Developing Online Learning Communities Innovative Teaching Seminar Series, Charles Darwin University 18 th September Dr Greg Shaw, Associate Professor, School of Education; and Dr David McConnell, Senior Higher Education and Training Developer, Office of Learning and Teaching.

Overview of the Seminar Part 1: A)The CDU context. B) An understanding of learning communities and their potential importance in online learning and teaching Part 2: CDU examples of online practice that focus on developing and sustaining online learning communities Part 3: Questions, discussions, viewpoints examples

The CDU context and learning communities What is a learning community? What forms can they take? What is their pedagogical basis (social constructivism)? Why is it worthwhile designing online courses as Learning Communities? Brief outline of their importance in higher education and professional development For the learner: active learners, social engagement, deep learning, collaboration, peer support, increased course satisfaction, develops learning skills ….. For the lecturer: increased student satisfaction, workloads issues (plus and minus), when done in a flipped classroom can improve learning

Understanding what goes on in Online Communities: Social Networks compared with Online Communities

Social Networks Members of social networks: Display companionship and social support and engage in information exchange They show weak ties Have a sense of belonging, but relationships are intermittent, specialized and varying in length Lack deep interaction, and interactions often ephemeral (Castells 2001; Wellman and Gulia 1999)

Online Communities Members of online communities: Have a set of shared values and interests (Rheingold 1993) Engage in social organization (Castells 2001) Members’ interpersonal ties provide sociability, support, information exchange, a sense of belonging, and social identity (Wellman in Castells) Members’ show socially close, strong, intimate ties They engage in the sharing of personal experiences and information, and in the development of trust (Wellman & Gula 1999) They are likely to reveal their personal identity, and will draw on emotional energy (Castells 2001)

What do we know about learning communities and their importance in online education ? “A Learning community is a cohesive community that embodies a culture of learning. Members are involved in a collective effort of understanding. The learning community attends to issues of climate, needs, resources, planning, action and evaluation. A key feature of the idea is that responsibility for learning is ‘shared’ among community members. No one individual is responsible for knowing everything: rather, the shared knowledge and skills are distributed among members. Individually, each contributes to the group endeavour, enabling the group to accomplish more than the individual members might separately, with the key gain of deepened understanding of both content and processes by individual members of the group” (McConnell 2006)

What do we know about learning communities and their importance in online education? “Sense of Community”: “a shared emotional connection between members is considered to be the ‘definitive element for true community’…..shared participation in activities is a key factor in the development of shared emotional connection, along with members being able to identify with the history of the community.” (Reeves & Gomm, 2015) “…the ideas of relations and connections suggest that learning is not confined to the individual mind or the individual learner. Rather, learning and knowledge construction is located in the connections and interactions between learners, teachers and resources, and seen as emerging from critical dialogues and enquiries. (Ryberg, Buus & Georgsen 2012)

Groups and Communities Although there are differences between groups and communities, in practice many online learning communities involve students in carrying out group work Student learning is usually competitive and individualistic What about cooperative and collaborative group and community Learning? What are the benefits of cooperative & collaborative group work to learners?

What is the impact on achievement of competitive, individualistic and cooperative learning? In cooperative/collaborative learning: Mastery and retention of material: higher in cooperative learning environments Quality of reasoning strategies: focusing strategies are used more often in coop learning; higher level reasoning is greater; problems solved faster Process gains: production of new ideas greater Transference of learning: group to individual transference high Johnson and Johnson, 1990

Summing it up: In Online Learning Communities…….. Members attend to issues of climate, needs, resources, design, content, planning, action and evaluation - ie democratic processes of learning together Purposeful conversations/relationships Quality of peoples’ relations is important characteristic Socially close, strong, intimate ties are shown Commitment to the common good Reflection and inquiry shape the learning Trust and respect need to be developed Reciprocity of effort is required

Implications for Practice Design courses / units specifically for meaningful, intentional learning in communities Ensure students know and understand the meaning of community and the potential learning benefits to them Train students in working together cooperatively and collaboratively Embed learning processes that support and reward community learning Focus on forms of self-peer-tutor collaborative assessment Involve students as course designers (creating content and processes) and evaluators (judging the worthwhileness of course design and learning processes)

Part 2: Examples of Online learning Communities from CDU Academic Staff Presenters are: 1. Creating online communities: To group or not to group. Dr Yoshi Budd. Lecturer in the School of Education 2. Using UCROO to build community among first year programming students Rebecca England, School of Engineering and Information Technology 3. Transforming professional identity in a collegial online community Karen Sinclair, School of Education 4. Engaging with the Ephemeral – creating an online learning community using Facebook Robyn Williams, Bachelor of Health Science Coordinator, School of Health

Presentation One Creating online communities: To group or not to group. Dr Yoshi Budd. Lecturer in the School of Education

Presentation Two Using UCROO to build community among first year programming students Rebecca England, School of Engineering and Information Technology

Presentation Three Transforming professional identity in a collegial online community Karen Sinclair, School of Education

Presentation Four Engaging with the Ephemeral – creating an online learning community using Facebook Robyn Williams, Bachelor of Health Science Coordinator, School of Health

Part 3: Questions, Viewpoints, Discussion…… Discussions, questions, viewpoints……. Thinking ahead.. What is the future at CDU for designing learning communities into our courses/units? What is needed in order for courses/units to be designed as learning communities? Is it possible to have a learning community in the Learnline system?

References Castells, M. (2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press McConnell, D. (2006) E-Learning Groups and Communities. OU/SRHE Press Reeves, T. and Gomm, P (2015) Community and contribution: Factors motivating students to participate in an extra-curricular online activity and implications for learning. E-Learning and Digital Media 12 (3-4) Ryberg, T, Buus, L., Georgsen, M. (2012) Differences in Understandings of Networked Learning Theory: Connectivity or Collaboration? Chpt 3 in Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., Hodgson, V. and McConnell, D. (2012) Exploring the Theory, Pedagogy and Practice of Networked Learning. Springer, NY Wellman, B., Gulia, M. (1999) Virtual Communities as Communities: Net Surfers Don’t ride Alone. In Smith, M. & Pollock, P (eds) Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge Wenger E (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge, University Press.