an online learning community:…”

Types of Interaction in Online Discussion Forums: A Case Study

“…These theories view learning as a process of interaction and participation of a community (Vygotsky, 1978). The constructivist principles describe how learning occurs in asynchronous discussions (Rodriguez, 2014;Swan, 2005;Yuan & Kim, 2014) and serve as the primary approach to this study in exploring the discussion messages for evidence of learning. Network of interactions play a critical role in knowledge emergence and distribute it through different tools (Choo, Kaur, Fook, & Yong, 2014).…”