Fostering a Sense of Community in Online Classes

Below are some ideas for using technology to foster a sense of community in online or hybrid courses.

Community happens: students are natural born community builders and faculty usually have to work to stop community from forming. Due to the university system they work in, faculty often structure courses in ways to dampen these normal tendencies. Social networking sites (Facebook and Myspace) and chat rooms tap into these tendencies.

1. Note those practices that dampen community building

We design class lectures, testing, grading in ways to encourage individual effort or even discourage group effort. Learning is something individuals do and are rewarded for. For the most part our discussions of plagiarism and cheating, necessary as they are, can make group work and collaboration a challenge to facilitate. Group activities are often difficult to create and evaluate.

2. Start doing things that figure into natural efforts to build community.

• Make community building part of course objectives and not just a methodology or environmental condition.

• How can technology help? The internet is all about social networking, collaboration, and communication.

• Distinguish the role the web can play in building a sense of place (the public square, community center, group portal) and in providing the activities and tools for fostering a sense community.

• Keeping in mind the McMillan and Chavis emphasis on Motivation, Influence, Needs and Emotional connection when creating a psychological sense of community (PSOC), remember that it is not just a question of what applications or online activities you choose, but how you use them. You want to intentionally craft assignments, activities and expectations that will enhance the students PSOC.

• You might want to look beyond the PSOC as a significant environmental condition and also provide opportunities to cultivate the skills and attitudes that required for a student's becoming a community builder, contributor or manager. this too should influence what tools you choose and how you design assignments.

• Digital Ethnography - Using NetVibes to coordinate information through RSS feeds and input data.

• Dafur/Sudan - Using PageFlakes to coordinate feeds and information.

• Blackboard - You can link to external web sites and applications; make an external site your class entry point.

• Create your own class portal (iGoogle | myYahoo)

• Use a wiki or blog as your class repository for information and stating point.

Many Web 2.0 applications have the following features:

• Integrated web services;
• Users are both producers and consumers (prosumers);
• Opportunities to participate;
• Personalized spaces;
• Private, public or shared commodities;
• Dynamic information gathering
• Chatting and commenting (communication that is abbreviated but frequent)

See Steve Hargadon's Web 2.0 the Future of Education for more trends. Or watch the Atomic Learning video tutorial on Web 2.0.

Below are just a few examples;

Social Networking: Facebook | MySpace | uStream.tv/justin.tv (webcasting)

Sharing Flickr (photos) | youTube/Vimeo (videos) | Diigo (clippings and bookmarks)| MediaFire (files) | SlideShare (presentations) | Del.icio.us (bookmarks)|

Communication: Blogger (blogs) | Twitter

RSS: Google Reader/Bloglines/Netvibes (RSS feeds)

Collaboration: Wikispaces/Wetpaint (wiki) | Kaltura (video editing) | Google Docs/Zoho (document processing)

What are the strengths and weakness of the Kansas State University Digital Ethnography web site as a contribution to creating a psychological sense of community for these students?