Categories: Communication Design, Technology
Subject and Citations:
Sometimes the abstract nails the paper perfectly:
"This paper describes survey research of fourteen online courses where instructors and students were asked their perceptions about the challenges and essential elements of community in online classes. Results show that both instructors and students believe
building community is very important. The majority of both students and instructors
perceived it to be harder to build community online than in traditional classes. Additionally, while the majority of students and instructors both identified the same
elements for building online community, there were significant ranking differences. Most
striking among the differences was that students ranked instructor modeling as the most
important element in building online community, while instructors ranked it fourth.
Implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations provided for how
instructors can model community behaviors in their online classes" (Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, p. 234).
The authors defined sense of community as having the following:
"1) A sense of shared purpose
"2) Establishment of boundaries defining who is a member and who is not
"3) Establishment and enforcement of rules/policies regarding community behavior
"4) Interaction among members, and
"5) A level of trust, respect and support among community members" (Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, p. 235).
The study supported/added these ideas from the students and instructors:
"[1.] a sense of shared purpose, purposeful [2.] communication involving encouragement and support, [3.] collaborating to learn course material, [4.] working for an extended period of time on a common goal, and [5.] a comfortable exchange of ideas in an organized fashion"(Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, p. 239).
Like many other studies, instructor presence was found to be a massive indicator of positive student experiences online. They also found value in student immediacy. "LaRose & Whitten, (2000) recommend that instructors incorporate “immediacy features” (p. 32) into the design of online classes to build community. They identify three possible sources of immediacy in the virtual classrooms that may generate a sense of belonging and closeness among class participants: the interactions between teacher and students (teacher immediacy); interactions between students (student immediacy) and interactions with the commuter system that delivers the course (computer immediacy). Collectively, these sources constitute instructional immediacy. Incorporating these features into the online classroom serve as incentives for class members to both feel and act as members of a community. Fostering student immediacy is important in building online community because peer groups are valued associations. Student immediacy describes behaviors that create a feeling of closeness between learners (LaRose & Whitten, 2000). Caverly & MacDonald (2002) found that students need to make connections by finding similarities in background, motivation and commitment to have a sense of community. Course design should support community building through faculty presence and student immediacy. Examples include well-designed icebreaker activities, group assignments, and ongoing topical discussions that involve both faculty and the students" (Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, pp. 243-244).
