I recently completed an online course where my students had established community among themselves, being that they are a cohort, and I remained an outsider. I communicated with them, as a group and individuals, via bi-weekly emails, discussion forum, and through feedback on their group and individual assignments. Try as I might, I never became part of their community. I know this because I rarely, if ever received replies or comments via email, discussion forum, or our community "course wall". This is the first time it has ever occurred and coincides with the absence of a synchronous meeting. The group voted, when polled, to not have synchronous meetings. I'm beginning to think synchronous meetings are key in building community in online courses. Especially given Alex's research finding that online learners tend have a diminished sense of community. I'd be interested to hear about what others think. FYI- I recommend copying your post before "publishing" to avoid accidentally losing your post. ~Sue Hines
I recently completed an online course where my students had established community among themselves, being that they are a cohort, and I remained an outsider. I communicated with them, as a group and individuals, via bi-weekly emails, discussion forum, and through feedback on their group and individual assignments. Try as I might, I never became part of their community. I know this because I rarely, if ever received replies or comments via email, discussion forum, or our community "course wall". This is the first time it has ever occurred and coincides with the absence of a synchronous meeting. The group voted, when polled, to not have synchronous meetings. I'm beginning to think synchronous meetings are key in building community in online courses. Especially given Alex's research finding that online learners tend have a diminished sense of community. I'd be interested to hear about what others think. FYI- I recommend copying your post before "publishing" to avoid accidentally losing your post. ~Sue Hines
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