Preamble

Distance learning is becoming more prevalent in the world. However, education that is not face to face comes at the cost of a loss of sense of community, and reduced instructor to peer, and peer to peer relationships. This blog seeks to examine ways in which educators can foster greater connectedness and community in distance learning.

What

The best learning environments foster a feeling of connectedness and community for the student. The acceptance that comes with these concepts helps a student feel safe, enables them to feel free of judgment, and enables them to feel fully involved and accepted into the learning environment; ultimately enhancing their learning capability. Management of this environment can be done in a plethora of ways, but generally involves the creation of relationships, utilizing instructor to student and peer to peer interactions, conducted in a positive manner, to build a sense of trust between participants. These interactions can be done quickly, frequently, and can have a profound effect on the learning community of a classroom. What then is to be done if the classroom is removed from the equation and everything is done via distance education? How is it possible to include these positive peer interactions in a lesson? What is the best way to move forward? 

So What

According to Brown (2019) “distance learning is an increasingly important aspect of higher education because it meets the needs of an expanding pool of nontraditional students who find education necessary for jobs in today’s information age” (p. 18). Indeed, in our emergent group on 28 January 2020, it was agreed that building a learning community to foster increased involvement was not only more difficult online, but was even more so in the kindergarten to grade 12 realm, as younger students are not as eager to participate in an online discourse as they are in higher education. Furthermore, “the process of forming a community of learners is an important issue in distance learning because it can affect student satisfaction, retention, and learning” (p. 18). As such, it is vitally apparent that improving student connectedness and community is an important undertaking for distance education, regardless of the age being taught. 

As the discourse in our room progressed, we discussed ways in which each member, or group of members, within the graduate class cohort felt as though they were a part of our own education community. Several key themes eventually became apparent: 

  • Synchronous lessons are important, as a completely asynchronous course does not enable students to ever feel as though they are a part of the whole group.
  • An outside chat application is useful for members to stay connected to each other outside of synchronous lessons. The application our cohort chose was WhatsApp. The application itself is less important than simply having the means to communicate. For example, in the study conducted by Wen-Chi, V., Chen Hsieh, J. S., & Yang, J. C. (2017), the students used LINE for communication which seemed to work equally as well.
  • The flexibility and availability of instructors are important. As work and family life schedules differ, the ability to gain access to communicate with instructors helps students feel valued. 
  • Small groups are helpful as students are more willing to share their ideas when the risks are not perceived as high.
  • Some form of ‘icebreakers’ at the start of a class to give the group an opportunity to officially meet each other may prove beneficial. 

As prefaced earlier most of these themes include enhancing communication and relationships between stakeholders. There are, however, also methods to help set up an online class which will ultimately enhance the community in distance learning. A method used by Wen-Chi et al., (2017) in their study is called the flipped classroom. “In a conventional class, new knowledge is introduced in the classroom, usually via lecture, and students practice using the knowledge at home, via homework. Flipped learning reverses this paradigm, with information introduced to students before class using technology (such as mobile devices). This allows more advanced learning activities during the in-class time, meaning students are given more opportunities to participate in meaningful engaging activities” (p. 142). This time allotment during class gives the students the ability to interact with each other a great deal more than if the class was set up as a lecture. This ultimately led to greater participation, communication, and satisfaction pertaining to being involved. 

Now What

It is important to remember, as put forth by Ni She et al., (2019) “Teaching online is different” (p. 05). It is not necessarily a better, or a worse way to deliver knowledge, but is a necessity as technology and education continue to merge.  Although many facets of education remain similar, one of the major challenges we face moving forward is connecting our students to each other, and to the institution, they are seeking to gain knowledge from. Many factors contribute to good teaching practices, but one of the most important practices, that must be embraced for online education, is the concept of connectivity and community.

In the end “community-building should be emphasized not just for the sense of togetherness it provides students, but also to help keep the students in the class and in the program, to promote full engagement in the class, to facilitate effective collaborative learning, and to encourage continued communication after the course or program is complete for development and career services purposes” (Brown, 2019, p. 35).

 

References

Brown, R. E. (2019). The process of community-building in distance learning classes. Online Learning, 5(2), 18-35. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v5i2.1876

Ni She, Caitriona & Farrell, Orna & Costello, Eamon & Brunton, James & Donlon, Enda & Trevaskis, Samantha & Eccles, Sinead. (2019). Teaching online is different: Critical perspectives from the literature. 10.5281/zenodo.3479402. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336879238_Teaching_online_is_different_Critical_perspectives_from_the_literature

Wen-Chi, V., Chen Hsieh, J. S., & Yang, J. C. (2017). Creating an online learning community in a flipped classroom to enhance EFL learners’ oral proficiency. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(2), 142-157. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/docview/1902838377?accountid=14846

LINE : Free Calls & Messages. (n.d.). https://line.me/en/

WhatsApp. Simple. Secure. Reliable Messaging (n.d.). https://www.whatsapp.com/