The Construction of Learning Communities Online

What do we consider a “community”? How do we know when we are considered part of a community? How many people are required to make a community? Are there benefits to communities being created online, or are they all-around better being in-person communities? These are all questions I considered as I read through this week’s readings.

What It Means To Be In A Community

In Chapter 2, Barab stated that a community is defined as “a multigenerational group of people, at work or play, whose identities are defined in large part by the roles they play and relationships they share in that group activity” (Barab et. al., 2004, page 18). While most people think of a community as being a group you meet with in-person, communities have recently been becoming a big part of the virtual world. They can bring people from all across the world together to come together and collaborate and learn together. For example, a specific type of community is a learning community in which there are learning opportunities to be had by all those within the community. There are a few different types of learning communities, such as Task-Based Learning Communities, Practice-Based Learning Communities, and Knowledge-Based Learning Communities.

Communities can be both successful & intentional, or even dysfunctional & chaotic; this all depends on those who are involved in the community. With that idea in mind, it is important to consider how involved and supported individuals are within the community. “Members occupy roles only with the implicit or explicit support of the community” (Barab et. al., 2004, page 19). I think about my own personal experiences in communities, both in-person and online. I, fortunately, have always had explicit support from family, friends, and other members in my communities; I haven’t had an experience where I exhibited little to no support. Unfortunately, I have had friends who were not treated properly in communities of their own, and it is so sad that some communities can cause such issues for some people.

Theories To Explain Community Workings

Two specific theories that the chapter discussed to go into the detail of how an individual within a community can develop their knowledge through changes in their roles. The first is Community of Practice, which if you look at the figure I shared below, shows how the community, the practices within the community, and the knowledge/domain that is the main focus within the group, all overlap with each other.

The other is the Activity Theory, which shows a bit more of an in-depth look at how elements within a community connect together. Not everything connects together, but they DO all connect back to the community representing how important each part is to form a community. Helen Hasan and Alanah Kazlauskas wrote an article about Activity Theory, and stated that “it is all about ‘who is doing what, why and how'” (Hasan et. al., 2014, page 9). If you look at the visual down below, you can see that it does show how the community (the who) can connect to the subject (which could be the what), to the object/outcome (which could be the why), and to the rules, division of labour, and to the instruments (which could be the how).

Implications For Virtual Communities

“Moving beyond community and taking the term ‘virtual’ as another example, the term implies something that is different from the ‘real.’ However, given the fluency with which people are transacting with the technical world, one wonders how to distinguish between the virtual and the real” (Barab et. al., 2004, page 5). When I think about virtual communities, I think about how people from all across the world can come together through a virtual platform to collaborate and discuss specific topics and subjects. Real issues are discussed, but through technical means. For example, Facebook is an example of a virtual community in which people can join specific groups to discuss specific topics that matter to them. I, personally, am part of a few teaching communities on Facebook in which we discuss classroom strategies, instructional tools, behavior management, and many other things that teachers face on a daily basis. It is beneficial to me to talk and “hear” from other members in my group, especially during times like this in which the teaching field is going through a rough patch. While I do enjoy this, I do wish for more opportunities to discuss such things with these people in a “real in-person” setting.

Conclusions:

Jean Houston once said, “It would be wonderful if people could grow together in groups, teaching and learning communities where they empower, evoke, explore the enormous capacities of the human condition.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement, especially after reading more about learning communities in our weekly readings. Learning communities can be a powerful tool within an educational setting, but it is important to maintain it successfully in which members are constantly finding and learning knowledge, are able to collaborate with one another, and keep it to where the community could last for multiple generations to experience, too. I, personally, see a lot of benefits from having virtual learning communities in which to do more research and gain more knowledge about specific topics. Even so, I do see where some people feel that virtual learning communities are overrated in that we are all about technology these days. One thing I always worry about is that they can lead to negativity, online bullying, lack in confidence, and other not-so-good outcomes. That’s why, especially as an educator, I think it is important to tell students why we have to be smart when using technology to communicate with others on online platforms. It is vital that they be taught how to use virtual learning communities wisely; that’s why we have Digital Citizenship lessons with them.

Some optional questions I have for my readers are:

1. How do you think online communities can maintain a positive environment in which members feel safe and confident enough to share their thoughts, opinions, and communicate with other members?
2. Have you ever been part of a community in which you had to leave due to inappropriate management? Why do you think groups like these are still around instead of being dealt with right away?
3. From your own experiences, and especially after this week’s readings, do you think it is better to have in-person (real) communities versus virtual communities? Both have their pros and cons, but if we were given the choice to have only one, which do you think would be smarter to have around?

Resources:

Barab, S. A., Kling, R., & Gray, J. H. (Eds.). (2004). Designing for virtual communities in the service of learning. Cambridge University Press. 

Hasan, Helen and Kazlauskas, Alanah, “Activity Theory: who is doing what, why and how” (2014). Faculty of Business – Papers (Archive). 403. https://ro.uow.edu.au/buspapers/403