You are here:

Web 2.0 Technologies and Building Online Learning Communities: Students' Perspectives
ARTICLE

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks Volume 19, Number 2, ISSN 1939-5256

Full Text

Abstract

The purpose of this action research was to explore students' perspectives regarding using Web 2.0 technologies to develop a community of learners. The course described in this study was a fully online course in an Educational Learning Technologies master's program at a medium-sized university in the U.S. Southwest. A variety of Web 2.0 tools (Twitter, Google Docs, Skype, blogs, and wikis) were used throughout the course to enhance students' sense of community. The methods of data collection in this study included students' reflective journaling activities, the researcher's journal and field notes, and students' comments on each other's reflections. Students indicated that using Google Docs, wikis, blogs, and Twitter gave them a sense of a learning community while using Skype did not. Google Docs and wikis had the most impact on students' sense of a learning community in the course. Findings suggest that faculty interested in building learning communities in online environments need to use variety of Web 2.0 technologies in order to make students aware of those technologies' promise for supporting communication.

Citation

Abdelmalak, M.M.M. (2015). Web 2.0 Technologies and Building Online Learning Communities: Students' Perspectives. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 19(2),. Retrieved August 9, 2024 from .

This record was imported from ERIC on November 3, 2015. [Original Record]

ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

Copyright for this record is held by the content creator. For more details see ERIC's copyright policy.

Keywords

References

View References & Citations Map
  1. Buckingham, S. (2003). Perspectives on the experience of the learning community through discussions. Journal of Distance Education, 18(2), 74–91.
  2. Bonk, C., & Wisher, R. (2000). Applying collaborative and e-learning tools to military distance learning: A research framework. United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences.
  3. Brodahl, C., Hadjerrouit, S., & Hansen, N. (2011). Collaborative writing with Web 2.0 technologies: Education students’ perceptions. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 10, 73–103.
  4. Brook, C., & Oliver, R. (2003). Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 19(2), 139–160.
  5. Cobb, S. (2009). Social presence and online learning: A current view from a research perspective. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 8(3), 241–254.
  6. Conner, N. (2008). Google apps: The missing manual. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
  7. Conrad, R., & Donaldson, A. (2004). Engaging the online learners: Activities and resources for instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  8. Dell, D. (2004). Philosophy of online teaching. Capella University. Retrieved from creative http://dianadell.com/eportfolio/philosophy.html
  9. Dixon, J., Crooks, H., & Henry, K. (2006). Breaking the ice: Supporting collaboration and the development of community online. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 32(2), 1–14.
  10. Doran, C. (2001). The effective use of learning groups in online education. New Horizons in Adult Education, 15(2). Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/~aed/horizons/volume15n2.html
  11. Drapeau, M. (2009). What is Twitter’s vision? Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2009/02/02/what-istwitters-vision/
  12. Dunlap, J., & Lowenthal, P. (2009). Tweeting the night away: Using Twitter to enhance social presence. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 129–135.
  13. Fredericksen, E., Pickett, A., Shea, P., Pelz, W., & Swan, K. (2000). Student satisfaction and perceived learning with online courses: Principles and examples from the SUNY learning network. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 4(2), 7–41.
  14. Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87–105.
  15. Garrison, R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2003). Theory of critical inquiry in online distance education. In M. Moore& W. Anderson (Eds.). Handbook of distance education (113–128). London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  16. Gunawardena, C., Hermans, M., Sanchez, D., Richmond, C., Bohley, M., & Tuttle, R. (2009). A theoretical framework for building online communities of practice with social networking tools. Educational Media International, 46(1), 3–16.
  17. Hiltz, S.R. (1998). Collaborative learning in asynchronous learning environments: Building learning communities. The WebNet 98 World Conference of the WWW, Internet and Intranet Proceedings, Orlando, Florida.
  18. Kearns, L., & Frey, B. (2010). Web 2.0 technologies and backchannel communication in an learning community. TechTrends, 54(4), 41–51.
  19. Lambert, J., & Fisher, J. (2009). Community building in a Wiki-based distance education course. In G. Siemens& C. Fulford (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (1527–1531). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
  20. LaPadula, M. (2003). A comprehensive look at online student support services for distance The American Journal of Distance Education, 17(2), 119–128.
  21. HarperLowenthal, P.R. (2010). The evolution and influence of social presence theory on online learning. In T. Kidd (Ed.), Online education and adult learning: New frontiers for teaching practices (124–134). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  22. Lucky, R. (2009). To Twitter or not to Twitter? IEEE Spectrum, 46(1), 22–23.
  23. McMillan, D.W., & Chavis, D.M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of
  24. Moisey, S., Neu, C., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2008). Community building and computer-mediated conferencing. Journal of Distance Education, 22(2), 15–42.
  25. Moore, M. (1989). Three types of interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1–6.
  26. Murphy, K., Mahoney, S., & Harvell, T. (2000). Role of contracts in enhancing community building in Web courses. Educational Technology& Society, 3(3), 409–421.
  27. Overbaugh, R., & Lin, S. (2006). Student characteristics, sense of community, and cognitive achievement in Web-based and lab-based learning environments. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39(2), 205–223.
  28. Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  29. Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2009). Web 2.0 technologies and community building online. Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning.
  30. Parker, J., Boase-Jelinek, D., & Herrington, J. (2011). Perceptions and reflections: Using Skype chat to build a community of learners. Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning inCorporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 1599–1604). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
  31. Parra, J. (2013). Developing technology and collaborative groupwork skills: Supporting student and group success in online and blended courses. In C. Wankel & P. Blessinger (Eds.), Cutting-edge technologies in higher education: Vol. 6. Increasing student engagement and retention in elearning environments: Web 2.0 and blended learning technologies (pp. 287–337). Emerald
  32. Picciano, A. (2002). Beyond student perceptions: Issues of interaction, presence, and an online course. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 6(1), 21–40.
  33. Rovai, A.P. (2001). Building classroom community at a distance: A case study. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(4), 33–48.
  34. Rovai, A. (2002). Building sense of community at distance. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/79/152
  35. Russell, M. (1999). Online learning communities: Implications for adult learning. Adult Learning, 10(4), 28–31.
  36. Saldana, J. (2012). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
  37. Schrum, L., & Levin, B. (2009). Leading 21st century schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
  38. Scott, C., & Liu, Y. (2011). Using Wiki tools to promote community learning. In M. Koehler& P. Mishra (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology& Teacher Education International Conference (1671–1674). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
  39. Swan, K. (2002). Building learning communities in online courses: The importance of Education, Communication and Information, 2(1), 23–50.
  40. Tu, C., & Corry, M. (2002). ELearning communities. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 3(2), 207–218.
  41. Wang, H. (2005). A qualitative exploration of the social interaction in an online learning community. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 1(2), 79–88.
  42. Wiesenfeld, E. (1996). The concept of “we”: A community social psychology myth? The Journal_of Community Psychology, 24(4), 337–346.
  43. Windham, C. (2007). Reflecting, writing, and responding: Reasons student blog. Retrieved from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli8006c.pdf

These references have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. Signed in users can suggest corrections to these mistakes.

Suggest Corrections to References

Cited By

View References & Citations Map

These links are based on references which have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. If you see a mistake, please contact info@learntechlib.org.

Links