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opportunity to interact with classmates and some
students could not survive without this. My own
courses which I taught in the Special Education
credential/ masters program evolved to include this
interaction both in synchronous and asynchronous
settings. After seven years of teaching online I
have developed my courses to the point where my
classes are becoming very interactive. This was in
part the result of creating assignments where the
students were required to work together. This was
also the result of the scheduling of my time for all
of us to dialogue with one another with more active
participation on my part as a community member
in the class, using this to model and direct students
to follow my example.
This chapter will help the person who is a
community builder online to identify the dynam-
ics and method of establishing successful web
communities. It also addresses the key issues that
web-based communities face and ways to design
opportunities for interaction among the members
of that community. The roles, rituals and events
that bring people together into a group inside a
virtual environment and make them into an online
community are examined.
It is useful to examine definitions of what a
learning community is meant to be. According
to Chang (2003) a learning community is 'a
group that shares ideas and information with all
members of the community'. It is also a place
where spontaneous learning and active knowledge
construction takes place by the individual learners
within the community. Chang continues to define
this community as 'a virtual social organization of
learners who share knowledge and experiences,
exchange information as well as collaboratively
solve problems in the pursuit of a common learn-
ing objective or interest' (p.28).
Thomas Sergiovanni (1993) defines commu-
nity as 'a collection of individuals who are bonded
together by natural will and who are binded to a set
of shared ideas and ideals' (p.xvi). The members
of the community have sought membership into
this particular group. Communities don't happen
randomly but are systematically organized and
expanded.
It is not easy trying to create a virtual com-
munity of people in an online format unless it
is planned and opportunities for interaction are
specifically built into the online program.A person
who is “surfing” the Internet for information but
not dialoging with someone else is not a member
of a community in the truest sense. The stage has
to be set for community to develop. It is possible
in an online environment to involve others and
to heighten one's awareness of learning strate-
gies, abilities and preferences. The planning of
such opportunities must be specific in an online
environment but should be deliberately designed
as an integral part of an online program. Today
more and more opportunities are being developed
through distance learning or computer-assisted
instruction where individuals can come together
in a virtual setting to interact with one another
and build a relationship in this setting. More
opportunities are being designed through web
technologies such as Facebook or MySpace for
people to join a social community where frequent
interaction occurs online and is reinforced offline.
backgrounD
Virtual communities, or online communities, are
used when individuals within a personal or profes-
sional group choose to interact with each other
via the Internet. It does not necessarily mean that
there is a strong bond among the members as is
the case with a face-to-face group. Interaction in
a virtual community takes place through email,
chat rooms, synchronous learning sessions, etc.
An email distribution list may have hundreds of
members and the communication which takes
place may be merely informational (questions and
answers are posted), but members may remain
relative strangers and the membership turnover
rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal
use of the term “community.”
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