Instant Online Communities for Improving Perceived Learning

Abstract

The Internet is increasingly used as a medium for communication. On the Internet, communities are forming around shared ideas, in contrast to former, location-based communities. Transition towards these online communities has also affected learning communities that are formed around learners such as university students. In universities, online learning communities are used both for supporting traditional courses and to offer courses that students can complete online, without the need to physically go to the university campus. However, current solutions for online learning do not fully utilize the potential of online communities. In many courses, there is only a website that offers essential information. It is accessed by a large percent of the students, but the website has minimal or no support for interaction. Instant online communities offer a lightweight solution for establishing interaction support for a group of visitors of a website. This idea can be used to enable interaction support for online learning communities in a course website. The students become aware of the online learning community they belong to when they access the course website, and they can communicate with other members of the community. This fosters social presence among the students, and thus improves their perceived learning in the course. In this study, first the literature and research behind online communities and online learning was briefly reviewed. This included studying the concept of instant online communities, learning communities, and how online learning communities can support learning in university courses. Secondly, features of instant online communities were more thoughtfully examined. Based on these, an idea of instant online learning communities was described with the features it should support. Thirdly, a group of students was inquired in order to find out their attitudes and expectations on how the idea could support them in learning. Finally, a proposal for features and establishment of an instant online learning community was constructed. Central aspects of an instant online learning community were found to be awareness of other students and the instructor, and discussion as a form of interaction. Presence of the instructor was found to have an important role. Also a need for both synchronous and asynchronous discussion was clear. With several issues still left open, a need for further study is acknowledged. /Kir10