Promoting Community in an Asynchronous Online Learning Environment

 

There are numerous ways in which instructors can promote community in asynchronous online learning environments. One very effective way is by using discussion boards. Discussion boards help students connect with each other and can lead to deeper understanding of content material. Instructors should encourage students to interact with each other by requiring students to not only respond to a question or topic prompt provided by the teacher but also to respond to each other. By encouraging students to communicate with each other and ask each other questions, the instructor is building community. The instructor can also facilitate conversations by responding to students as well and encouraging students to answer the questions asked by their peers.

Another way to build community in online learning is by using collaborative learning techniques such as small group work and peer review. Many collaborative techniques have been adapted for online environments. A couple examples of these technique adaptations are Jigsaw and Think Aloud Pair Problem Solving (TAPPS). In Jigsaw students work in groups to learn a topic before teaching it to another group. In TAPPS students solve a problem and explain their reasoning to a peer.

A third way to build community is by modeling social presence and encouraging students to engage and be themselves. When instructors introduce themselves, communicate with students, and provide feedback on assignments, students will recognize that the teacher is engaged in their learning. Also, by asking students to provide introductions of themselves, the instructor gets to know each of them, and they get to know their peers. Through introductions and continued interactions, students can connect with their instructor and their peers which will help them feel more comfortable in the “classroom”. Students who feel comfortable communicating with their instructor and their peers will be more engaged in the course content.

I genuinely love when my professors’ model social presence. I feel like when instructors show that they are human and not just an authority name on a screen, proves that they care about their students which is much harder to show in online learning. However, I feel like this mostly helps the student-teacher relationship and not the whole online community. For the entire classroom community building, I believe discussion boards to be most beneficial to foster interactions between students. By requiring interaction between students and encouraging continued discussion, students can connect with each other and course material in deeper meaningful ways. Discussion boards can even be designed similar to social media to appeal more to younger students.

Theories of Online Learning

 

An important theory of online learning is based on the traditional theory of education known as constructivism. Constructivism theorizes that students learn through active participation in developing knowledge. By incorporating previous experiences to apply meaning to acquired information, students construct their own knowledge of the real world. As technologies have improved and increased, the theory of constructivism has become even more prevalent as a theory of online learning. Many key components of constructivism, including applying real-world scenarios, applying personal experience to knowledge construction, scaffolding provided by the teacher, collaboration, and self-reflection collectively aid the success of online learning.

Cognitive load theory is another prominent theoretical model associated with online learning. The focus of cognitive load theory is the working memory and the categories of cognitive load that can fill the capacity of working memory. Cognitive load categories include intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load. Intrinsic load, which is typically a fixed load, refers to the difficulty of the subject based on the learner’s previous knowledge. The extraneous load consists of external factors not related to the content being learned. This includes unnecessary information, redundancy, divided attention, and improper design of materials that overload working memory. Germane load refers to the mental processes of integrating new information and storing it into long term memory. For online learning to be successful, instructional materials should be explicitly designed to reduce extraneous load and strategies to increase germane load (such as reflection) should be employed.

A third theory of online learning is connectivism. Connectivism is a relatively new theory of education that focuses on social connections through online interactions. While focusing on online socialization, connectivism incorporates components of traditional theories of education including social cognitive theory and constructivism. The difference, however, is that this theory was developed by considering how students use technology and designing similar online socialization environments for educational instruction. Connectivism embraces diversity, autonomy, and open communication between students as they network and socialize as a community of learners.

Most online learning formats are either synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous online learning requires students to be actively online and participating at the same time as specified by their instructor. Students advance through content topics as they are made available, usually weekly. Synchronous learning often includes a scheduled weekly online meeting with the teacher which students are required to attend. Asynchronous online learning allows students more flexibility and freedom with completing learning tasks. All required learning content is available from the first day of class and students work through topics at their own pace while meeting due dates for assignments. Also, asynchronous learning typically does not require any scheduled online meetings.

Online learning is beneficial to many students, especially students with a high level of motivation and good time management skills. Some advantages of online learning are flexibility, convenience, accessibility, affordability, deeper learning (better understanding of content), and socialization through online learning interactions can be easier for some students. Some disadvantages of online learning are feelings of isolation due to less face-to-face interactions, internet and technical issues can disrupt access to learning, more screen time can be physically damaging (especially blue light to the eyes), distractions easily interrupt focus, and no hands-on learning experiences.