Amy Graff
EDUI 6707
February 10, 2008
Having taught at a community college for several years, I remember many students who literally sat in class and did not seem to have many connections. Being part of a community is extremely important in college. Adding clubs online to the existing on campus ones would be very beneficial. It would allow students and instructors to interact in new and inventive ways creating a greater community.
When I was an undergraduate in college, joining a club wasn’t a big issue. At that point in time, it was more important for us to get our degrees, get good grades, and get out in four years. Now it seems that students are more social and want to join clubs. Many students find that joining clubs looks good on their resumes, provides a great social network, offers study reviews, provides access to old exams, and offers free food at many meetings. For today’s student in college, clubs are a great way to build social capital (Hopkins & Thomas, n.d.) and to build relationships with other students and faculty members. The big question is how do we offer these same ideas to the online student who wants to be in a club? With colleges expanding in both face-to-face and online courses, it makes me wonder how we can help clubs join the race to be online. Clubs have a purpose for all students whether they are taking courses face-to-face or online. With online courses becoming more and more available to students, there needs to be the same options for online students as face-to-face students. Students who get degrees online and never set foot on a college campus need to experience the college life from the virtual world. There must be a way for this to be accomplished.
In 1998, Florida Virtual School (FLVS) launched its very first virtual student club. The club was for students who were interested in environmental and science issues. It was open to all students and approximately 50 students joined. Any preparatory work that the students do for competitions is done without meeting face-to-face. At the present time students in this online school can participate in about 10 clubs (Pozo-Olano, 2006). College students who have the motivation and want to learn should be able to also succeed in an online club with their counterparts in the face-to-face realm. Students can obtain so much good information from joining a club.
At The University of Maryland University College, the Department of Academic Success manages more than twelve virtual academic clubs (Information and Library Services, 2007). Within their online clubs, they are able to create a network among faculty, professionals, and peers in certain academic disciplines. The great aspect of their virtual clubs is that they have virtual seminars in which guest speakers come to discuss their field of study. Students can also learn about graduate and career opportunities as well as participate in professional development activities (Information and Library Services, 2007). Looking at the University of Maryland, I think that creating clubs for online students and linking them with face-to-face students would definitely be beneficial. The dynamics of having guest speakers online and not having to schedule a specific time and place on campus makes perfect sense. Also, if the guest speaker online could provide a podcast, then online students would be able to see the guest speaker when it was convenient to their schedule. This would definitely open new ideas for each discipline.
Students who are looking for study partners within a specific discipline would be able to have more possibilities with online clubs. If clubs were online and students were able to chat with other students through a discussion board, wiki, or IM, then another window has been opened. Students joining clubs are always looking for the trust that comes with social capital (Vivian & Sudweeks, 2003). Since students who join a club usually trust the other students who they are working with and networking with, then it is safe to assume that these students would feel more comfortable knowing that there is a facilitator working with them as well as other students who have already had the course either online or face-to-face (they are one in the same as far as material is concerned). Having a trusted relationship with a faculty member in a club setting would allow for new “adventures” to take place. If faculty members could be looked at as more than just the instructor, then students might trust them as well and ask for more help from instructor through the online clubs.
From my standpoint, having an online club for both chemistry and mathematics would be very encouraging and beneficial for students. Being able to have a club online and have help from both instructors as well as peers would allow for many more interactions as well as open many doors for students. Also, with mathematics it would allow both online and face-to-face students to compete in competitions if students wanted. The chemistry club at many schools is sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS). This allows students to have a student rate with ACS. It also allows students to become a member of the ACS chapter. It would be great if online students could have the same opportunities as face-to-face students with ACS chapters. There would be kinks to work out because not all students live in the same part of the country as the school they would be associated with, but being associated with a school that is ACS accredited is very important to students who want to major in chemistry or a closely related field. I believe that students would benefit greatly from virtual clubs and the guest speakers that could be included to help them gain new knowledge.
The actual procedure on how to form an online/virtual club is completely up to the school forming the club. Each route that is chosen would be different depending on the needs that were being addressed. A CMS could be chosen if the school already had one in place, but schools may not want to use that method and therefore choose a website. This area should be left up to each organization as to the method of forming the online club. Possible ideas to consider:
• Platform to run the club on
• Members
• Guidelines
• Content
• Catch phrase to keep students coming back
As online education continues to grow, the need for clubs in the online community also grows. If colleges can design and offer clubs that interest the students, then online students can participate in activities like face-to-face students do. The benefit of these virtual clubs is that they would provide a much needed bridge for the gap that exists because of little or no communication of online students with the face-to-face campus. Bridging this gap with clubs brings the entire community together as one. This is the meaning of a community – this is what needs to be done.
References
Hopkins, L. & Thomas, J. (n.d.). e-social capital: Building community through electronic networks. Retrieved January 30, 2007 from http://www.sisr.net/publications/nd_hopkins_2.pdf
Information and Library Services. (2007, Spring). The UMUC Information and Library Services Newsletter. Retrieved January 30, 2007, from http://www.umuc.edu/library/newsletters/newsSpring2007.shtml
Pozo-Olano, J. (2006, January 5). Online clubs build community at FLVS; Students excel at local and state competitions. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.flvs.net/general/press/Student%20Clubs%20Final.pdf
Vivian, N. & Sudweeks, F. (2003, June). Social networks in transnational and virtual communities. Informing Science, 1431-1437. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.informingscience.org/proceedings/IS2003Proceedings/docs/192Vivia.pdf