Re-Visiting Democratic Pedagogy in the Context of Virtual Learning Communities

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 47-58
Author(s):  
Hayriye Tugba Oztürk
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Democratic Education ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Open Education ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Democratic Pedagogy

The purpose of this research is two-fold. First, it provides an overview of the debates over whether technology facilitates democratic education. Second, from this emergent body of discussions in the literature, it critically examines the potential of a virtual learning community to materialise democratic education, both through its underpinning of ideal values such as autonomy, participation and mutuality and through the technological spaces which learners inhabit. Virtual learning communities (VLCs) are increasingly appearing in the field of open education and in that sense, these emerging virtual communities demand a new understanding of democratic pedagogy. With regard to this, drawing on the theoretical debates, it aims to discuss how technology can take place in re-exploring the democratic pedagogy under the scope of VLCs. In doing this, a critical in-depth literature review was undertaken in an emergent area of virtual communities by aiming to contribute to the discussions over conceptualizing the democratic VLCs.

Knowledge Access and Interaction Evolution in Virtual Learning Communities

2012 ◽  
pp. 1019-1038
Author(s):  
Maria Chiara Caschera ◽  
Alessia D’Andrea ◽  
Fernando Ferri ◽  
Patrizia Grifoni
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Support Interaction ◽  
Interesting Alternative

Interaction among members in Virtual Learning Communities influences the communities’ evolution. Starting from this consideration, this chapter provides a discussion on the more widely used software systems that support interaction between virtual communities’ members and virtual learning environment underlining the advantages and the disadvantages considering the several processes that characterize the VLCs. Moreover in education environments interactions are important in order to facilitate the learning process, and this chapter describes how the intelligent agent approaches can bean interesting alternative to a human facilitator. The analysis of intelligent agents describes how they allow both analysing interaction and improving the level of participation of members of a Virtual Learning Community.

Knowledge Access and Interaction Evolution in Virtual Learning Communities

2010 ◽  
pp. 113-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Chiara Caschera ◽  
Alessia D’Andrea ◽  
Fernando Ferri ◽  
Patrizia Grifoni
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Support Interaction ◽  
Interesting Alternative

Interaction among members in Virtual Learning Communities influences the communities’ evolution. Starting from this consideration, this chapter provides a discussion on the more widely used software systems that support interaction between virtual communities’ members and virtual learning environment underlining the advantages and the disadvantages considering the several processes that characterize the VLCs. Moreover in education environments interactions are important in order to facilitate the learning process, and this chapter describes how the intelligent agent approaches can bean interesting alternative to a human facilitator. The analysis of intelligent agents describes how they allow both analysing interaction and improving the level of participation of members of a Virtual Learning Community.

Analysis of Students’ Engagement and Activities in a Virtual Learning Community

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Daniel ◽  
Richard A. Schwier
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Online Pedagogy ◽  
Virtual Learning Community

With advances in communication technology and online pedagogy, virtual learning communities have become rich learning environments in which individuals construct knowledge and learn from others. Typically, individuals in virtual learning communities interact by exchanging information and sharing knowledge and experiences with others as communities. The team at the Virtual Learning Community Research Laboratory has employed an array of methods, including social network analysis (SNA), to examine and describe different virtual learning communities. The goal of the study was to employ mixed methods to explore whether the content of students’ interaction reflected the fundamental elements of community. SNA techniques were used to analyse ties and relationships among individuals in a network with the goal of understanding patterns of interactions among individuals and their activities, and interviews were conducted to explore features and student perceptions of their learning community.

scholarly journals Teachers Access to a Brazilian Virtual Learning Community Over Time: Why They do Not Come Back

EAD em FOCO ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Pinto da Luz ◽  
Daniel Salvador ◽  
Luiz Rolando
Keyword(s):  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Biology Teachers ◽  
Sharp Drop ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Demographic Profiles ◽  
Digital Skills

A virtual learning community, created in association with courses offered within an online professional development program for Brazilian biology teachers, was reviewed over a two-year period. This virtual learning community is designed to be moderated and managed solely by the teachers themselves without any guidance. The results showed a recurring participation pattern, expressed by a large number of page and message views, for short periods of time during the courses, followed by a sharp drop in those views after the courses closed. This pattern was unrelated to course subject or duration. The questionnaires revealed that teachers who did or did not access the virtual community after the end of their courses were indistinguishable from their demographic profiles or digital skills. The analysis of teachers responses to the questionnaire showed that the lack of time due to work overload was the main reason why teachers abandoned the virtual learning community, regardless of highly positive user evaluations. The implications of the results for the future implementation of virtual learning communities in developing countries are discussed. Keywords: In-service teacher education. Lifelong learning. Virtual Learning Communities

Analysis of Students’ Engagement and Activities in a Virtual Learning Community

2013 ◽  
pp. 80-100
Author(s):  
Ben Daniel ◽  
Richard A. Schwier
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Online Pedagogy ◽  
Virtual Learning Community

With advances in communication technology and online pedagogy, virtual learning communities have become rich learning environments in which individuals construct knowledge and learn from others. Typically, individuals in virtual learning communities interact by exchanging information and sharing knowledge and experiences with others as communities. The team at the Virtual Learning Community Research Laboratory has employed an array of methods, including social network analysis (SNA), to examine and describe different virtual learning communities. The goal of the study was to employ mixed methods to explore whether the content of students’ interaction reflected the fundamental elements of community. SNA techniques were used to analyse ties and relationships among individuals in a network with the goal of understanding patterns of interactions among individuals and their activities, and interviews were conducted to explore features and student perceptions of their learning community.

scholarly journals Mediando a Aprendizagem de Idiomas pela Internet em Comunidades Virtuais

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerson Bruno Forgiarini de Quadros
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Activity ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Learning Language

Resumo: Esta pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, tem como objetivo mostrar os elementos que envolvem a aprendizagem do espanhol como língua estrangeira (E/LE) em uma comunidade virtual de aprendizagem de idiomas conhecida como Livemocha. O propósito dessa comunidade é dar aos aprendizes a possibilidade de compartilhar interesses em comum, como aprender o espanhol, conhecer pessoas ao redor do mundo e suas culturas. Desse modo, o estudo de caso realizado nesta investigação, considerada netnográfica, buscou compreender, sob a ótica da Teoria da Atividade (TA) e das Comunidades de Aprendizagem, o modo como os estudantes de uma escola pública, sujeitos do estudo, se mobilizaram para construir seus conhecimentos em relação a um idioma estrangeiro em um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem. Os dados mostram que o sistema da atividade de aprendizagem de espanhol, mediado pelo Livemocha, é organizado e regido por regras e divisão de tarefas, assim os sujeitos nos processos de aprendizagem ora assumem o papel de aluno, ora o de professor. Identificou-se que os sujeitos integrados à comunidade virtual e com orientação presencial se mantiveram motivados para a sua aprendizagem. Mas à medida que atividades se repetiam e as interações presenciais foram reduzindo houve desinteresse e perda de estímulo. Esse fenômeno se explica pela noção de Entropia Sociointerativa, na qual a energia da interatividade na comunidade virtual é fundamental para que ela se sustente. Palavras-chave: Comunidades virtuais, aprendizagem, idiomas. MEDIATING LANGUAGEM LEARNING THROUGH THE INTERNET IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES Abstract: This research, considered as a qualitative study, aims to show the elements that involve the learning of Spanish as a foreign language in a virtual learning community language known as Livemocha. The purpose of this community is to give learners the ability to share common interests, how to learn Spanish, they meet people around the world and their cultures. Thus, the case study conducted in this investigation, considered nethnographic, sought to understand under the perspective of Activity Theory (AT) and Learning Communities, the way how the students at a public school, subjects of this study, were mobilized to build their knowledge about a foreign language in a virtual learning environment. The data show that the system of learning activity Spanish, mediated by Livemocha is organized and governed by rules and division of labor, so the subjects in the learning process now assume the role of student, now a teacher. It was found that subjects integrated into the community with guidance in virtual and remained motivated for their learning. But as the activities are repeated and the interactions were reduced the attendance were apathy and loss of motivation. This phenomenon is explained by the notion of social interactive entrophy in which the interaction’s energy in the virtual community is crucial to sustain it. Keywords: Virtual communities. Learning, Language. 

Virtual Learning Communities in Google Plus, Implications, and Sustainability in MOOCs

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Martinez-Nuñez ◽  
Oriol Borras-Gene ◽  
Ángel Fidalgo-Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Informal Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Business Professionals ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
New Model ◽  
Over Time

Two major educational strengths that MOOCs provide are informal learning and harnessing the collective intelligence of the students and the interactions among other users like former students, future students, business professionals, other universities, etc. These features may lead to the emergence of new sustainable in time educational elements wherein knowledge and learning continue enriching once the course finished. At present, one of the main limitations of the MOOC platforms is the lack of social open tools to enhance and take advantage of the collective intelligence generated in the course. This article proposes a new model to allocate informal learning and collective intelligence in MOOCs using external virtual learning communities through social networks, based on Google +. The main aim of this article is to assess the virtual learning community performance and analyze the interactions and the kinds of learning that take place inside the community and over time. A case of study of a MOOC course with Google + community is presented.

Teacher Human Resources Development Based on Virtual Learning Community

2012 ◽  
Vol 263-266 ◽  
pp. 3505-3509
Author(s):  
Dan Dan Wei ◽  
Xiao Qiang Hu ◽  
Ling He
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Human Resources Development ◽  
Continuous Development ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Resources Development

This paper explores atmosphere construction, learning environment supporting, and specific embody of teacher human resources development based on virtual learning communities, in order to promote teacher profession continuous development from the view of human resources development.

scholarly journals Members’ Behavior in Virtual Learning Community: A Study Using Data Mining Approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Xiaokang Li ◽  
Yu Nie ◽  
Min Chen ◽  
Xiaoqing Liu ◽  
Xiaolei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Association Rule ◽  
Rule Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Virtual Learning Community ◽  
Knowledge Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Analysis Method

Purpose: With the development of information technology, online virtual learning community is on its way to become an important approach for people to construction and sharing of knowledge. Researches on virtual learning community are not only important to the establishment and management of virtual learning community itself, but are helpful for people’s quest for the future development of online learning. However, current researches related to the virtual learning community are in inadequacy, and especially the application of quantitative analysis method for research is rarely seen. Using quantitative analysis method of data mining to study members’ behavior in online learning communities. Method: In this article, the discussion data (posts) from five online English virtual learning communities in China are sampled and colleted. These data were processed according to a series of guidelines to obtain proper data documents, and these data documents were opened under Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis and then carried out preprocessing. Next, the module of association rule learning in Waikato Environment Knowledge Analysis were used to perform mining on these processed data, and obtained a series of potential behavior rules in these communities. The partial rules have been listed in the article with their meaning analyzed. Findings: The result shows that in this setting it is feasible to apply the association rule learning to virtual learning community. Value: It provides approaches and lays the foundation for future relevant studies.

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