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Catalysts, Emphases and Elements of Virtual Learning
Communities: Implications for Research and Practice
Richard A. Schwier, Ed.D.
Educational Communications and Technology
28 Campus Drive
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada S7N 0X1
Email: richard.schwier@usask.ca
Phone: (306) 966-7641
Fax: (306) 966-7658
Cite as: R. A. Schwier (2001). Catalysts, emphases and
elements of virtual learning communities: Implications for
research and practice.
The Quarterly Review of Distance
Education
, 2(1), 5-18.
Abstract
Educators emphatically, and sometimes justifiably, criticize educational
technology for concentrating too often on products and hardware, and too
seldom on learners. Emerging approaches to developing rich learning
environments use computer mediated communication, and a host of interactive
strategies to connect people in varied and robust ways, and writers such as
Kozma (2000) challenge educational technologists to think beyond the design of
instruction and consider the design of learning environments. But traditional
understandings of learning environments and interaction usually stop short of
the kind of engagement that will allow learning communities to form. This paper
examines theoretical and conceptual issues around promoting the growth of
virtual learning communities, and it considers issues around using
communication technologies in formal and informal learning environments.
Theoretical Context of Community
The metaphor of community has been used to describe a wide range of contexts,
from communities of practice in the corporate world (Brown & Isaacs, 1995;
Wenger, 1998) to virtual community networks (Brook & Boal, 1995; Horn, 1997;
Rheingold, 1993; Schuler, 1996). In the simplest sense, communities are
collections of individuals who are bound together for some reason, and these
reasons define the boundaries of the communities. When one considers the
fundamental notion of community, it is apparent that the language of
communities can be used to inform our understanding of virtual learning
communities and how they operate (Palloff & Pratt, 1999).
Communities are Resilient
Communities spring up everywhere. They are a natural extension of who we are
as social animals. They are organic, and they resist being confined by the
constraints that social engineers would place on them. As such, communities
cannot be created; rather, they emerge when conditions nurture them. When
boundaries are drawn around a community, the community seems to find a way
to redefine itself—to mutate. This is not to suggest that communities are
disorganized; on the contrary they can be highly organized. Moller (1998)
reminds us that the conditions for developing a community of learners may
include some of the systematic processes of instructional design such as analysis,
assessment, design and development. But creating a community is not simply a
matter of laying out a set of rules and providing a structure; it is an act of
supporting the natural development of relationships.
This is particularly important in virtual learning communities, where the idea of
community is used as a rallying point for discussion and interaction among
learners. Too often, courses are provide a structure for interaction such as
requiring students to post a set number of messages on each topic under
discussion. This type of protocol can serve to promote trivial discussion, and
consequently mitigate the natural flow of communication. There are
circumstances where rigid communication protocols may be necessary, but they
do not necessarily contribute to the development of a sense of community.
Communities are Hospitable
Hospitality is an important, moral dimension of communities that work well.
People in communities are bound together, and they maintain that cohesion by
practicing hospitality and courtesy to members. Is everyone in every community
hospitable? Of course not. But community members need to feel that they are in
a hospitable environment generally, or they will limit their participation in a
group setting. This is significant for virtual learning communities, where people
are invited to test ideas and expose their level of understanding to the group.
Uncertainty is prized, because it invites curiosity and intellectual growth. But
uncertain learners are also vulnerable, and a learning environment has to be
hospitable to support the kind of experimentation with ideas that results in
learning.
Communities have Life Cycles
Stages of life seem apply to almost everything, and communities are no
exception. It is reasonable to think of communities as having lives that
go through fairly predictable stages. An organic view of learning
communities considers ways in which the communities evolve.
Misanchuk, Anderson, Craner, Eddy and Smith (2000) suggest that
learning communities evolve from simple cohorts by employing
"increasing levels of student interaction and commitment" (p.1). In
learning communities, this interaction is characterized by different ways
of working together, and students move through discussion to
cooperation and collaboration as the learning community emerges.
The formative stage in the life of a virtual learning community is
characterized by the attraction of new members. The identity of the
community is malleable, and participants are typically somewhat
tentative as they try out communicating and making connections with
other community members. This stage of development requires a great
deal of leadership. The leader at this stage is trying to set the tone of the
community, attract and welcome new members to the community, and
lay out the purpose and guidelines for participation with the group as it
forms. At this point, the virtual learning community will be evolving from
what its creators first imagined into what it will ultimately become. The
purpose may change, expand or constrict, and it is the first place in
which the members will either successfully or unsuccessfully impose
their will on the makeup of the community. Users will test the
boundaries of the community and determine whether they will remain as
members. If required to be members, they will be deciding how
significant the community will be to them, or how they can shape it into
something they can use. In all, it is a time of testing, negotiating, and
shaping, and the match between the purpose of the community and the
importance of that purpose to members will determine the length of its
survival and the strength of its influence.
The mature stage of life in the virtual community is ultimately achieved
once the purpose, shape and operation of the community are settled. At
this point the leader doesn’t have to play as central a role in negotiating
the purpose and monitoring the activities of members. The purpose and
codes of conduct are known, and the members of the community exercise
their control over the community by doing much of the monitoring. A
common indicator that a virtual community has reached a stage of
maturity is when the members of the community tell a new member what
the boundaries of acceptable behavior are, and describe the purpose of
the community to the novitiate. In later stages of maturity, the
community is more institutionalized and entrenched. Codes of conduct
are more rigid, as are the boundaries around acceptable topics and
modes of expression. A mature community may start to take on the
trappings of terrestrial communities, and become much more formal in
its operation. This may be characterized by the introduction of some
form of governing body or fund raising activities, for example.
Ultimately most virtual communities will be challenged to change, to undertake
a metamorphosis and become a new entity with a focus that is different from the
original conception of what the virtual learning community would become. It is
likely that one feature of this stage will be resistance to change by some members
of the community—those who most closely identify with the virtual community
may fight for its preservation; the focus may turn to maintaining the
organization rather than extending its purpose or mission. One of the
possibilities at this stage of life is that the virtual learning community enters a
period of natural decline. Ultimately, the death of a virtual learning community,
or other similar organizations, may be good thing for everyone involved. It can
allow organizers and members to move on to something else. The death of a
virtual community is different from the death of a physical community. Despite
the sense of loss and failure that some people inevitably feel, when a virtual
learning community dies people are free to move without uprooting the rest of
their lives as they do when physical communities perish. This is not to suggest
that virtual communities are unimportant to individuals; they may in fact
become as important as geographic communities to some members. But is the
message for community architects “learn to adapt or prepare to die?” In most
cases, yes. There may be the rare virtual community that becomes so entrenched
that it will survive without significant change, but most virtual communities will
face periods of volatility. The important message is that we need to plan to
address the stages of life in learning communities when we create them.
Communities are Multifaceted
It is possible to categorize communities in a host of ways— social, political,
spiritual, intellectual, educational, cultural, or geographic. The focus of any
particular community may emphasize one of these dimensions, but in most
cases, any single community will encompass a combination of several
dimensions. It is not likely that a community will draw its boundaries around a
single focus to the exclusion of all others. For example, a spiritual community
may have an educational mission that is accomplished primarily through social
intervention. An intellectual community may focus primarily on ideas, but it
may also have a political agenda. So even when we talk about virtual learning
communities, it is important to realize that they exist as a subset within a
dynamic set of dimensions.
Given the right circumstances, any community can act as a learning community,
typically when it engages in the acquisition, transformation or creation of
knowledge. But most learning communities do not focus exclusively on learning.
For example, a human resources division of a company may try to develop sense
of community but may be most interested in knowledge management (Schwen,
Kalman, Hara, & Kisling, 1998). Similarly, a community of practice in a corporate
setting may devote much of its energy to identifying tacit knowledge and
making the tacit knowledge explicit for the good of the company (Wenger, 1998).
By contrast, online community networks may devote their resources to
connecting people in new ways, sharing information, and building interpersonal
relationships (Cohill, 1997), but attend to learning only peripherally.
Regardless of their focus, little is actually known about how people participating
in virtual environments are influenced by those environments. We might easily
suppose that people who are connected electronically are enriching their
interpersonal network of relationships, whereas some emerging research
suggests that electronic saturation may actually contribute to a sense of isolation
among participants (Kraut, Paterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukophadhyay, &
Scherlia, 1998). Social critics of technology voice concerns that the values and
strengths of communities are undermined by the very technology that promotes
new ways of interacting with others (Ehrenfeld, 1996; Selznik, 1996). With equal
force, critics of distance learning warn that technology-based courses often
emphasize transmission of information and isolate learners by placing
technological barriers between learners and real people (Farrow, 1999; Kessell,
1999).
What may be most restricting about electronic types of learning environments is
that they fail to promote a sense of community, that they remain interactive, yet
fall short of becoming communities of learners (Schwier, in press). When
technology is introduced to learning communities, there is a risk of promoting
interaction without the concomitant elements needed to turn a virtual learning
environment into a virtual learning community. This paper uses the language of
community as a window to understanding ways to construct electronic learning
environments that are consistent with emerging thought in education and
training.
At the same time, it should be acknowledged that many learning environments
do not require a community of learners—that it would be inappropriate to
impose this type of engagement in cases where the learner has no need or desire
to engage other learners. But there are cases where intimate engagement with
others is important for rich learning to happen, and in those cases, we can learn a
great deal from community development literature about how to satisfy the
learner's need for additional communication.
Categories for Examining Virtual Learning Communities
In order to frame the discussion of virtual learning communities, this paper
considers the elements of virtual learning communities, the different purposes
served by learning communities, and the events that act as catalysts to stimulate
the growth of virtual learning communities (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Aspects of virtual learning communities.
When the categories are elaborated, a number of useful topics emerge for
examining the structure of communities (see Figure 2). The remainder of this
paper will explore the categories in some detail.
Figure 2. Catalysts, emphases and elements of virtual learning communities.
Catalysts of Virtual Learning Communities
Communication is at the heart of any community, but especially virtual
communities. Communication acts as the most important catalyst in virtual
learning communities, where it spawns interaction, engagement and alignment
among members of the community (see Figure 2).
In terrestrial (physical) communities, communication is one of several necessary
ingredients. When communication ends in a terrestrial community, the
community slowly dissolves. By contrast, in virtual communities communication
is the actual brick and mortar of the community. When communication ends in a
virtual community, that community abruptly ends. Virtual communities are built
out of words and language; communication literally holds virtual communities
together.
The Perceived Ideal of Interpersonal Communication
The most identifiable form of participation in any community is interpersonal
communication, so when we impose an idealized notion of community on a
virtual learning environment, many of us compare the idea of virtual
communication with a perceived ideal of "face to face", or interpersonal
1
communication. We attempt to build computer mediated communication
systems that approximate "face to face" communication because we assume that
face to face communication must be superior to mediated communication in
some way. This assumption is worth examining.
First, a comparison of features reveals that many of the features of interpersonal
and virtual communication are shared (see Table 1). But this does not assume
that the quality of the experience is the same. One might argue that technology is
currently available that has the capability of approximating interpersonal
communication characteristics, or at least to overcome most of the deficiencies
associated with virtual communication. While this is no doubt true, such
technology is not ubiquitous, or even typical of the majority of virtual
communications systems used by learners.
Table 1. Comparison of characteristics of interpersonal communication and virtual
communication.
Interpersonal Communication
Virtual Communication
Immediacy
Synchronous
Synchronous or Asynchronous
Requisite
Skills
Interpersonal skills
Social skills
Interpersonal skills
Social skills
Technological skills
Media
Multi-sensory
Multidimensional
Limited sensory
Electronic
Uni-dimensional or multi-dimensional
2
Flexibility
Fluid
Variable
Technologically constrained
Protocols
Established
Culturally bound
Highly contextualized
Emerging
Contextualized
Cost
Essentially free
Relatively costly
Level of
Intimacy
Potentially high – typically not
anonymous
Variable – very intimate to anonymous
1
The use of interpersonal communication as a synonym for “face to face” communication is taking license
with conventional language used in communication theory. In communication theory, interpersonal
communication could include any communication between people that doesn’t pass through a gatekeeper
and that allows for immediate feedback. Interpersonal communication can embrace a number of types of
communication other than “face to face” but it is used here for convenience, and recognizing that “face to
face” communication is always interpersonal.
2
Unidimensional in typical cases, but more than one medium or sensory input may be used simultaneously
in some cases to create a multi-dimensional message.
Fostering communication in a virtual learning community is not merely a matter
of making virtual communication as good as face to face communication (see
Table 2). Interpersonal communication is not adequate for some things, despite
its reputation as an ideal form of communication. For example, in settings that
are highly charged emotionally, the barrier of a virtual medium can serve as a
protective screen for those trying to communicate. Consider court cases that
include the testimony of children. Often, such testimony is provided on
videotape rather than in person to protect the child. Similarly, a student might
want to challenge a teacher's judgment from the relatively safe position behind
the keyboard of a computer. In both of these examples, interpersonal
communication is perceived as threatening, and virtual communication provides
a more comfortable context.
Table 2. Summary of positive and negative features of interpersonal and virtual communication
Interpersonal Communication
Virtual Communication
Positive
Features
Ready access to non-verbal elements
of communication (body language,
gestures, facial expressions)
Misconceptions can be corrected
fluidly and quickly
No barrier between communicators –
no gatekeeper
Synchronicity – communication
happens in real time and is
effervescent
Availability, accessibility of the
receiver
Medium acts as buffer between
communicators
Increased access for synchronous and
asynchronous communication
Time to reflect privately and to
compose thoughts
Those with sensory disabilities have
additional mode for communicating
Synchronous and asynchronous
communication possible
Negative
Features
Dependent upon interpersonal
communication skills
Reflection is done publicly
Body language and expressions may
be misinterpreted
No buffer or gatekeeper between
communicators
Individuals with sensory disabilities
may be excluded from
communication
Limited opportunity for
asynchronous communication
Requires literacy skills, technological
skills
Quality of communication is medium-
dependent.
Socioeconomic factors:
communication among the privileged
or wealthy?
Difficult to avoid communication
Barrier between communicators
Synchronous communication more
expensive/technology dependent
than asynchronous communication
On the other hand, I can’t imagine preferring mediated communication for
counseling a student in crisis. Yes, telephones or even computer conferencing
might be the best available option at a particular time, and indeed might be equal
to the task. But my preference would be for face-to-face communication, so that I
could take advantage of the spontaneity and nuances best achieved in a more
intimate setting.
Similar pros and cons existed for earlier communication technologies in precisely
the same way as they do for computer technologies. Telephones made it possible
for people to communicate over vast distances very easily, but telephony
requires one to enter into a contract with a telephone company, pay charges for
calls, learn how to use the machinery, and most importantly, learn how to
overcome its limitations and communicate effectively with someone else. Lest
this seems like a trivial comparison because of its familiarity, the point is easily
made if one convenes a telephone conference call with several people who have
never used teleconferencing technology. It is challenging to use technology to
convene a conference, but dealing with the people at the other end of the phone
is even more challenging. Participants have to learn new conventions for setting
agendas, being courteous, taking turns, and for making points forcefully but not
intrusively. Teleconferencing technology offers opportunities and liberation from
the tyranny of travel, and at the same time, it imposes significant barriers.
Perhaps it is a matter of understanding and acknowledging that mediated
communication as an entity is useful, but fundamentally different from face to
face communication. However useful it might be to try to mimic interpersonal
communication with virtual communication for some things, we should question
whether it is useful to think of universal ideals for any type of communication.
Interaction, Engagement and Alignment
Three central notions orbit the concept of communication in a virtual learning
community: interaction, engagement, and alignment (after Wenger, 1998). These
are the products of communication when it acts as a catalyst for community.
The notion of interaction (interplay or activity) is central to the idea of
community. Full membership in a community requires social participation; and
a community cannot exist in an inert state. Certainly individuals may identify
themselves as members of communities in which they do not actively participate.
For example, a fourth generation Canadian may identify herself as Scottish, and
in fact feel a very strong allegiance to that identity. But is she a member of the
Scottish community? This paper argues that she is not; she may identify closely
with the Scottish community but cannot claim membership in it unless she
participates in that community meaningfully. A similar issue arises with virtual
learning communities. People who choose to remain as spectators (a.k.a. lurkers,
voyeurs) may identify closely with the virtual learning community they observe,
but they cannot claim membership in it until they participate in it in some
manner.
Interaction in a community usually results in engagement of ideas, people and
processes. An individual must go beyond interaction to achieve engagement in a
virtual learning community. It is important to recognize that in a virtual learning
community engagement may vary among members, but at some level,
participants must engage the community to be considered members. An
individual can operate on the periphery of a virtual learning community and still
be a part of the group, and can even learn a great deal by engaging the ideas and
observing the interactions of other members. Knowledge in a learning
community is not necessarily concentrated at its core. People operating on the
margins of a virtual learning community comprise a great deal of what can be
considered the knowledge of the community. But to become a contributing
member of a community, engagement has to happen, and ultimately it is
important for the tacit knowledge held by community members on the periphery
of the community to be made explicit. If this does not happen, then it mitigates
the effectiveness of the community and erodes its structure.
When individuals engage a virtual community, some measure of alignment
occurs. Individuals align personal, private purposes with the collective, public
purposes of the community. In this way, alignment coordinates personal and
communal intentions. But personal and community alignment is a dynamic
process. An individual's personal intentions alter the community, and the
community massages the personal intentions of individuals. So the term
alignment describes the constant negotiation and repositioning of the individual
with the community as the two work to shape each other.
Emphases of Virtual Learning Communities
Virtual learning communities are learning communities based on shared purpose
rather than geography. Through technology, learners can be drawn together
from almost anywhere, and they can construct their own formal or informal
groups. People in virtual learning communities are separated by space, but not
necessarily time, as communication can be facilitated by technology in real time,
thereby partially overcoming physical barriers. Extending the work of Bellah
(1985) and Kowch and Schwier (1997), it is possible to classify at least five
emphases of virtual learning communities: communities of relationship
communities of place, communities of intent, communities of reflection, and
communities of ceremony (see Figure 2).
Virtual Learning Communities of Relationship
A community built on relationships emphasizes connections among people that
might be based on a shared concern, issue or learning problem. In every case,
the emphasis is on the relationships built among participants (Kowch and
Schwier, 1997). Issues of commitment, trust and values are inherent in any
relationships that emerge in the community. Learning in a community of
relationship places an emphasis on social aspects, sometimes at the expense of
content or substance; process is often valued over product or achievement. There
are a number of examples of communities of relationship, and arguably, these
most closely embrace the kinds of interactions one finds in terrestrial
communities. Some examples of this type of community are virtual support
groups such as Alanon or AAA, “big sister or brother” sites, and virtual home
study chat rooms.
Virtual Learning Communities of Place
Individuals in this type of community enjoy a common habitat or locale. This
sharing of place with others can offer a sense of security, commonality, and
heritage. There are a number of examples of place-based virtual communities,
among them the Blacksburg Electronic Village, one of the better-known
community network initiatives in the United States (http://www.bev.net/). The
Blacksburg Electronic Village was built to enhance the physical community of
Blacksburg, Virginia and it offers a wide range of electronic communication
services and information to residents.
The place need not be terrestrial, however, and in virtual communities, places are
by definition not physical. People from several countries can gather in one
virtual place on the Internet, for example, as easily as people can gather for a
meeting in a school building. Nevertheless, the location can be as real as the
imagination and technology allow. The Internet houses thousands of virtual
store fronts, for example, each of which exists metaphorically as a place.
Virtual Learning Communities of Ideas
Communities of ideas reinforce people's commitment to common interests and
shared values. This could be as modest as an interest in comic books, or as
intricate as a shared interest in gender politics. The two most distinguishable
features of a community of ideas are sharing and common interests, and they are
most often characterized as purposeful or focused, and they often adopt an
achievement or product orientation. An established place to visit on the web to
see virtual communities of ideas is “the Well,” which is also one of the longest
operating and successful such sites on the Web (www.well.com). It is actually a
collection of communities, based on the interests of the participants.
Virtual Learning Communities of Reflection
A virtual learning community of reflection is based on a shared past or a
common sense of history. Its purpose is to collectively examine events that had
common significance for the community members, ponder the past, raise
questions, discuss values and examine the event. For example, groups of war
veterans have created virtual communities to share thoughts, ideas and
memories. This community connects people who might otherwise feel isolated,
and also provides a focal point for interpreting and understanding commonly
experienced events. Generally speaking, a virtual learning community of
reflection is very process-oriented, and deliberately focused on making sense of
shared events. One such website is the Vietnam Veterans Home Page, which has
as its stated goal:
To provide an interactive, on-line forum for
Vietnam Veterans and their families and friends
to exchange information, stories, poems, songs,
art, pictures, and experiences in any publishable
form. (http://grunt.space.swri.edu/)
Virtual Learning Communities of Ceremony
A virtual learning community of ceremony is based on ritual and celebration.
Often, the celebration is based on an event or the ritual practice of a group and
has an element of tradition associated with it, such as religion, sports, or
university affiliation. Members identify strongly with the group or the event. For
example, the communities page available through Excite
(http://www.excite.com/communities/) offers a wide range of communities
based on various world religions. Some examples include communities named
Angelic Interest, New Age Spirituality, New Age Philosophy, Muslim, Today’s
Islam, Christian Singles Forum, Tibetan Buddhism, Chevrah, and Harkham
Hillel Friends. The same page offers sports communities, such as the St. Croix
Soccer Club and Miami University Sports. For a subscription fee, Irish Online is
available to all alumni of the University of Notre Dame, and it includes an email
address for members, access to an online directory of alumni, and email lists and
discussion groups. These communities are ceremonial, in that their purposes are
linked to larger entities that have an element of ritual or high degree of personal
identification associated with them.
These five types of communities are not mutually exclusive. Often, any particular
virtual learning community will exhibit features of several of these types. The
types overlap and may shift in importance within a single virtual community
based on the interests of community members. For example, creators of the
Buddhism community website may have chosen to emphasize ceremony in the
community, but it will also have elements of intent, relationship and reflection.
Various members of the Buddhism community will determine which categories
will be prominent, and the emphasis will be different for each member.
Ten Elements of Community
Once the purpose of a group is identified, what turns the group into a
community rather than merely a collection of people with a common purpose?
Several features should be present to give the label of community to a virtual
gathering place of people. Selznick (1996) in a discussion of terrestrial
communities identified seven: historicity, identity, mutuality, plurality,
autonomy, participation, and integration. At least three elements need to be
added to this list in the case of virtual learning communities: an orientation to the
future (after Wenger, 1998), technology, and learning (see Figure 2). These ten
elements underscore the idea that communities are complex. Any adequate
understanding of virtual learning communities needs to recognize that these
variables interact multi-dimensionally.
Historicity. Communities are stronger when they share history and culture.
Conversely, they are weak when they are based on general interests and abstract
ideas. The quality of participation depends on individual and shared
commitment or relevance of the substance of the community. Commitment
depends on shared values in the community. At minimum, the strength of the
commitment need only be sufficient to maintain participation in the group, but
stronger commitment generally leads to the development of stronger
communities.
Identity. Communities foster a sense of shared identity. Successful virtual
learning communities need to have boundaries—an identity or recognized focus.
Mutuality. Communities spring from, and are maintained by interdependence
and reciprocity. While virtual communities are built around central themes, ideas
or purposes, the organizing principles are not externally imposed. Participants
construct purposes, intentions and the protocol for interaction.
Plurality. Communities draw much of their vitality from "intermediate
associations" such as families, churches, and other peripheral groups.
Autonomy. Within the emphasis on group identity, it is important that
communities respect and protect individual identity. Individuals interact with
each other and have the capacity to conduct discourse freely and meaningfully,
or withdraw from discourse without penalty. Interaction must be based on
influence among participants rather than power relationships.
Participation. Social participation in the community, especially participation that
promotes self-determination supports autonomy and sustains the community.
Participants can select the level of intimacy appropriate for any relationship with
another participant or with the group. Anonymity is possible, but as the sense of
community develops, it is unlikely that a participant would choose to remain
anonymous.
Integration. All of the above elements depend on supportive norms, beliefs and
practices.
Future. Learning communities are not static; they create movement in a
direction. Learning communities "open trajectories of participation that place
engagement in its practice in the context of a valued future' (Wenger, 1998,
p.215).
Technology. In virtual learning communities, technology facilitates and
development of community, but also inhibits its growth. It brings together
individuals who might otherwise not engage one another. It acts as the conduit
for discourse among participants, and it is the medium of engagement that binds
the community together. At the same time, technology can be a barrier to
communication and can exclude some people from the community who cannot
afford or use communications technology.
Learning. Learning is a central element of virtual learning communities,
although the nature of the learning can be broadly defined and contextual. For
the purpose of defining elements of community, it isn’t really important whether
learning is focussed, lasting,, substantial, educationally sound, associated with
any particular curricula, or entirely serendipitous. The point is that people in a
virtual learning community want to learn, and the purposes to which that
learning may be put are irrelevant to the legitimacy of the community. That is
not to say that learning in a virtual learning community is not purposeful; it
should be, but the purposes can be defined by users and the purposes may not fit
traditional ideas of what constitutes acceptable learning.
This list of elements begs the question of whether all of them are necessary for a
community to exist, particularly a virtual learning community. Is it necessary,
for example, for a virtual learning community to exhibit plurality? Depending
on their focus and membership, it might be argued that some virtual learning
communities can flourish in isolation. In fact, one measure of community
strength might be the degree to which members create a cloister, a safe haven
separated from the plurality of associations we expect to find in terrestrial
communities. At least, the peripheral associations of community members might
have little relevance to the success or strength of the virtual learning community
in these instances. At the same time, these elements inform our understanding of
how communities work, and depending on the nature and intent of a particular
virtual learning community, they may apply. The interaction and importance of
various elements may be different for different virtual learning communities, but
they are still useful for helping us understand how communities can be grown
and maintained.
It is probably apparent that these ten elements are not realized by chance.
Communities do not just happen; but neither are they created. What we are
attempting to do as educators is promote the development of virtual learning
communities by nurturing the conditions under which they can arise. We can
wheedle, cajole, beg whine and nag learners to become involved, but ultimately
it is the learners who will determine whether a virtual learning community
springs from the ooze. Still, there is much that can be done to support these
elements. An important principle to growing a virtual learning community is to
be deliberate, to think about and do things purposefully to foster community
growth. A sampling of ideas is presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Representative implications of elements for virtual learning communities (from Schwier,
in press)..
Element
Implications for Virtual Learning Communities
Historicity
Incorporate what members have done in the past, and make their stories
part of the community culture. Explicit mention of the culture, value and
context of the virtual community. Make public the history of the
community.
Identity
Use team-building exercises, develop community logos, and publicly
acknowledge accomplishments by the group and individual members
within the community. Articulate the focus or purpose of the community,
and outline the requirements and rituals accompanying membership in
the community.
Mutuality
Include group exercises, assignments, activities that require each member
to contribute to the final product. Ask leading questions that encourage
members of the community to invest in concerns held by other members,
and to share ideas and possible solutions.
Plurality
Encourage membership and participation from and association with
groups related to the learning focus. These might include businesses,
professional associations, or groups in other countries exploring similar
issues.
Autonomy
Foster individual expression and comment explicitly on its value. Set up
protocol for respectful communication and reach consensus in the group.
Create strategies for settling disputes or inappropriate behavior.
Participation
Allow members of the group to shape learning agendas. Give guidance to
new community members, and promote opportunities for established
members to go outside the boundaries of the learning event or focus.
Encourage lurkers and voyeurs.
Integration
Articulate a set of belief statements, and identify group norms as they
emerge and evolve. Adopt and firmly adhere to a learner-centered
philosophy, and employ pedagogy that celebrates individuals while
building a group identity.
Future
Identify direction of learning. Ask participants to describe ways they will
use what they have learned in the community in the future. Conduct
"visioning" exercises to determine new initiatives to be undertaken by the
community.
Technology
Employ technology that allows meaningful communication, and which is
easy for participants to use. Promote communication approaches that are
compatible with older, less costly equipment where communities intend
to be inclusive.
Learning
A community moderator should remind participants of learning
intentions, and intervene when interaction drifts too far away from the
learning focus. Encourage individuals on the periphery of the
community to contribute their tacit knowledge to the explicit knowledge
of the community.
Research Issues Raised by Virtual Learning Communities
If educators choose to support the development of virtual learning communities,
a number of issues emerge. Some issues are financial and logistic—how does one
assemble the technological and personal systems necessary to construct and
maintain a communication system? But the more important questions center on
the design, implementation, pedagogy and effects of virtual learning
communities, the socio-educational aspects of learning through this means of
communication. A few of the issues that invite investigation are listed below,
although many more seem to arise every day.
• How do people select virtual learning communities and how do they make
use of them for learning?
• How do voluntary members of virtual learning communities differ from
those who are assigned to learning communities in formal educational
contexts?
• What are the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful virtual learning
communities?
• How do virtual communities recruit and maintain members?
• Are there rules of engagement or particular protocols for insinuating an
individual into the fabric of a virtual learning community, and is the process
contextually or culturally bound? Does the process mirror interpersonal
group learning contexts?
• How does a new member of a community join discussions of established
community members and develop a persona or reputation? Are there power
relationships in virtual learning communities, and how do they interact with
learning variables?
• In virtual learning communities that permit members to remain anonymous,
how does the anonymity of participants influence the tenor of interactions
and the satisfaction of the participants?
• Do elements of community exhibit themselves in virtual learning
communities, and do they inform our understanding of how these
communities contribute to learning environments?
• What is the nature of learning in virtual contexts, and how do architects,
active members and lurkers describe their experiences?
• What value do administrators, educators and learners place on virtual
learning communities? How do political, social, educational and personal
agendas interact in the development maintenance and alteration of virtual
learning communities.
• Do virtual learning communities exhibit lifecycles, and what significance
does this have for their design?
• What are the pedagogical issues involved in virtual learning communities?
How can we use them for teaching?
This paper does not pretend that using technology to support the development
of virtual learning communities will address the many challenges faced by
schools and other institutionalized learning communities. In fact, it is quite
possible that virtual learning communities will remain largely irrelevant to
formal, institution-based education. Many people are already technologically
literate, and many already participate in informal virtual learning communities.
Nevertheless, this paper proposes a way of using technology that is consistent
with constructivist changes underway in education, and suggests that virtual
learning communities can contribute to the way we respond to those changes.
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