Community of Leaners

In my face to face classes, I have always designed instruction that included cooperative learning, jigsaw activities and group presentations. While working collaboratively, teacher candidates are building a sense of community that provides a model of best practices. In the online environment, the literature suggests that one of the major drawbacks is that students feel isolated as it relates to learning communities. In an attempt to provide a greater level of collaboration in the online environment, I structure multiple learning teams. Within the teams, the students are provided a weekly topic to facilitate and then interact with their peers on the weekly content. In facilitating these e-discussions, students are developing a greater level of understanding about a given topic and are also provided meaningful interaction with both the instructor and their peers.


In your experience, what online instructional design techniques are most effective for creating a greater sense of community among the students?

Joy