Sense of community in graduate online education: Contribution of learner to learner interaction

Abstract

<p>Distance learning technologies offer a multitude of ways to build interaction into online courses to support learning. Based on social constructivism theory, this study explored which types of interaction are most predictive of students’ sense of community in online graduate courses at a regional comprehensive university. Surveys were used to measure sense of community and the frequency and importance of nine learner–learner interactions.</p><p>Interactions that were most predictive of sense of community were introductions, collaborative group projects, sharing personal experiences, entire class discussions, and exchanging resources. The interaction that offered the highest payoff to instructors was exchanging resources. The article discusses implications for online course design.</p>

Student Actions and Community in Online Courses: The Roles Played By Course Length and Facilitation Method

“…Previous work has considered these factors separately and has described courses by the term in which they were offered (e.g., Shea et al, 2006;Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012;Dueber & Misanchuk, 2001;Brown, 2001), student activities (e.g., Drouin, 2008), or facilitation method (e.g., Phirangee et al, 2016a, b). Our findings build on this work by detailing how course length and facilitation method interact, suggesting their joint relationship to several student communication behaviors that include students' reading of classmates' posts, use of private forms of communication, and propensity to respond to their classmates' posts.…”

Establishing the Importance of Interaction and Presence to Student Learning in Online Environments

“…Although interaction in online courses can facilitate a sense of community (Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012), the occurrence of presence (a sense of being) is important for the attainment of higher order learning in the course. Presence is a necessary antecedent for the successful occurrence of interaction (Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005) and has been shown to be critical to student success in online courses (Yuen, Deng, & Fox, 2009).…”

“…The literature concerning the element of presence in online education largely concentrated on presence from the perspective of building a sense of community within the online learning setting, enabling participants to experience a community of inquiry, which has been firmly established in past research as a key element to online learning success (Armstrong & Thorton, 2012;Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000;Garrison, Cleveland-Innes, & Fung, 2010;Jones, 2011;Redford & Naughton, 2002;Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012). Additionally, when reviewing the literature on elements of interaction and presence separately, two major themes emerged concerning the relationship of interaction and presence to student online learning: the collaborative process and the nature and level of interactions are both important for successful and significant learning to occur.…”

A Case Study of Online Instructors and Their Quest for Greater Interactivity in Their Courses: Overcoming the Distance in Distance Education

“…Some students move into leadership roles and take it upon themselves to post early, initiate threads, and set guidelines, while others remain on the margins and follow the lead of others (Chapman, Storberg-Walker, & Stone, 2008). Overall, interactions that were most predictive of sense of community were: sharing personal experiences, collaborative group projects, entire class discussions, and exchanging resources (Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012).…”

“…As the literature asserts, instructors must use technologies and delivery formats strategically to create satisfying and high-quality educational experiences for students (Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012). We wanted to investigate if instructors in our teacher preparation programs are moving from simply recognizing the need for quality online interaction to truly providing such opportunities in both course design and implementation.…”