Forming Virtual Learning Community within Online Course: Students' Perspectives

This research intends to explore students’ aspect and impact on forming virtual learning communities within online courses. A formal online course that is on the process of building virtual community is closely examined to discover students’ perceptions of learning community approach, their online performances, and how these perceptions and performances facilitate or hinder the forming of a virtual learning community. The study can serve as a useful guide for online education practitioners and online learners. Introduction In this information era, institutions of higher education are delving into the world of online learning: there has been rapid growth in the number of course being offered either entirely online or as a supplement to a face-to-face course (Underwood et al., 2000). On the other hand, online courses have been appearing so rapidly that little thought or effort seems to be given to the specific needs of the classroom in cyberspace. Traditional teaching methods are being attempted in a nontraditional environment (Palloff & Pratt, 1999). Many online courses simply put face-to-face class’s lecture-based content online. Such kind of “traditional” online courses, as demonstrated by the research (Besser, 1996; Carr, 2000; Herrington, et al., 2001, Kerka, 1996; Schrum, 1995, Swan, 2001), have caused high dropout rates, bad learning outcome, and low satisfaction rate. Therefore, how can we modify current educational strategy to enhance online learning process? In answering the question, educational researchers have recurrently proposed the virtual learning community approach. Briefly, virtual learning community is an extension of the physical learning community outward to the electronic one (Russell & Ginsburg, 1999), which is originated from the constructivism learning theory that proposes a goal-based collaborative learning within a community context (Wenger, 1998). Palloff and Pratt (1999) have explained the importance of community in electronic classroom by arguing, “The learning community is the vehicle through which learning occurs online.Without the support and participation of a learning community, there is no online course. ” The importance of community in online learning is also supported by empirical research. Quite a few studies (e.g. Hiltz, 1998; Prestera & Moller, 2001; Russell, 1999; Russell & Ginsburg, 1999; Shrivastava, 1999; Wang, et al., 2001) evidence that virtual learning community is a powerful tool to boost online learning participation and achievement. A virtual learning community, according to Rovai (2002), can be constitutively defined in terms of four dimensions: spirit, trust, interaction, and commonality of goals (learning). Similar definitions of virtual learning community can be also seen in the works of McMillan & Chavis (1986), Jonassen, Peck, & Welson (1998), and Kowch & Schwier (1997). These definitions suggest an essential framework of a virtual learning community, which comprises: an active learning environment that fosters a climate of learning in community, a dynamic learner-directed process of “communication, collaboration, interaction, and participation” (Lock, 2002, p. 397), and the development of feeling or sense of community. However, even though literature has explained why virtual learning community is important and what it is, another fundamental question remains poorly answered – how to build a virtual learning community? Currently, there are a select few studies examining the development of learning communities within online courses. These studies focus on the community environment and address the issue through the lens of designers and developers. Some attempt to describe a systematic development model for building virtual learning community, including the research by Barker (2001), Lock (2002), and Ravitz, (1997). For instance, Ravitz (1997) proposed a seven-stage ISD model for building virtual communities, which involves management, front-end analysis, communication environment design, projects development, implementation, community evaluation, and information dissemination. Others (e.g. Kuhl, 2002, Nixon & Leftwich, 2002; Prestera & Moller, 2001; Quitadamo & Brown, 2001; Snyder, 2002; Yoder, 2003) emphasize the pedagogical issues when designing instructional context that promote community. A representative one is done by Yoder (2003) who presents seven strategies to foster a