Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace

In Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom, Palloff and Pratt explore benefits, problems and concerns related to computer-mediated distance education. While identifying that online groups go through the same stages of development as face-to-face groups (forming, norming, performing, storming, adjourning - Tuckman, 1965), they challenge the belief that the online classroom is no different from the traditional one.

Their focus in the book is not on technology or computer-aided instruction but rather the process of teaching and learning through the creation of an online community. The basic steps that must be taken to build an online community include:

• clearly defining the purpose of the group
• creating a distinctive gathering place for the group
• promoting effective leadership from within
• defining norms and a clear code of conduct
• allowing for a range of member roles
• allowing for and facilitating subgroups
• allowing members to resolve their own disputes.

Recognising that a successful social community can be developed with little learning outcomes, they emphasise that responsibility remains with the teacher to guide participants to established learning goals.

When teaching and learning leave the classroom, it is up to the instructor to create a container within which the course proceeds by posting goals, objectives, and expected outcomes for the course, initial guidelines for participation, thoughts and questions to kick off discussion, and assignments to be completed collaboratively (p. 17).

Throughout the book the authors draw on five years' experience in online distance education to provide a framework for an 'electronic pedagogy' and supply guiding questions to assist in building an effective course syllabus, promoting collaborative learning, and promoting transformative learning.

Case studies, vignettes and examples from successful online courses demonstrate strategies for handling challenges teachers face that include:

• engaging students with subject matter
• accounting for attendance and participation
• working with students who do not participate
• understanding the signs of when a student is in trouble
• building online communities that accommodate personal interaction.

This book should be of interest to those seeking practical guidance in online course development and implementation.

• Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (1999). Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.