3 Building Online Communities with Your Students

 

Why Does it Matter?

By establishing a supportive online community early in your course, you will encourage higher levels of participation and make the learning experience more satisfying for students.

What Does it Look Like in Practice?

In this section:

• How do you define ‘online community?’
• What forms the foundation of an online community?
• How can I encourage discussion?
• How can I avoid conflict?
• What part should I play in the online community?

How do you define ‘online community’?

Online community has been defined in the literature in many ways, but these definitions often include several common elements or themes, including the ability to build mutual trust, a connection of the spirit, a sense of belonging, a sense of membership, a sense of support, and an ability to share in the educational journey together (Pallov and Pratt, 2007).

What forms the foundation of an online community?

In the online environment, collaboratively negotiated rules or behaviours are critical because they form the foundation on which a community is built. In a face-to-face group, assumptions are made but not necessarily discussed about rules or behaviour. For example, you will wait for acknowledgement before talking, or only one person will talk at a time. In an online community, you can make no assumptions about norms because many online tools do not allow you to see each other. It is important to leave nothing to chance and set out guidelines for interacting online.

During your first week of teaching, create an agreement or set of guidelines about how the class will interact/participate with each other and what their learning goals are. Include the students in this process, it will help them to realise that they are not alone and have support, not just from you, but from each other.

Having a set of rules or behaviours also gives students a sense of safety and structure. If you are responsible for a particular class forum or virtual classroom, you should set out the rules or etiquette along with participation expectations and response times. Make sure your students know it is alright to have a difference of opinion, but they also need to respect the thoughts and opinions of others. Disparaging comments will not be tolerated.  More importantly, specify how students should resolve conflicts that arise and how violations will be handled. What are the repercussions for their offensive behaviour? What support resources are there for students? For example, if a student posts something that is derogative then the repercussion could be as simple as deleting the post. If you are a tutor, make sure you discuss your rules or behaviours you and your students have agreed upon with your course coordinator. There may already be some ‘netiquettes’ in place for the course that you can use to get started. If not, you can create your own; you may also want to involve your students in their co-creation. Make sure that the rules don’t discourage rigorous debate or student-to-student learning and engagement.

How can I encourage student participation?

Whether you are using synchronous or asynchronous forms of communication in your teaching, there are ways to encourage student interaction and debate. You may have been given lesson plans or specific topics to teach and feel that you have no control over your time or interactions with students.

You do.

By no means are we suggesting inciting rebellion against your Course Coordinator, but there are ways you can ‘enhance’ your online teaching. You can still adhere to the lesson plan or topic but instead of simply going through a PowerPoint or asking a question that only has one answer, try to be more flexible by providing anecdotal experiences on the current topic and asking open-ended questions. This will require the students to also draw from their personal knowledge and experiences which in turn can elicit a variety of different responses and points of view. Encourage debate, and if the students get off topic, then it is up to you to guide them back on track. Educators who want to succeed online should promote a sense of autonomy, initiative, and creativity while encouraging questioning, critical thinking, dialogue, and collaboration (Brookfield,1995).

Provide students with activities to get to know each other. An icebreaker is a simple way of encouraging student-to-student interaction and can strengthen bonds between students and reduce tension. When done right, ice breakers can quickly build a sense of community, set the tone for the upcoming class, and give students ownership of the learning ahead. You can use an icebreaker to introduce the topic of the week or simply energize the group to have everyone focused and ready to go. You can use an icebreaker for both synchronous and asynchronous activities (forums, blogs, virtual classrooms). Simply tailor the icebreaker to your teaching medium.

Another idea to promote student interaction is to provide an online cafe or virtual space where students can engage with each other without teacher oversight. The cafe should be more of an informal space where they can ‘chat’ and catch up with each other, share experiences or assist each other with their study.

Group activities are another way of encouraging student participation and sharing. Student relationships will grow during group work/activities as students share personal stories and ideas. Putting students into groups or in break-out rooms can also help them become more comfortable with the online culture and exchanging information in the online medium. Remember, student-to-student learning is also a big part of the learning experience.

How can I avoid conflict?

Don’t be afraid of conflict! As recent history has shown (Trolling and Twitter rants), one of the concerns about online conflict is that people feel less socially constrained than when they are face-to-face. But conflict is necessary in order to achieve group cohesiveness and intimacy, yet most people fear and avoid it. In an online learning community, conflict can contribute not only to group cohesion but to the quality of the learning outcomes. Conflicting points of view can make students think about the other side of an argument, theory or viewpoint and foster greater understanding. Therefore, you need to feel comfortable with conflict. If you provide your students with the tools/rules of dealing with conflict and assist with the facilitation of its resolution, then it becomes a part of your community and something that is embraced, not feared (Pallov & Pratt 2007).

What part should I play in the online community?

Be an active participant! While building an online learning community may seem like you are trying to connect your students with each other, it is also about you connecting with your students and being an active member of the community.

Olcott & Wright (1995) assert that the responsibility for instructional quality and aggregate effectiveness of distance education rests with the instructor. Paloff & Pratt (1999) add that the instructor in an online class is responsible for facilitating the personal and social aspects of an online community for students to have a successful learning experience. Trying to do both of those things as well as teach can be daunting, especially with online teaching being thought of as less personal than face-to-face teaching. However, as the educator, you need to actively participate to be ‘seen’ by your students or run the risk of being perceived as invisible or absent (Mandemach et al., 2006, Picciano, 2002).

As the educator, you are the touchstone of your course and need to not only ‘teach’ students but be available for them. Establish the tone of the community through class communication such as discussion board replies, virtual classrooms and feedback. Provide students with an image or video of yourself and use anecdotes about your work, the topic, or even your past weekend when interacting. When students are comfortable with you, they are more comfortable learning, participating, and sharing in the learning environment. As LaRose and Whitten (2000) found, there is a statistically significant relationship between students’ sense of community and the positive achievement of learning outcomes in an online setting.

Having said that, just because we have instant communication doesn’t mean you have to be online every second of the day. As part of your rules or communication strategy, make sure students know that you are not going to be available 24/7. Provide them with hours of online teaching, online consultation or let them know you will reply to a post within a certain time frame. Having those rules or guidelines will also enable you to stick to them and protect your non-teaching time.

Knowledge Check – What did you learn?

Answer the following questions to check your understanding of the content within this chapter.

What does it mean for me?

So, who are you? An introduction with a purpose

Here is an application activity for your context. Everyone normally introduces themselves to their students at the beginning of each study period and that is what we want you to do in this activity.

In your online communication tool, introduce yourselves to your students using two truths about yourself and one lie. Encourage students to do the same in their introductory post. Depending on the communication tool you are using, there may be other mediums besides text that you can use. You could record a video or audio or add an image to your post.

Make the time to, read/view and comment on your students’ posts and encourage your students to do the same.

This is a fun icebreaker activity that encourages communication and gives you a glimpse into the personalities of your students. Consider:

• How did they introduce themselves?
• Was it formal or informal?
• Did they add personal information or keep their post strictly professional?
• Did they use a different medium to you?
• Did their post encourage a reply or engagement?

These are things for you to think about when creating your introductory post for your course and start building your course’s online community.

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References

Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. Jossey-Bass.

LaRose, R., & Whitten, P. (2000). Re‐thinking instructional immediacy for web courses: A social cognitive exploration. Communication Education, 49(4), 320–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520009379221

Mandermach, B.J., Gonzales, R.M., & Garrett, A.L. (2006). An examination of online instructor presence via threaded discussion participation. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 2(4), pp. 248-260.

Nipper, S. (1989), Third generation distance learning and computer conferencing. In R. Mason & A. Kaye (Eds.), Mindweave: Communication, computers and distance education, Permagon, pp. 63– 73

Olcott, D., & Wright, S.J. (1995). An institutional support framework for increasing instructor participation in postsecondary distance education, The American Journal of Distance Education, 9(3), pp. 5-17

Paloff, R.M., & Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace. Jossey-Bass

Palloff, R M., and Pratt, K. (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom, John Wiley & Sons Incorporated