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.