Research shows that online students perform just as well as their counterpart face-to-face students and at times even better. Key to this phenomenon is in the pedagogical strategies used in course design – the medium used is rarely the determining factor in learning effectiveness and building and nurturing a strong sense of community.
The key question then: How do learners and faculty in a virtual classroom build and sustain a sense of community and maximize learning effectiveness?
There are six factors that contribute positively to a strong sense of community. They are: 1) transactional distance, 2) social presence, 3) social equality, 4) small group activities, 5) group facilitation, and 6) teaching style and learning stages. A study conducted by Alfred P. Royal from the School of Education at Regent University titled “Building Sense of Community at a Distance” (http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/79/152) breaks down each of these factors as follows:
Factor 1
Transactional Distance (TD)
Key points on transactional distance (TD):
- TD is defined as the psychological and communications space between learners and instructors. This is relative and different for each learner.
- TD occurs when there is a balance between structure and dialogue.
- Too much structure in a course tends to increase physiological distance and decreases sense of community.
- Dialogue is the amount of control exercised by the learners – more dialogue tends to decrease physiological distance and increase the sense of community.
- Strategies to encourage continuous dialogue are:
- Let learners know participation is a course requirement and will be graded.
- Grades will be allocated on quantity, quality and timeliness of the contributions.
Factor 2
Social Presence
Key points on social presence:
- Some believe that once a course is designed the job is done and the community of learners will take care of itself and thrive and learning will occur. This is far from the truth. What will most likely happen is the sense of community will wither away and learning will suffer unless the community is supported and nurtured by social presence. Planning for social presence is key for the success of the course.
- Techniques for achieving social presence are outlined in the section “Nine Best Practices in Online Learning”.
- Planning for social presence is key for the success of the course.
Techniques for achieving social presence:
- Techniques for achieving social presence are outlined in the section “Nine Best Practices in Online Learning”.
Factor 3
Social Equality
Key points on social equality:
- Social equality influences community growth.
- Two different communication patterns in text communication could potentially be a threat to social equality. They are 1) the separate voice or independent path and 2) the connected voice or interdependent path.
- The connected voice places emphasis on relationships and the preferred learning method is one of cooperation rather than competition.
- The separate voice is a threat to community and occurs when one or more students use an authoritative tone in online discussions,
- Techniques for creating equal opportunity for all learners, reducing animosity and making connections can be achieved by:
- Have an introduction session during the first week of classes.
- Interject alternative points of view when some learners dominate a discussion.
- Actively solicit views from other students who lack in participation.
- Have an offline conversation with aggressive students.
Factor 4
Small Group Activities
Key points on small group activities:
- Although too much structure weakens community some structure is required.
- Breaking up large number of students into smaller groups (typically under 10 per group), providing specific tasks and setting timelines supports the concept of situated learning.
- Small group work allows learners to become meaningfully engaged in a variety of learning activities such as student or instructor led discussion groups, debates, projects and collaborative activities promoting a sense of community by helping learners make connections with each other.
Factor 5
Group Facilitation
Key points on group facilitation:
- Group facilitation consists of two kinds of functions 1) functions relating to group tasks, and 2) functions related to building and maintain the group. Online instructors must be mindful of them and diligent in seeing that these functions are performed adequately particularly since the potential for miscommunication is possible in the absence of visual cues in an online learning environment.
- Things to do to achieve an optimal learning environment in a group setting.
- Instructor should manifest a measure of humility allowing attention to the voice of the learners as knowledge is constructed.
- Instructor should be skilled in being and needs to know when to be an encourager, harmonizer, compromiser, gatekeeper, standard setter, observer or follower.
Factor 6
Teaching Style and Learning Stage
Key points on teaching style and learning stage:
- A sense of community is supported when teaching style and learning stage are aligned.
- Learners come to class at various different stages of learning – some like the learning environment structured while others like to be self-directed (more dialogue) and many are somewhere in between. A goal for online learners to become full-fledged self-directed learners.
- Mismatches between these types of learners who are at different stages may occur. Both the sense of community and learning will suffer if there is a weak alignment of teaching style to learning stage.
- Instructors need to adapt a teaching style to the learning stage of the learner. An authoritarian instructor may not bode well with a self-directed learner. For this reason instructors need to be cognizant of who their learners are. What is good teaching for one student may not be good for another.
Things to do to achieve “Good Teaching”.
- The instructors must match their teaching style to the student’s stage of self-direction.
- Empower the student to progress towards a goal of greater self-direction.
Self-Reflection Activity
Review the design of your course activities and find areas for improvement. Think about strategies that you would want to adapt within the existing course framework to contribute on factors maximizing effective online learning.
- Be connected via learning tools available in the course (e.g., group discussion forum, blogs) or outside-of-the-course social media (e.g., Facebook, Skype, Google+)