It is the cornerstone of the wired educational experience. Genuine affection Community cannot be built into software. It is not formed on the first day of class. As in any other setting, groups that share common interests, trust and often genuine affection thrive in the ether of the Internet. This collegial spirit is fundamental to the participatory learning style that occurs in online education, in which students must be at ease discussing their thoughts and ideas.
Students often post their pictures, profiles and even resumes as a sort of virtual introduction.
In many cases, personal introductions occur when schools choose to bring the students together at the beginning of a course. Kiefer, for example, met his classmates at an orientation session at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. They become comfortable in using the technology, and then they go back to their homes, and they've already established a rapport with each other and with the professor. I think that personal experience is still very important. A lot of the students, especially the new ones, aren't used to communicating on the computer, number one.