Sense of Community in Online Learning

This week we had the opportunity to participate in a synchronous webinar as part of our class. This is now my sixth distance learning course as part of my graduate program, but the first the first that includes any synchronous sessions with the course instructor. This has meant that with the exception of the relationships I formed with my peers for group work, I have not felt that the discussions alone have been enough to establish a sense of community with my peers in my class, nor in my program. This has led me to think about how synchronous learning can help foster a sense of community as part of an online course.

I feel that online course instructors may tend to shy away from including synchronous components, perhaps out of fear that participation will be low, that students would find it to be an inconvenience since they chose online learning for a reason. But the flexibility in scheduling is not the only reason why people choose to study online, and so long as it is planned in advance and not a frequent occurrence, the outcome can be very positive, as we

experienced this week. Not only was impressed by the attendance in the session to begin with, but the real-time chat, asking questions and sharing experiences truly added to the learning experience. Because this took place early in the course, I now feel like I "know" my peers, albeit virtually, better and feel more open to informal discussions with them, and creates more of a traditional-classroom feel.

This got me to think further about what else we can do to help build a sense of community in a virtual classroom. In one of my previous courses, we explored the use of virtual reality (VR) in distance learning and how this can be used to bring students together, as an alternative medium to meeting via Skype or Hangouts. We used a platform called Rumii, a virtual reality conferencing software that let us pick avatars and have our meetings in a range of virtual meeting rooms without the need for specialty VR equipment. This led us to discuss the possible uses for VR to create a sense of community for distance learners with a virtual student centre. Students could come together for student orientation, to participate in virtual games and icebreaker activities, to ask questions and share knowledge about prior and current courses, and so much more.

So where does synchronous learning fit into this? Perhaps synchronous learning can be used as an additional tool for not only improving the learning experience, but also in building relationships among the students. In the same way that office hours are hosted online each week to connect with a course instructor, perhaps the synchronous component of a course could be there for for students to connect with each other to learn from each other and share knowledge. In our brief webinar, I was introduced to two new learning technologies that would be helpful in my work that I would not have otherwise known about. For me, these experiences are equally valuable in my learning journey as the formal, literature-based learning.

The benefits of a sense of community with respect to online learning are not unknown. Many studies have shown that social presence is an important element of satisfaction with online learning. Small group discussions, social communication, collaborative group projects, face-to-face meetings, sharing of personal experiences, sharing of educational resources and peer teaching are among the most common recommendations for encouraging social interaction as part of the distance learning experience (Maxwell & Shackleford, 2012).

Our one synchronous learning session not only gave us face time, but is also encouraged social communication, and facilitated small group discussions and peer teaching through knowledge sharing all within a one-hour time frame. The value of these interactions is well supported by research, making a few synchronous sessions per course very valuable for distance learners. This value should not be overlooked as course designers are converting classroom courses into online ones to ensure a well-balanced learning opportunity

Source:

Maxwell, M. & Shackelford, J. (2012). Sense of Community in Online Graduate Education: Contribution of Learner to Learner Interaction. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13 (4), pp. 228-249.