Exploring Online Communities Essay

The Internet has come into people’s life for several decades now. With rapid development of technology, it is more and more convenient to talk with families, friends and even strangers at any time at any place through the internet. In virtual communities is a place to share personal ideas on any topics, technology, fashion, music, politics, sports and religion. There are a number of different communities, such as communities of

Hunter, B., & Austin, R. (2015). Building Community Through Online Learning in Colleges. College Quarterly, 18(1).

The online world has ensured various learning capabilities that make use of communication through writing. The aspects of communication provided have led to varied knowledge and skills that are essential for learning. The online world has instilled the discipline of patience and the skills of critical thinking as learners communicate through discussion boards and other social media platforms. The online world has increased knowledge capabilities on different minds as it ensures various aspects of asking questions from a varied line of resources. Human minds have been a great source of information as members share their experiences and learning modalities with each other (Hansen, 2008).

When making a decision to participate in online learning, there are numerous decisions that must be made by the participant. Setting aside time specifically for online learning is a must in order to be successful. It is important to read the syllabus to establish timelines for reading and completing assignments in a timely manner. Having the option of working with others in learning communities can afford opportunities to share ideas and collaborate with other learners. Nagel, Blignaut & Cronje, (2007) talked extensively about the establishment of an online community as a prerequisite

The second major trend to be aware of is the virtual community - a social network of individuals who interact with each other without the constraints of geography, time zones, political or economic situations, weather, or demography all that matters is that they are able to come together to form a culture in which they

Since then, a lot of progress has been made but surely not enough. Nevertheless, as we enter a new age—the age of connectivity—let us hope that society connects more in humanity and community, rather than the online

1) How did online contribution impart learning and successful course completion? 2) How did involvement impact the learning community? (Bernard, 199). The authors used qualitative method to carry out this research. And this method allows them to know which students is participating, not participating, students’ original posting and replies to others’ students, class perception, reactions, and also the number of times a student accesses the various course areas. After using this method, the authors find out that the effect of participating and not participating in an online course is different. ( Sharp & Fretchling, 1997). According to Collison et al. (2000), students who contribute in a healthy online community support their community and their contribution becomes evident without expecting rewards from their professor. Furthermore, the successful students were the most active and involved in the virtual community, by contributing more posts, replying to a larger percentage of fellow student posts, displaying collaborative behavior, and readily providing

The article abstract introduces the purpose of this study as seeking to “understand the techniques experienced online teachers learned in order to be present with their students.” (p. 104). The authors define presence “as the ways in which human beings interact with one another” (p. 104). Background information and an overview of previous research related to computer mediated communication (CMC) is provided. Early research in the field (Gunawardena, 1995) is described as indicating that this form of communication is frequently perceived as “interesting or engaging, but not of a ‘social’ nature.” Later work was cited by others including Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) that resulted in a “Community of Inquiry” framework describing learning as occurring for both teachers and learners in a model made up of three forms of “presence.” The described forms of presence are: cognitive presence, teaching presence and social presence. Teaching presence is described as being the “binding element” in the process.

Abstract: Burton Speakman’s research focuses on how community functions in the digital sphere. The study of community grows in importance online as media transitions from being less vertical (mass) to more horizontal (person to person) delivery of information with the expectation of interaction and increased public influence due to social media and sharing technology.

Communities are all about groups of individuals who share something in common. This makes going on the internet seem like an odd way to find more communities, form new ones, or strengthen pre-existing ones. The internet however is full of communities. Communities can be based upon religion, location, ethnicity, an interest, or a personal matter. The internet itself is “a global distributed data communications network” (Kirmayer, Raikhel, & Rahimi, 2013, p. 166). This is what makes the internet so full of communities because communication is the key to putting multiple individuals with commonalities into communication, which is the basis of any community. Online communities differ from communities that exists off the web in a couple of

After watching the movie The Social Network, the first thing I did was to search for Mark Zuckerberg’s real life experiences to see which parts are facts and which are fictions. As a matter of fact, this Harvard genius that founded the world’s first social network was not as childish as the movie portrayed. At least he didn’t write programming for getting into elite Harvard “Final Clubs” or for retaliating his girlfriend. During Mark’s high school, Microsoft and AOL tried to purchase the music player that he built and also invited him to join them. However, Mark decided to enroll in Harvard for further education. From where I stand, although the movie is fictional, it can easily

A method to consider is the integration of a hybrid-style environment where technology is integrated into an existing course or parts of an existing course may be moved online. Arguably the hybrid course is an excellent choice for improved student learning with effect use of pedagogy (Brunner, 2006, p. 230). There is evidence showing that face-to-face and online classroom formats can help students build a sense of community. The benefits of both formats can be present in the hybrid course (Brunner, 2006, p. 231). Incorporating student to student or student to instructor discussions can be a vital part of an active learning environment. However, the conventional face-to-face synchronous discussion style has its limitations. A select few

The second concept I want to talk about is virtual communities. Virtual communities are social groups whose interactions are mediated through information technologies, particularly the internet. Like modernism, virtual communities are very dependent on technology and the internet. Since science and technology has advanced in the past decade, people don’t need to go to different places to meet different people and can meet others over different social media platforms or even video games. Sometimes, those people met over the internet can become very close friends. For example, I play a lot of video games and I have acquainted myself virtually with many people playing those games. Some of them I even ended up meeting in real life and are still friends with today. Virtual communities have become such a social norm, that soon, people will have friends all over the internet. I think the aspect of virtual communities is good for society, because it allows people to have a greater awareness of other cultures all over the world. With more insight of how other societies and cultures operate, there is a greater chance to expand one's own social

Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, 2007). These sites could be used for work related situation, romance, connecting with individuals with shared interest, or creating a connection amongst college students. Facebook enables its users to present themselves in an online profile, accumulate ‘‘friends’’ who can post comments on each other’s pages, and view each other’s profiles (Ellison, 2007). Individuals can write on the wall of friends, send private message, comment on posts, as well as chat via instant messaging. Much of the early research on online communities assumed that individuals using these systems would be connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests, as opposed to shared geography (Ellison, 2007).

Compared to classroom learning, the interaction occurring at online courses is more international. Learners can develop online conversations on forums and interview other students around the world by using web-conferencing technology (Kruger-Ross and Waters, 2013:182). However, it is reported that students prefer face to face contact directly with the tutor who was seen as the focal point of learning, a channel through all interaction that connects ideas, builds understanding, provides feedback and gives summary immediately (Sweeney et al, 2007:316). Additionally, establishing social relations may need classroom environment (Paechter & Maier, 2010:295). Classroom teaching and learning is a complex, multilayered, and social experience, which develops friendship, connection and satisfaction among students. Social community is considered to be relatively poorly experienced in online learning due to learners’ disconnection and could probably cause isolation (Baturay & Bay, 2010:44).