Mimicking Proximity: The Role of Distance Education in Forming Communities of Learning
Communities of Inquiry
<p>The purpose of this project is to support a personally meaningful and
educationally worthwhile learning experience. Central to the study introduced
here is the <a href="http://communitiesofinquiry.com/sub/coi_model.html">model of a community of inquiry</a>
that constitutes four elements essential to an educational experience: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://communitiesofinquiry.com/sub/cognitive.html">Cognitive Presence</a></li>
<li><a href="http://communitiesofinquiry.com/sub/social.html">Social Presence</a></li>
<li><a href="http://communitiesofinquiry.com/sub/teaching.html">Teaching Presence</a></li>
<li><a href="http://communitiesofinquiry.com/sub/methodology.html">Methodology</a></li></ul>
Online Lectures: Benefits for the Virtual Classroom : August 2001 : THE Journal
EDUCAUSE Quarterly | The Importance of Nonverbal Elements in Chat
Nonverbal communication adds nuance or richness of meaning that cannot be communicated by verbal elements alone. Given time and experience, some of the same richness of real-time, face-to-face communication can occur in a virtual, text-based medium.
Harold Jarche » The end of content-centric business models
Community and context are the two critical factors in developing e-learning environments.
eLearn: Case Studies - The Reluctant Online Professor
As it turned out, this was one of the best courses, online or onsite, I have ever taught. Not only did I witness enormous engagement among almost all of the students, but the level of learning was much higher than in previous years.
The feedback from the students on the course was very positive, better than I had received for the onsite course in previous years. One of my favorite written student comments was, "… I don't know how this course could be taught as effectively in the classroom."
The Art of Building Virtual Communities (Techlearning blog)
Two models for understanding roles in online communities: 4L (Linking, Lurking, Learning, Leading) and 4C (Consumer, Commentor, Contributor, Commentator). Also includes some questions and ideas about what makes healthy online communities.
elearnspace: Community
Collection of resources for online learning communities and communities of practice from George Siemens
An Inclusive Approach to Online Learning Environments: Models and Resources (PDF)
22-page article on designing for diversity in online learning. Examines how cultural differences can affect learning and shares culturally inclusive instructional design models. Table 1 on page 6 compares high-context and low-context learning (such as how formal student-teacher relationships are).
Online Tutoring e-Book 6 - Culture and Ethics - Facilitating Online Learning
Although this is written specifically for online tutors, much of the information and advice applies to online facilitators as well. The authors examine cultural differences in the online learning environment, including how diversity affects language, written text, images, metaphors, communication style, and online presence. Appendix B is a chart comparing different linguistic groups and cultures.
<p><font face="VERDANA">Some of the key questions revolve around how culture is, or is not, experienced online:
</font></p><p></p><ul>
<font face="VERDANA"><li>Is it easier to work across cultures free from visuals cues, which tap into our prejudices?
</li><li>Is it harder without visual cues so that we miss sensitive cultural cues?
</li><li>Just how do we maximise the diversity and respect for cultures while tutoring online?
</li></font></ul>
Facilitating online communities - WikiEducator
Course from Wikieducator on communication and community for online facilitators. Offered as a formal course with a facilitator or informal participation at your own pace.
The Bamboo Project Blog: Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event
Michele Martin debriefs the experience of teaching the Work Literacy online course via Ning. Several things they did were very successful. Ning was a good platform, even though it's intended as a social networking tool rather than a CMS. Explicitly saying that different levels of participation were acceptable meant that lurkers felt comfortable dipping in and out as legitimate perispheral participants. Was the course a success? It sounds like they all learned from the experience; to me, that means it's a success even if some aspects didn't work as they hoped.
The Development Of A Community Of Inquiry Over Time In An Online Course: Understanding The Progression And Integration Of Social | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on creating a community of inquiry through online discussions, with positive results for students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors found that, at least in this context, cognitive and teaching presence were correlated with both learning and satisfaction, but social presence only improved satisfaction. Registration required to download the PDF.
An absolutely riveting online course: Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching
Not a whole lot new to me here, but a solid collection of principles to guide online facilitators. If you're looking for an introduction for facilitators or administrators who aren't familiar with online learning or don't really "get" why you can't just shovel face-to-face content into an LMS to have a great course, this would be a good way to help show what's required to go beyond the mediocrity typical of many online courses.
<h3>Principle 1: The online world is a medium unto itself. </h3>
<p>
The search for excellence begins with this principle: The online world is a medium unto itself (Carr-Chellman & Duchastel, 2000; Ellis & Hafner, 2003). It is not just another learning environment, like a separate classroom down the hall; it is a categorically different learning environment. There are vastly different dynamics in online versus on campus courses.</p>
Principle 2: In the online world content is a verb.
We are moving to a mode of learning that is less dependent on information acquisition and is more centered on a set of student tasks and assignments that make up the learning experiences that students will engage in, in order to meet the objectives of the course (Carr-Chellman & Duchastel, 2000). In the online world, content is a verb.
Principle 5: Sense of community and social presence are essential to online excellence.
Establishing a sense of community often signals movement to a deeper learning experience (Benfield, 2001). It is through sustained communication that participants construct meaning (Garrison, et al., 2000) and come to a more complete understanding of the content. Indeed it is through such interaction and through attending to the processes of learning and teaching (as opposed to attending only to content) that a deeper rather than a surface approach to learning is encouraged (Ramsden, 2003). Without this connection to the instructor and the other students, the course is little more than a series of exercises to be completed.
Principle 7: A great web interface will not save a poor course; but a poor web interface will destroy a potentially great course.
Principle 8: Excellence comes from ongoing assessment and refinement.
Language Learning with Livemocha | Learn a Language Online - Free!
Online learning for languages. Includes some free content and an online community.
21st Century Teaching and Learning: Learning in the Social Web: Online Teaching and Learning 2.0
Presentation on teaching online with VoiceThread & Ning, including survey results with learner perspectives on how these tools helped create a sense of community