inquiry in online learning environments

Social capital has recently emerged as an important interdisciplinary research area. It is frequently used as a framework for understanding various social issues in temporal communities, neighbourhoods and groups. In particular, researchers in the social sciences and the humanities have used social capital to understand trust, shared understanding, reciprocal relationships, social network structures, common norms and cooperation, and the roles these entities play in various aspects of temporal communities. Despite proliferation of research in this area, little work has been done to extend this effort to technology-driven learning communities (also known as virtual learning communities). This paper surveys key interdisciplinary research areas in social capital. It also explores how the notions of social capital and trust can be extended to virtual communities, including virtual learning communities and distributed communities of practice. Research issues surrounding social capital and trust as they relate to technology-driven learning communities are identified.

Two collaborative forms of organizing dominate discussion of open participation and production on the Internet: a crowdsourcing model based on microparticipation from many, unconnected individuals, and a virtual community model, based on strong connections among a committed set of connected members. This paper argues that dimensions such as task interdependence, authority control, and group focus underpin behaviors associated with participation in such open systems, resulting in contributory behaviors that can be described at one end as ‘lightweight’, functioning by weak-tie attachment to a common purpose, enacted through authority-determined, rule-based contribution, and at the other end as ‘heavyweight’, operating through strong-tie affiliation with community members and community purpose, enacted through internallynegotiated, peer-reviewed contribution. Examination and articulation of these dimensions, and the resulting patterns of contributory behavior they engender, help reconcile peer production and virtual community approaches to online collaboration, explain motivational and structural aspects of new forms of collaborative production, and inform design for building and sustaining collective contributory systems. 1.

This paper reports the findings from a longitudinal case study at University of York, UK. It aims to investigate the development of social presence among online members in textbased online learning environment. The transcripts from the electronic bulletin boards posted by online students and tutors in Health Economics for Health Care Professionals by Distance Learning Programme were studied using a research technique called content analysis. The findings from this study suggest that students and tutors in this programme employed different types and exhibited different degree of social presence when communicating in OLCs. However, similar patterns of social presence were found in each group of online participants.

communities and distributed communities of practice. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 29(3), 113-139. Social capital has recently emerged as an important interdisciplinary research area. It is frequently used as a framework for understanding various social issues in temporal communities, neighbourhoods and groups. In particular, researchers in the social sciences and the humanities have used social capital to understand trust, shared understanding, reciprocal relationships, social network structures, common norms and cooperation, and the roles these entities play in various aspects of temporal communities. Despite proliferation of research in this area, little work has been done to extend this effort to technology-driven learning communities (also known as virtual learning communities). This paper surveys key interdisciplinary research areas in social capital. It also explores how the notions of social capital and trust can be extended to virtual communities, including virtual learning communities and distributed communities of practice. Research issues surrounding social capital and trust as they relate to technology-driven learning communities are identified.

This study examined the nature of virtual schooling in Newfoundland and Labrador secondary education. The primary goals of this research were to investigate the virtual school learning experience for students in the Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation (CDLI) including the kinds of support and assistance most frequently used and most valued by students learning in a virtual environment. Data were collected related to what students did during their asynchronous class and synchronous class time, along with where they sought help when they needed content-based assistance. Students were interviewed and observed during their virtual school class time. In-school teachers were interviewed and e-teachers were also observed. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method utilizing Microsoft Word ® as a tool for qualitative data analysis. Findings indicated that during their asynchronous class time students were often assigned seat work or provided time to work on assignments, however, students rarely used this time to complete CDLI work. When the students required assistance they usually relied upon their local classmates. If peer support was not successful, they turned to their e-teacher if it was during synchronous class time or if they had the time to wait for a response. If it was during asynchronous class time or if they needed more immediate feedback, they would seek out their in-school teachers. Students rarely used most of the support resources provided by the CDLI. Further research is needed to improve asynchronous teaching strategies exhibited, to better understand the virtual school experience of lower performing students, to improve upon the identification of students who will be successful in and provide remediation for students who are weak in certain characteristics, and finally to investigate how e-teachers and in-school teachers encourage greater interaction and sense of community to allow students to learn in the social process from their more capable peers. As the goals of this future research are to impact the practice of virtual schooling, design/development research may be a suitable methodology for these future studies.

Planning for the implementation of quality and sustainable e-leaning programmes requires an understanding of the impact of information and communication technology on the higher education market and on current teaching and learning practices in order to identify critical success factors that have to be addressed in an e-learning strategy. New e-learning models are continually emerging as new research findings in the area of e-learning become available. E-learning models are attempts to develop frameworks to address the concerns of the learner and the challenges presented by the technology so that online learning can take place effectively. In the strategic planning process these models provide useful tools for evaluating existing e-learning initiatives or determining critical success factors. This article explores the reasons why universities are driven to implement e-learning and reviews three selected e-learning models. The aim is to identify the critical issues in the e-learning models that have to be addressed in a strategic planning process for the implementation of e-learning or the adjustment of existing e-learning initiatives.

The potentials of elearning are likely to be explored for many years to come in view of some of its obvious logistical benefits for learners and apparent financial incentives for institutions. One would hope that such exploration of teaching practice would have a parallel research program to investigate the nature and effects of dialogue and communities of enquiry in elearning in higher education. The common sense approach to this issue is to compare outcomes of elearning with those of classroom learning, but this approach has proven to be too simplistic to satisfy those attempting to understand the characteristics and potentials of elearning. As Garrison and Anderson (2003) put it, “Why would we expect to find significant differences if we do exactly the same thing [in the two modes of learning]…? ” (p. 6). They conceptualize the changes prompted by elearning as more radical than what can be captured through assessment of outcomes and comparisons with outcomes from classroom learning. At the core of the issue, in their view, is that education is about ideas not facts, and that elearning provides more than access to information; it affords opportunities for communication and interaction. But how does one assess how well learners are formulating ideas through

In the recent past, the proliferation of digitally available content heralded the beginning of serious problems for the business models of publishers. The ease with which content can be accessed, copied and distributed disrupts the control of those whose role has been to manage and profit from the intellectual property rights of content producers. In effect, the number of “publishers ” increased many fold as the Web and other Internet-based technologies became the dominant mode of content distribution. In education, and in other fields, matters of intellectual property, copyright and quality control came to the fore. More recently, with the advent of webbased software that makes publishing online available to anyone with access to the Internet the number of “publishers ” and modes of publication have increased massively. The shift from a Web which was, for many a read only environment to a read/write Web poses not only ongoing problems for the traditional distributors of content but also now, for the traditional producers of content and knowledge. In this respect, the role of universities as designers and producers of learning materials for credentialed learning is also under challenge. Just as publishers explore alternative business models to adapt to the new digital environment, now universities have begun to explore new ways of working with so-called Web2 software to support teaching and learning online. In particular, some Web2 software affords new opportunities for and different modes of collaboration, which in the view of some points to student participation in knowledge production. While these developments represent important and significant shifts for universities, this paper draws attention to the lack of empirical data and situated contextual knowledge concerning intellectual property rights for knowledge constructed in a collaborative context. In addition, we explore issues in relation to the maintenance of academic integrity and quality where knowledge building takes place in a collaborative, online environment.

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