Wk 3: Role of Community in Online Class

 Community in class as opposed to a community that comes together voluntarily are different. The example in Digital Habitats (Wegner et al., 2009) is about a community that comes together voluntarily because of a common interest. Students in an online class are in the discussion forum because it is a requirement. Sometimes, community in a class feels forced. It has no permanence. But, if handled properly, during that limited time when the online students have shared ideals and goals, community exists. Having the first post about oneself, as Dr. Novak required, helps the students get to know each other and find a few things in common. By having the entire class post and the entire class read, gave us the opportunity to get a feel for our classmates. But having an entire class in a single thread is often too much. It becomes easy to get lost and only the most frequent voice gets heard. In our second assignment, with only four of us, we begin to get a better feel for how we approach the material. Between the two threads we know a little about each other personally as well as academically. Smaller group helps to start the growth of community.

But I dont it is a requirement to have small groups for their to be a community.  Look at today's MOOCs.  Some have 1000's participating.  While its true that a person cant have a meaningful relationship with 1000's at one time.  I find that within the MOOC I glance at many posts and tweets, and begin to find those who either I agree with or challenge my beliefs and focus in on developing a community with that group.

ROLE OF SYNCHRONOUS COLLABORATION TOOLS

This week we had the opportunity to interact synchronously through Blackboard Elluminate.  It is one of the few times that we several of us are on at the same time, and we can hear and see each other.  Synchronous communications certainly has its benefits.  It helps to create community as it makes each participate appear as fully human.  The downside is that it is, of course, synchronous.  If someone took this class specifically because of its asynchronous attributes, having to be available at a proscribed time is actually stressful and sometimes impossible.  (Fortunately, a third time slot was added for this week.)  There are other issues related to web conferencing.  The technology requires that folks be careful not to trip over each other (ie not speak at the same time, if there is no echo cancellation - cant have mics open at the same time etc.)  This means that someone has to "run" the session.  In our case, the session was run by the instructor.  I find that during our asynchronous activities there's a feeling of democracy.  During the synchronous session there was much more of a traditional feel of being instructor led.  This is not bad, just an item to point out.  Elluminate does not support continuous presence (I believe that Collaborate does - but I haven't played with it yet.)  Thus, only the video of the the person speaking can be seen.  With continuous presence it easier to have a conversation, rather than a lecture with student questions and participation.  One of the features that I like the best, is the ability to have back channel talk via the chat.  It helps to organize who is speaking next, gives folks an opportunity to make side comments and share information without disrupting the flow from the current speaker.  Overall, I enjoy participating in synchronous collaborations, particularly those with audio and video like Elluminate.