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perspectives, completing common projects, and
assisting each other along the learning journey.
Through these engagements, the seeds of com-
munity can be seen to be planted. As more and
more experiences, questions, challenges, problems
and solutions are shared, a collective identity as
a community can build.
An example of how the concept of communities
of learning can be applied to the online learning
environment is found in the research emphasis
and findings of Cho, Gay, Davidson & Ingraffea
(2007). Cho et. al (2007) sought to research the
specific conditions which foster optimal com-
munication and interactivity. In so doing, they
studied links between communication styles, so-
cial networks and learning performance in online
courses, concluding that “learning is a social and
collective outcome achieved through seamless
conversations, shared practices and networks of
social connections” (p. 310). As does the concept
of communities of practice, these researchers seek
to distinguish their finding from the empty vessel/
banking approach to education, wherein instruc-
tors are considered to make “knowledge deposits”
into the minds of passive students. This approach
underscores the epistemology, shared by the
communities of practice concept, that knowledge
is co-constructed through iterative processes of
experience, reflection, sharing, and experimenting
within a social setting. They conclude that social
networks created and maintained online act as
unique conduits for developing and transferring
resources and knowledge.
Online instruction and learning built upon
this constructivist epistemology suggests that the
principles of adult education and of experiential
learning are well met via methods and means of
online learning. First, adult education principles
of learner autonomy, responsibility, and reflection
merge with the practical considerations of online
delivery, wherein learners can exercise choice
regarding when, where and how long to engage
with the content material (Bourn & Bootle, 2005).
Moreover, Jarvis (1995) reports greater efficacy
in the learning of adults when teaching methods
allow for learners to adjust pacing and comple-
tion of learning tasks. Second, nested within the
core tenets of adult education are the experiential
learning principles articulated by Kolb (1984) and
Merizow (1991). Building upon John Dewey's
foundation that “all education comes about through
experience” (1938, p. 25), Kolb (1984) developed
a model which articulates that personal transfor-
mation occurs when perspectives are influenced
through exposure to new experiences, reflection
upon the these, and abstraction of the experiences
taken forward into new situations. This is the
cycle engaged in by social work students as they
experience their field education placements, and
the online field education seminar medium pro-
vides the conceptual and temporal space through
which they can reflect, abstract and experiment
for deep learning.
tHe context: tHe
DalHouSie univerSity
ScHool of Social Work
The Dalhousie University School of Social Work
(SSW) has an extended history of commitment to
social justice principles through social work educa-
tion. First, the Dalhousie SSW has long been a van-
guard for inclusion of marginalized populations
and communities, expressed through affirmative
action admissions policies, Indigenous-centred
research agendas, community engagement and
progressive scholarship. This commitment is borne
of recognition of the history of colonization and
racism white European settlers brought to Nova
Scotia beginning in the 1600s. For example, the
Mi'kmaq Nation, living since the earliest of days
on the land now known as Nova Scotia, have been
systematically subjugated by force, by law, and by
'the reach of imperialism into our heads' (Tuhiwai-
Smith, 1999, p.23). This domination has resulted
in the widespread obliteration of Mi'kmaq culture,
language, heritage, with devastating effects felt
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