Research in Online Learning Community

Attachment

Research in Online Learning Community.pdf

11s1h1y45-43/b0bsl79jx59rwtw7lr978psshbdk7tsxlb1w4wlpmfhprmt/Research_in_Online_Learning_Community.pdf

Description

Online learning community has been considered as one of the most important learning concepts in technology-based instructions. Yet online learning community has not been well-defined or well-examined. The social learning process has been suggested as the fundamental factor to examine in an online learning community to ensure online participants and the community will grow and evolve in terms of their knowledge acquisition. Four basic elements and four theoretical constructs in online learning community suggest an ideal theoretical framework for future research. The purpose of this paper is to examine current literature and current research concerning online learning community, to discuss the impacts of online learning communities on human learning, and to propose a theoretical construct for future development of online learning communities.

Online learning community is becoming an important concept in current technology-based learning. The research and literature are still in their infancy. Identifying important concepts and factors that have impacts on online learning community is critical at the current stage. This paper examined online learning community from a social learning process aspect to discuss the important theoretical constructs that are identified in current research and literature. This step will challenge and assist researchers who are interested in online learning community to think critically regarding the issues of online learning community. With a better understanding about online learning communities, how they work, and how they develop/evolve, online learning community, this new learning paradigm, will open other avenues to enhance human learning with the integration of technology.

Author

Chih-Hsiung Tu and Michael Corry. The George Washington University