Building an Online Learning Community by Ron Zimmerman
The idea of building an online learning community has fascinated me ever since I first started using the web in my teaching (1995). My first experience with an online learning community was an Advanced Placement listserv. The listserv was my lifeline during the first year I taught AP U.S. History. I was able to get many good ideas and learn from veteran teachers.
For the most part, I was a passive participate to the listserv and did not contribute to the many ongoing discussions. As an undergraduate student, I was definitely not a passive learner. I was the guy in class who always asked questions and stayed after class to talk with my professors and classmates. As I have pursued graduate courses online, I have noticed that the type of learning management system a school uses can greatly influence the nature and perception of a learning community As an online graduate student, I have had the opportunity to learn using eCollege and Blackboard, two popular learning management systems (LMS). Most recently, I have the most experience with Blackboard and will focus my comments on this LMS. As a student using Blackboard, I have often been frustrated by the lack of a sense of community. It is my assertion that the LMS itself can be a barrier to building a sense of community in an online learning space.
For the purposes of this article, I will be discussing the relative merits of developing an online learning community in the open source LMS Moodle.
Basic Elements of a LMS that build community
The most basic element of a LMS that allow for interaction among students and teachers is the threaded discussion board or forum. These discussion boards allow student and teachers to respond to questions and interact with each other. In my experience, the nature and structure of Blackboard’s discussion boards limits the development of community. Both Blackboard and Moodle offer students and teachers discussion boards, chat rooms and collaborative learning tools such as wiki pages. Moodle’s implantation of these tools leads to higher student and teacher satisfaction. (Munoz 2005) Like most discussion boards, Moodle and Blackboard allow users to post original messages and reply to other postings. What separates the two systems is the order in which the postings are sorted. Blackboard puts the oldest post first, and Moodle places the newest post first. The later makes more sense to engage all posters to a discussion board. If I post mid week to Blackboard, my post ends up at the bottom of the list. When other students view my post they must scroll down to see it and any other new posting. In contrast, Moodle places the newest posting first and new viewers of the discussion board will see this posting first when they view the discussion board. This feature allows later posters in the discussion board to get the same visibility as first posters do in Blackboard.
This difference in sort order of postings allows all posters in a discussion board equal billing at the top of the discussion. Some students develop a reputation as being an early or late poster. Moodle’s default sort allows each poster time at the top of the list which should build a better community. Creating Identity in Blackboard and Moodle In a classroom, students and teachers can use many modalities to communicate and establish a sense of identity. The online learning space must use a different set of tools to allow students and teachers the ability to express themselves beyond simple text.
One way that people express their personality in online discussion boards is through the use of a personal graphic that represents the user and through the use of emoticons. Moodle’s discussion boards make use of both of these expressions of self. (Melton 2004) Users can select any graphic, including a photo of the user, as their personal icon. This icon appears next to that person’s post and creates an instant identification with the writer. This allows fellow classmates to see the user as well as read what the user has posted. Blackboard does not allow for a personal graphic in its system. Readers only get the name of the poster when they are reading another person’s posting. Emoticons are small graphics that ). This allow users to represent emotions. The most basic is the happy face ( simple graphic conveys the state of mind of the user and allows users to create a since of emotional state when communicating. Blackboard does not offer this common discussion board feature.
Developing a Sense of Class
In a classroom setting it is pretty clear who is there and who is not. How can an online learning space recreate this sense of presence? Moodle has many features that help create a sense of class. • list (with personal graphic) of who is online • list of participants in the class • recent activity listing • custom user profiles • multi-user chat • instant messaging (IM) By seeing who is currently online with you, a user has a sense of being in class with their fellow students. (Melton 2004) Users can even send an instant message to a fellow classmate about a question they may have about the class. This one to one communication is more like being face to face. Moodle supports all of theses features. Blackboard allows for user to chat but does not have a way of displaying who is online or active in the course.
Conclusion
Many students new to online learning express feelings of isolation and lack a personal connection to the course. A LMS can have an impact on these feelings of isolation. Moodle does a better job of creating a sense of community through the use of identity building tools than Blackboard.
About the author
Ron Zimmerman teaches social science at Anderson New Technology High School. As a student, I have had the opportunity to learn using eCollege, Blackboard, and Moodle. I have taught high school courses using Blackboard, Moodle, and Lotus Notes. I am currently developing an online economics course in Moodle for high school students.
Resources
Berggren, A. (2005). Practical and Pedagogical Issues for Teacher Adoption of IMS Learning Design Standards in Moodle LMS. Retrieved February 11, 2007, from http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/2005/02/berggren-2005-02-paper.html Bremer, D., & Bryant, R. (2005). A Comparison of Two Learning management Systems: Moodle vs Blackboard. Retrieved February 11, 2007, from http://www.naccq.ac.nz/conference05/proceedings_05/concise/bremer_moodle.pdf Mazza, R., & Milani, C. (2005, November 18). Exploring Usage Analysis in Learning Systems: Gaining Insights From Visualisations. Retrieved February 11, 2007, from http://www.istituti.usilu.net/mazzar/Web/Web_area/Pubblicazioni/aied05/aied-ws2005.pdf Melton, J. (2004). The CMS Moodle: A Heuristic Evaluation. Retrieved February 11, 2007, from http://www.pu-kumamoto.ac.jp/~jay/pres/2004/jaltcall/moodleheuristics.pdf Munoz, K., & Von Duzer, J. (2005, April 15). Blackboard vs. Moodle: A Comparison of Satisfaction with Online Teaching and Learning Tools. Retrieved February 11, 2007, from http://www.humboldt.edu/~jdv1/moodle/all.htm Philosophy – MoodleDocs. (2006, December 25). Retrieved February 11, 2007, from http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy Robert Godwin-Jones, R. (2006). EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: Tag Clouds in the Blogosphere: Electronic Literacy and Social Networking. Retrieved February 11, 2007, from
http://llt.msu.edu/vol10num2/emerging/default.html