Building Professional Practice Education Cultures in the Online Environment - Information Communication Technologies for Human Services Education and Delivery - page 121

(for example, Pace, 2000, cited in Selim, 2005).
Volery & Lord (2000) similarly defined critical
success factors as sophistication of technology,
instructor approach and the existing technologi-
cal comfort of the student, in their assessment
of online learning. However, other researchers
have centred pedagogy and student experience
as categories for consideration, with studies
increasingly examining the collaborative social
network developed between students and faculty
and the resulting sense of community that can be
developed online. For example, Benigno & Tren-
tin (2000) developed a framework for evaluating
the efficacy of online learning which included
measuring for the criteria of student-to-student
interaction, meaningful support and the quality of
the learning environment. Similarly, Soong, Chan,
Chua & Loh (2001) include the social, collabora-
tive components of online learning when they
list as indicators of success the “human factors”
of mindset of faculty and students and level of
collaboration within the class; these are in addi-
tion to technological competency and perceived
infrastructure for technology-based learning.
Carswell, Thomas, Petra, Price & Richards (2000),
in a comprehensive study of the student experi-
ence at Open University, a fully online university
in the UK, found that the central anchor for the
student experience of online learning rested on
responsiveness and interactivity among students
and faculty. The research of Stocks & Freddolino
(2000) concurs that interactivity, which includes
feedback and opportunities for discussion, en-
hances learning outcomes.
Conrad (2005) explored the perceptions and
experiences of learners' sense of community by
using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Using a longitudinal design, she questioned stu-
dents before they commenced online learning (thus
tapping into their pre-conceptions), throughout
their online engagement, and afterward, for reflec-
tions on their experiences. The study reports that
students initially did not conceive of the uses of
an online community and that they were focussed

on their technological concerns at the onset of
the course. However, these gave way to what
Conrad refers to as “affective” considerations, as
students increasingly emphasized their relation-
ships, interactions, and familiarity with each other.
According to Conrad:

Learners appeared to have shifted from consider-
ing community in its external dimensions as an
entity defined by temporarily, action and space to
a more intuitively understood, relationship-based
construct (p.6).

The idea of “community” is taken up by sev-
eral studies into the online learning environment
according to the terms “community of practice,
“community of inquiry” and “learning commu-
nity.” The concept of “community of practice” is
identified by Lave & Wenger (1991) as a process
through which to examine how adults learn to-
gether through their social processes, as opposed
to overtly educational initiatives. Chalmers &
Keown (2006) locate the community of practice
concept within the broader framework of the
“dialogue community” approach in education. In
direct contrast to the “banking” concept of educa-
tion (Freire, 1972), the notion of communities of
practice emphasizes that knowledge is constructed
through the examination of personal and collec-
tive values, attitudes and beliefs through a shared
social process.
Although in its pure form, communities of
practice are self organizing systems and not housed
in formal educational institutions, there are valu-
able insights that can be gleaned from this model
and taken into the online post secondary setting.
For example, while not exactly a self-organizing
system of informal learning, status as online
students in universities and colleges implies a
degree of competence and capability in the subject
area, thus differentiating from other populations
of people. Second, and capturing the discursive
possibilities of a learning community, students
interact with and learn from each other by sharing