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“In distance education, attention needs to be paid to the developing sense of community within the group of participants in order for the learning process to be successful” (Palloff & Pratt, 2007). It may seem that Palloff and Pratt are stating the obvious, but paying close attention to how members of an online learning community interact is essential to the development and ultimate success of the group. Participants in online learning communities need to have a sense of community or connection to those that they learning with. This connection needs to be both educational and social. Collaborators should know each other both personally and professionally. Palloff and Pratt state that, “Forging social bonds has important socioeffective and cognitive benefits for learning” (2007).However, the authors do state that the group leader has a responsibility to monitor the participation of group members. The instructor should be an active participant in the learning community and should set expectations for levels of participation from other group members. “An online learning community cannot be created by one person” (Palloff & Platt, 2007). Clearly, the more people know each other, the more they will want to participate and the more successful and online learning community will be.
Researcher Shalni Gulati of Oxford University agrees with the author. She states that the old perspective in adult education was that “learners [were] to be passive recipients of knowledge” and that a newer, more Constructivist model of education positively challenges this assumption (2008). In her article, Gulati explores the practice of online learning and seeks a deeper understanding of choices made by learners, requirements set by teachers and the relationships of the online teachers and learners. Through her research, the author comes to some interesting conclusions. She finds that online learners to require some structure similar to a formal learning experience and that this structure does, in fact, normalize the learning process. However, the way that this desired structure seems to play itself out is through compulsory participation which “may result in learners who are either being increasingly physically or mentally absent” (Gulati, 2007). She states further that participants who are required to answer a specific set of questions or complete a predetermined assignment “demonstrated limited depth of understanding” and were just “playing the game” (Gulati, 2007). Not only does this defeat the purpose of education itself, but it can create a hierarchy within the class between teacher and student and potentially between students themselves. Gulati concludes that formal structure is needed in online communities, but that a more democratic and open type of learning may be better. She says that allowing learners or groups of learners to choose, negotiate and define discussion topics can help the learners take ownership of their learning and would lessen the historical hierarchical structure of education.
Both the authors of the text, as well as the author of the article agree on two things. First, they feel that leaders of online learning communities need to set guidelines for participation because this communication is the core of online learning. These communities will not be successful without the genuine collaboration of members of the online group and someone has to facilitate this discussion, at least at first. Second, all authors agree that this structure, while essential, needs to be flexible. Both works suggest that participants in these online communities need to take ownership of the community itself. In order for this to happen, the guidelines that are set need to be flexible and perhaps gradually become more student centered as the community grows and develops. The members of the online group need to feel safe and feel that they are equal members. If this equality can be manifested, true learning will take place, which is the goal of education itself.
References
Gulati, S. (2007). Compulsory participation in online discussions: is this constructivism or normalisation of learning? Innovations in education and teaching international; May 2008; 45, 2; Platinum Periodicals.
Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2007) Building online learning communities. San Francisco, CA; John Wiley & Sons.
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