Graduate
Division of Educational Research
Faculty
of Education
University
of Calgary
Re/Search Informed Paper
Submitted
to:
Dr.
Anni Adams
Professor
EDER 689.19
Submitted
by:
Dawn
Hayward
237521
July
27, 2001
Table
of Contents
Discourse
Communitites - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - -4
Communities
of Practice - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - -5
Knowledge-Building
Communities - - - - - -
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --7
Learning
Communities - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -7
Communication
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8
Attention
to Differneces - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - -9
Shared
Culture - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - -9
Adaptation
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9
Dialogue
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - -10
Access
to Information - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - -10
Motivation
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - -10
The
Future of Distance Learning - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-10
Collaboratory
Notebooks - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10
Collaborative
and Multimedia Interactive Learning Environment - - - - - - - 11
Learning
Circles - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - -11
MUDs
and MOOs - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - -11
It
has been important to me throughout this degree, to have a sense of belonging
and involvement in my studies. In
September 2000, beginning the program, I was scared and nervous ... would I be
able to do it? I am a social person
who needs face-to-face interaction. The
inability to simply drop by the education office and speak to someone, to talk
to the professors or the students seemed an insurmountable task.
Somewhere along the way I have relaxed.
I am enjoying my courses and feel a strong sense of inclusion.
How
did this occur? What it simply a
matter of time, of getting used to the program, the courses and professors?
Maybe it was a sense of success, I realized that I could do well.
Was it a sense of community and involvement in the program that allowed
me to feel I was a part of the university and not simply a student a country
away?
These
questions are the basis of my paper on the implementation of community into
distance education programs. I
strive to understand how such feeling of involvement improves a learners
attainment of objectives, how to integrate such a community spirit, and the
emphasis which is put into the design of such characteristics when beginning a
distance education program.
Obviously
I would want to know the importance the University of Calgary puts on the sense
of community among its learners. Unfortunately,
there is not a formal plan in place for the distance education program.
In talking with Bill Hunter, I have come to understand that fostering
learner involvement is an important aspect of professor recruitment and
training. Considering the lack of
information directly from the University of Calgary, I will focus my research on
programs that do factor learner involvement into the curriculum hopefully
narrowing the research to the University of Calgary for my final project for the
degree.
Types
of Communities
It
is important to discuss the types of community in distance education because
there was discrepancy from article to article as to what the term meant.
Too often “community” was used to describe the grouping of learners
into courses, programs and degrees. This
paper seeks to explore ways in which the feeling of community is incorporated
into the design of such programs. To
ensure that the readers of the paper are aware of the author’s assumptions, it
is important to define the term community for the context of this document.
The
concepts of discourse community, community of practice, knowledge-building
community and learning community overlap considerably.
Their common belief is that rather than forcing students to measure up to
prepackaged instructional requirements, emphasis should be placed on the
contributions of a group of learners. That
is, students collaborating and supporting each other toward common learning
goals. (Jonassen, 1999)
Discourse
Community
According
to the Western Washington University library website, discourse community is
“a site or social group defined by special kinds of speech and writing, the
boundaries and character of which are determined by the communicative practices
as well as the social sentiments, shared norms, and cultural values of the
members.” (WWU, para 4)
Individuals
come to share habits and norms of interaction through day-to-day contact with
one another. They have their favorite topics, their local jargon or shop talk,
and their specialized appeals based on relations of political power and personal
attraction. When groups of people
get together regularly, this type of community occurs naturally.
Considering distance education students are apart geographically, it is
important to stress the aspect of discourse among learners.
The
implementation of discourse community among groups of individuals who do not
meet is not a new concept. Theme
magazines create such unity by providing an outlet for people to learn about and
discuss common ideas. Gardening
magazines, for example, create common threads for people although they may never
have met, as they each learn new techniques and read about other experiences.
How
does a distance education program help to create such discourse community?
It is suggested that implementing newsletters and discussion formats
helps to create a channel in which learners can continue discussions created
throughout learning. Returning to the provided definition of discourse community,
there must be provisions to enable learners to talk “shop”.
Too often learners are actively engaged in new concepts and ideas but
have little means to discuss outside of the virtual environment.
Taking the time to ensure learners feel a sense of discourse community
can go a long way in increasing their understanding of and interest in the
topic.
Many
University distance education program designers are focusing on the creation of
discourse community as an important factor in the prediction of future success.
The University of Houston College of Education, for example, has taken
great strides in attempting to create community through the development of new
communication servers. “We have
been exploring ways of cracking open those doors by facilitating communication
among education students through an innovative project, Curry CONNECT. Curry
CONNECT is a Web-based discussion group that links preservice teachers with
graduate inservice teachers and apprenticing administrators.”
The Curry CONNECT project is ahead of its time not only for innovative
ideas, but also in that it is used to link students for the University of
Houston, as well as any teacher who feel they need mentorship and guidance.
(UofH, para 6)
Where
discourse communities have been created through distance with the printing of
newspapers and magazines, communities of practice have not received as much
attention as it is thought that “practice” entails physical interaction.
Consideration of the concept in distance programs has encouraged
researchers to develop new and attainable definitions of practice communities.
The website Knowledge Garden “explores ideas that span the boundaries
of multiple communities, create new knowledge together, and accelerate our
knowledge flows.” (para 1) This site has explored in-depth, the concept of
communities of practice in terms of uniting learners geographically separated.
Learners
are united due to bonding by exposure to common problems.
Such an idea is easily fostered in distance education as students can be
immersed in an environment of critical thinking.
The Knowledge Garden states this definition of practice communities as,
"a group of professionals, informally bound to one another through
exposure to a common class of problems, common pursuit of solutions, and thereby
themselves embodying a store of knowledge." (para 3)
Such
unity is also promoted through common practices and language.
Groups of people who share similar goals and interests will inherently
feel unified in pursuit of such aspirations.
In quest of these goals and interests, they employ common practices and
express themselves in a common language. Through such mutual activity, they come
to hold similar beliefs and value systems.(Jonassen, 1999)
Groups
that learn are also considered communities of practice.
Learners will emerge of their own accord, collaborate directly, use one
another as sounding boards, and teach each other.
This aspect of practice communities is the easiest for distance education
programs to promote, as it should naturally transpire through participation in
quality instructional methods and practices.
Scardamalia
and Bereiter (1996) maintain that schools hinder, rather than sustain,
knowledge-building by “focusing on individual student’s abilities and
learning; requiring only demonstrable knowledge, activities, and skills as
evidence of learning; and teacher-hoarding wisdom and expertise.” (p 204)
Student knowledge tends to be devalued or ignored, except as evidence of
their understanding of the curriculum.
The
goal of knowledge-building communities is to “actively and strategically
pursue learning as a goal” – that is, intentional learning. (Scardamalia, Bereiter, and Lamon 1994, p 201).
This step of community creation is too often assumed by designers given
that the purpose of these programs is learner attainment of education
objectives. Doesn’t enrollment in
any education degree program assume a knowledge building community?
Unfortunately if the learning activities are developed without community
attainment in mind knowledge-building will often not occur.
Considering the nature of distance education, that is isolation and a
strong dependence on learner internal motivation, instructors must be diligent
in offering instructional methods entrenched in a philosophy of constructivism.
“When students own the knowledge, rather than the teacher or the
textbook, they become committed to building knowledge, rather than merely
receiving and reprocessing it”. (Jonassen, 1999, p 118)
“A
community is a social organization of people who share knowledge, values, and
goals. Classrooms typically are not
communities, because students are disconnected or are competing with one
another. The students do not share
common learning goals or interests.” (Jonassen, 1999, p. 118)
To ensure a true learning community, students must feel comfortable and
motivated to learn. Teachers must
consciously foster such an environment by involving the student in their own
learning, by allowing them to take control of it, and determine where it leads.
Creating
Learning Communities is an interactive website which strives to assist educators
in the creation of constructivist learning communities in distance education.
Helen Hegener, publisher of Home Education Magazine writes in the first
post to the list, "I believe community learning centers are an important
step in the ongoing evolution of education, and I also believe they could be a
key bridge between the homeschooling community and other forms of public and
private education. I'm looking forward to some thoughtful discussion on this
list." (Creating Learning Communities, para 7)
It
seems many researchers in the field of education echo Hegener’s thoughts.
Distance learning is becoming a more and more accepted means for learners
to attain diplomas and degrees. If
the world is, in fact, learning toward an education system in which geography is
not an issue, designers must consider the learning community as an important
predictor of learner success.
How do we foster
community?
Once
community is defined and it’s importance understood, how do instructional
designers, instructors and all educators foster such a sense of community?
Communication
is “the key to allow people to make
adjustments to each other.” (Jonassen, 1999, p 142)
In a regular classroom, feedback is given in all sorts of subtle,
informal ways, resulting in a feeling of inclusion and accommodation.
With a distance education program it can be difficult to provide instant
feedback, not only from instructors but by other learners as well.
Obviously, with on-line instruction, feedback can occur with time but too
often time delays cause learner concern. The
University of Houston provides in-depth instructor training on all aspects of
distance education. Quotes one
professor, "...It’s very difficult for people when they post something
and don't get a response at all. It's one of the worst feelings in the world to
not get a response from anybody. You start to wonder whether you had anything
worthwhile to say or what folks' reactions are to your message." (para 8)
Communication allows the group to acquire
a personality and sense of direction, while communicating the views and needs of
individuals.
Attention
to Differences take on importance
when considering that different perspectives and strategies are routinely shared
throughout the group. Considering
the potential diversity of a distance education class, respect must be given to
what each learner brings to the group. Learning
styles and differences are major concerns in any educational setting, but given
the lack of geographic proximity, learners can be of different cultures and
backgrounds. These differences can
be “a key to growth, leading sometimes to innovations that benefit everyone”
(Jonassen, 1999, p 142).
Shared
Culture notes the importance of
moving from a group of people to a real community. In order to foster such a phenomenon people need to
feel bound together by something strong and enduring.
Common enrollment in a program will begin to create a shared culture with
the introduction of new concepts, practices and learners.
This sense of involvement in a course of instruction is not enough to
foster a shared culture. Such a sense of community is shaped by the tone, expectations
and negotiation of acceptable values. Communities
are fostered by a shared set of values, reflected in a local culture.
Adaptation
in the community context states that
in order to be sensitive to the needs of the group an instructor must adapt to
the needs of the students as well, the students adapt to the style of the
instructor and the norms of the group. Adaptation
is the result of the change process, which has been seen as synonymous with
learning.
Dialogue
is not oppositional or confrontational rather involves “a willingness to
suspend one’s beliefs in favor of listening to another, to surrender and give
up one’s position if doing so serves the needs of the group” (Jonassen et
al, p 143) This surrendering is difficult to accomplish in distance learning
considering the online factor of asynchronous discussion.
Learners may feel vulnerable posting opinions, which may be judged by all
who read it without the possibility of immediate defense.
Access
to Information that is, to multiple
sources of information, becomes critical for the success of a learning
community. With such access
students can respect the instructor and the information he/she can provide but
the community does not need to depend on it to exist.
Motivation is a critical
aspect of all instructional courses but with a lack of personal connection
characterizing distance programs, it becomes a crucial component of learner
success. The loss of immediate
feedback may discourage learners who have an external academic locus of control.
Such students require a structured program with much interaction to
master the intended learning objectives. It
is important that instructors keep these
motivational aspects in mind when planning instructional interventions.
Jonassen et al state, “learning communities depend on autonomous,
responsible, motivated learners” (p 145) The characteristics of distance
education programs can decrease a learners self-motivation therefore, care must
be taken to intervene where necessary to increase this critical factor.
Collaboratory Notebook
The
Learning through Collaboratory Visualization Project (CoVis) is a means by which
to connect learners from around the world. The most powerful aspect of the project is the collaboratory
notebook, a “multimedia tool that supports group work in project science. It
provides a single, pedagogically-motivated medium in which students, teachers,
and research scientists can collaborate on scientific inquiry across the
boundaries of time and space.” (CoVIS, para 1)
Based on the metaphor of the scientist's laboratory notebook, it extends
this metaphor with facilities for collaborators anywhere on the Internet to
share and co-author inquiry.
Collaborative and Multimedia Interactive Learning
Environments
“Collaborative
and Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments are Web-based collaboration
tools for use by students to encourage learning.” (CaMILE, para 1) CaMILE
notes are each directly addressable on the Internet; the advantage is that links
to a particular thread of CaMILE discussion can be added to any Web document.
This has been found to be particularly effective in providing students with
topics of discussion, referred to as anchored collaboration. (CaMILE, para 3)
Learning Circles
“Learning
Circles are virtual communities, which provide increased diversity and global
perspectives in the construction of common understanding. Learning Circles
encourage interdisciplinary study across the curriculum with thematic
organization.” (Riel, 1995, final para) Riel’s
work on learning circles concentrate on elementary and secondary schools
however, her research, immersed in the idea of community, relates to all areas
of distance learning. Here,
instructor’s support constructive learning through collaboration by allowing
classes, geographically separated, to collaborate on a project. (Jonassen, 1999)
MUDs and MOOs
“New
forms of Internet-based multi-user environments known as MUDs and MOOs are
engaging learners in high-level conversations that support personal
reflection.” (Jonassen, 1999, p. 139) Multi-user
domains (MUDs) and object –oriented MUDs (MOOs) are virtual environments where
a learner can enter, participate and interact in the environment with other
members of the learning community. MUDs
and MOOs have been, and to some extent still are, virtual games with little
educational value. Their popularity
and research into the educational benefits of virtual education have prompted
designers to develop virtual areas where students can access sound educational
information.
The
future of distance learning is well researched and the subject of many studies.
Since recent educational trends are moving instructional methods out of
the traditional classroom and into the world of technology and virtual
education, much has been written about the benefits and drawbacks of distance
education. Much of the research does not however, focus on the
attainment of community involvement in these programs.
Perhaps due to the innovative nature of distance learning, researchers
focus on how to set up such programs and the deliverance of materials to
learners separated geographically. I
believe that as distance learning becomes more and more popular, designers will
realize the benefits of learner involvement within an institution where they may
never have visited. This sense of
loyalty and ownership to a program is difficult to attain given the independent
nature of distance education however, the benefits of learner unity will result
in successful programs and higher learner satisfaction.
Sources
Anchored Collaborative Learning
Environments (CaMILE) [Online] Available:
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/edtech/CaMILE.html
CoVis Learning through
Collaborative Visualization [Online] Available:
http://www.covis.nwu.edu/software/notebook/
Creating Learning Communities:
Online Resource Center [Online] Available
http://www.creatinglearningcommunities.org/
Integrated Learning Garden [Online]
Available
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ilc/
Jonassen,
D., Peck, K., & Wilson, B. (1999). Learning With Technology: A
constructivist perspective. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Knowledge Garden: Community
Intelligence Labs [Online] Available
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/
Mason,
R., & Weller, M. Factors
affecting students' satisfaction on a web course, Australian Journal of
Educational Technology, Vol. 16, No. 2, Winter 2000
Palloff,
R., & Pratt, K. (1999) Building learning communities in cyberspace:
effective strategies for the online classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Riel,
M (1995) Learning circles: Virtual communities for elementary and secondary
schools. [Online] Available: http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/Guidelines/Riel-93.htm
Scardamalia,
M., & Bereiter, C. (1996). Adaptation and understanding: A case for new
cultures of Schooling. Hillsdale, JF: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
The University of Houston College
of Education Website [Online] Available
Western Washington University
Library Website [Online] Available