scholarly journals The Taxonomy of Opportunities to Learn (TxOTL): a tool for understanding the learning potential and substance of interactions in faculty (online) learning community meetings

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra C. Lau ◽  
Makenna Martin ◽  
Adriana Corrales ◽  
Chandra Turpen ◽  
Fred Goldberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Faculty Professional Development ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Faculty Learning Community ◽  
Faculty Learning

Abstract Background While many research-based instructional strategies in STEM have been developed, faculty need support in implementing and sustaining use of these strategies. A number of STEM faculty professional development programs aim to provide such pedagogical support, and it is necessary to understand the activity and learning process for faculty in these settings. In this paper, a taxonomy for describing the learning opportunities in faculty (online) learning community meetings is presented. Faculty learning communities, meeting either in-person or (increasingly) online, are a common form of professional development. They aim to develop the pedagogical and reflective skills of participants through regular meetings centered on conversations about teaching and learning. Results The tool presented in this paper, the Taxonomy of Opportunities to Learn (TxOTL), provides a structured approach to making sense of the dynamic interactions that occur during faculty learning community meetings. The origins and development of the TxOTL are described, followed by a detailed presentation of the constructs that make up the TxOTL: communicative approach used in a conversation, the concepts developed, and the meeting segment category. The TxOTL characterizes the learning opportunities presented by a faculty learning community conversation through describing the content of the conversation as well as how participants engage in the conversation. Examples of the tool in use are provided through an application to a faculty online learning community serving instructors of a physical science curriculum. A visual representation used to compactly display the results of applying the taxonomy to a meeting is detailed as well. These examples serve to illustrate the types of claims the TxOTL facilitates. Conclusions The TxOTL allows one to examine learning opportunities available to a faculty learning community group, analyze concept development present in their conversations, track change over time in a given group, and identify patterns between meeting segment categories and communicative approaches. It is useful for researchers as well as facilitators of these STEM faculty professional development groups. The taxonomy is most applicable to faculty (online) learning communities, with limited use for workshops and K-12 professional development contexts.

Designing Online Learning Communities to Encourage Cooperation

2011 ◽  
pp. 102-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Mowbray
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Antisocial Behavior ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Technical Architecture

This chapter is concerned with how to design an online learning community in such a way as to encourage cooperation, and to discourage uncooperative or antisocial behavior. Rather than restricting design to visual and interface issues, I take a wide view, touching on aspects of the governance, social structure, moderation practices, and technical architecture of online learning communities. The first half of the chapter discusses why people behave antisocially in online learning communities, and ways to discourage this through design. The second half discusses why on the other hand people behave cooperatively in online learning communities, and ways to encourage this through user-centered design, applying some results of experiments in social psychology. The chapter is intended to be of practical use to designers of online learning communities.

Online Learning Community

2011 ◽  
pp. 1506-1511
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Kazmer
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Collaborative Culture ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Computer Mediated

The study and implementation of online learning communities emerges from two approaches related to the idea of “community.” The first approach was how people began to think about learning community, but not restricted to online settings. Learning community incorporates the idea of a cohesive, collaborative culture among members with the purpose of supporting individual learning by facilitating shared knowledge creation. The idea of a learning community, and its importance for improving learning, pre-dated most online learning, and the focus was on building communitiesto support learning regardless of setting. The second approach was that people began to inquire whether it was possible to build community online, but not for purposes restricted to learning. The idea that true community was possible via computer-mediated communication (CMC) was, and still is, contentious. However, as the years have passed since this question first emerged, the idea that community can be formed online has been increasingly accepted.

scholarly journals The emergence of an online learning community in first year tertiary studies in psychology

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Holt ◽  
Mary Rice ◽  
Christine Armatas
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
First Year ◽  
Older Students ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
And Function ◽  
Discussion Postings

The introduction of an online supported, resource based learning environment into a large, multi-modal first year psychology unit led to the spontaneous development of a small, but active, learning community. While off campus students were more active online contributors, many other students “observed” these interactions, not actively contributing but finding the discussion postings valuable to their learning. Overall, use and perceived value of the online communication facilities were related to how confident students were that they had an appropriate study strategy, with off campus and older students reporting greater confidence in their study approach. The results highlight that the nature and function of learning communities for large, multi-modal foundation units are quite different to those typically articulated in the literature and are worth further investigation.

Online Learning Community

2014 ◽  
pp. 1946-1962
Author(s):  
Eunice Sari ◽  
Cher Ping Lim
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Professional Capacity

This chapter describes the role of the online learning community named OLC4TPD (Online Learning Community for Teacher Professional Development) in building professional capacity of Indonesian teachers. OLC4TPD was contextually built to address the challenges of teacher professionalism in Indonesia, which has contributed significantly to students' learning outcome. As an independent informal online learning community, OLC4TPD plays a unique role in schools' professional learning community. The authors investigate the role of OLC4TPD from different pillars that hold the professional learning community edifice. The four pillars are (1) collaborative teamwork, (2) teacher capacity, (3) leadership capacity, and (4) professional development. The chapter explains this unique role by showcasing several authentic examples on how OLC4TPD has improved professional capacity of teachers and teacher educators in an Indonesian context.

Fostering Effective Learning Community in the Online Classroom

2021 ◽  
pp. 1786-1802
Author(s):  
Mary I. Dereshiwsky
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Faculty Concerns ◽  
Face To Face Learning

Online learning communities are an important aspect of successful virtual learning experiences. They bring opportunities for peer collaboration and sharing of ideas in a globally based classroom unrestricted by time and space. At the same time, online learning community participants may face some challenges of effective communication and collaboration as compared to traditional face-to-face learning environments. The author discusses issues, concerns, and potential solutions with regard to online learning communities in the areas of discussion participation, group work on assignments, faculty concerns, and miscellaneous issues such as technology access. Maximizing the potential of online learning communities will facilitate higher-order learning in the technologically mediated twenty-first century classroom.

scholarly journals A Proposed Framework for the Growth of Online Learning Communities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nevine Mahmoud Fayek El Souefi
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Emotional Engagement ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

AbstractThe abrupt shift to full online learning due to COVID-19, displaced students and teachers, created multiple barriers in teaching and learning, and caused some instructors not being able to build and maintain an online learning community. This situation resulted in students’ detachment from their instructor and peers causing lack of motivation and increase of failure chances. First the paper explores the challenges and opportunities of building and online learning community highlighting the needs, and reviewes some past frameworks in the field. Second, a framework is proposed that identifies four factors that help the growth of online learning communities. Those facots are; teacher presence, social presence, cognitive presence and students’ emotional engagement. Further the framework  specifies type of actions and activities that teachers/instructors should be adopting throughout the course.  The paper adds to the growing knowledge on Coronavirus effects on the educational sector and highlights the need for the efficeint use of technology in education.

The Key Elements of Online Learning Communities

2010 ◽  
pp. 119-132
Author(s):  
Jianxia Du ◽  
Yunyan Liu ◽  
Robert L. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Media Choices

An online learning community can be a place for vibrant discussions and the sharing of new ideas in a medium where content constantly changes. This chapter will first examine the different definitions that researchers have provided for online learning communities. It will then illuminate several key elements that are integral to onlinelearning communities: interactivity, in both its task-driven and socio-emotional forms; collaboration, which both builds and nurtures online communities; trusting relationships, which are developed primarily through social interaction and consist of shared goals and a sense of belonging or connectedness; and communication media choices, which impact the other three elements. This chapter also provides suggestions for the practical application of these elementsin the online classroom.

Fostering Effective Learning Community in the Online Classroom

2018 ◽  
pp. 203-219
Author(s):  
Mary I. Dereshiwsky
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Online Classroom ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
Faculty Concerns ◽  
Face To Face Learning

Online learning communities are an important aspect of successful virtual learning experiences. They bring opportunities for peer collaboration and sharing of ideas in a globally based classroom unrestricted by time and space. At the same time, online learning community participants may face some challenges of effective communication and collaboration as compared to traditional face-to-face learning environments. The author discusses issues, concerns, and potential solutions with regard to online learning communities in the areas of discussion participation, group work on assignments, faculty concerns, and miscellaneous issues such as technology access. Maximizing the potential of online learning communities will facilitate higher-order learning in the technologically mediated twenty-first century classroom.

Tools and Methods for Supportiing Online Learning Communities and Their Evaluation

2011 ◽  
pp. 215-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Rigou ◽  
Spiros Sirmakessis ◽  
Dimitris Stavrinoudis ◽  
Michalis Xenos
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Specific Domain ◽  
Online Learning Community ◽  
Online Learning Communities ◽  
Quality Aspects

Scientific observation during the last years has indicated that learning on the web in many cases is accompanied and promoted by the creation and maintenance of an online learning community. The goal of this chapter is to define and describe the notion of online communities, describe their types and core functionalities, and focus on the specific domain of online learning communities. More specifically, it presents an overall categorization of the technological tools used for supporting online learning communities and suggests a set of general-purpose evaluation methods suitable for assessing quality aspects of these tools, along with a method for the statistical analysis of the derived data. The chapter concludes with a discussion on foreseen future trends concerning ways to enhance the everyday life of OLC inhabitants and upgrade the effect of online teaching and learning.

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