ABSTRACT
Research questions about community among online learners are gaining importance as enrollments in online programs explode. However, what community means for this context has not been studied in a comprehensive way. We contribute a quantitative study of learners' feelings and behavior expectations about online community, adapting scales for sense of community (SOC) and developing an instrument to assess community collective efficacy (CCE). Our analysis of students' responses to these scales revealed two factors underlying SOC (shared identity and interpersonal friendship) and three factors underlying CCE (identity regulation, coordination and social support). We used these factors to discuss contrasting definitions of community (shared identity versus ego networks). Exploratory data analyses also revealed relationships to other student variables that begin to articulate roles and mechanisms for online students' felt community, and raise design implications about what we might do with and for the community structure.
Supplemental Material
- Hanna Ashar and Robert Skenes. 1993. Can Tinto's student departure model be applied to nontraditional students? Adult education quarterly 43, 2: 90--100.Google Scholar
- Jiye Baek and Jesse Shore. 2016. Promoting Student Engagement in MOOCs. Proceedings of the Third ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale: 293--296. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Albert Bandura. 1993. Perceived Self-Efficacy in Cognitive Development and Functioning. Educational Psychologist 28, 117--148.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Albert Bandura. 1994. Self-Efficacy. Encyclopedia of human behavior 4, 1994: 71--81.Google Scholar
- Albert Bandura. 1997. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Macmillan.Google Scholar
- Charles R Berger and Richard J Calabrese. 1975. Some Explorations In Initial Interaction And Beyond?: Toward A Developmental Theory Of Interpersonal Communication. Human Communication Research 1, 2: 99--112.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Nathan D. Bos, Ayse Buyuktur, Judith S. Olson, Gary M. Olson, and Amy Voida. 2010. Shared identity helps partially distributed teams, but distance still matters. Proceedings of the 16th ACM international conference on Supporting group work - GROUP '10: 89--96. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ruth E. Brown. 2001. The process of community-building in distance learning classes. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Network 5, 2: 18--35.Google Scholar
- Michael J Brzozowski and Ed H Chi. 2015. Google+ communities as plazas and topic boards. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 3779--3788. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Barbara M Byrne. 2013. Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Psychology Press.Google Scholar
- JM Carroll, Honglu Du, Hao Jiang, and MB Rosson. 2012. ClassConversations: Keeping the learning conversation going. ' Committee on Learning ' 14, 4: 39--42. Retrieved from http://lttf.ieee.org/issues/october2012/Carroll.pdfGoogle Scholar
- John M. Carroll, Mary Beth Rosson, and Jingying Zhou. 2005. Collective efficacy as a measure of community. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '05: 1. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Derrick Coetzee, Armando Fox, Marti A Hearst, and Björn Hartmann. 2014. Chatrooms in MOOCs?: All Talk and No Action. Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning @ scale conference - L@S '14: 127--136. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Dianne Conrad. 2005. Building and Maintaining Community in Cohort-Based Online Learning. Journal of Distance Education 20, 1: 1--20.Google Scholar
- Rosta Farzan, Laura Dabbish, Robert E. Kraut, and Tom Postmes. 2011. Increasing Commitment to Online Communities by Designing for Social Presence. Proceedings of the ACM 2011 conference on Computer supported cooperative work - CSCW '11, March 1923: 321. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Franz Faul, Edgar Erdfelder, Axel Buchner, and Albert-Georg Lang. 2009. Statistical power analyses using G* Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior research methods 41, 4: 1149--1160.Google Scholar
- Eamonn Ferguson and Tom Cox. 1993. Exploratory Factor Analysis?: A Users ' Guide. 1, 2: 84--94.Google Scholar
- Dragan Gašević, Amal Zouaq, and Robert Janzen. 2013. Choose Your Classmates, Your GPA Is at Stake!" American Behavioral Scientist 57, 10: 1460--1479.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Roger D. Goddard. 2001. Collective efficacy: A neglected construct in the study of schools and student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology 93, 3: 467--476.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mark S Granovetter. 1983. The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited. Sociological Review 1, 1983: 201--233.Google Scholar
- Zixiu Guo, Felix B Tan, and Kenneth Cheung. 2010. Students ' Uses and Gratifications for Using Computer-Mediated Communication Media in Learning Contexts Students ' Uses and Gratifications for Using Computer -Mediated Communication Media in Learning Contexts Students ' Uses and Gratifications for Using C. Communications of the Association for Information Systems 27, 20: 339--378.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Joseph F Hair, William C Black, Barry J Babin, Rolph E Anderson, and Ronald L Tatham. 1998. Multivariate data analysis. Prentice hall Upper Saddle River, NJ. Google ScholarDigital Library
- William A Hamilton, Oliver Garretson, and Andruid Kerne. 2014. Streaming on twitch: fostering participatory communities of play within live mixed media. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: 1315--1324. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Caroline Haythornthwaite. 2000. Online Personal Networks. New Media & Society 2, 195--226.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Caroline Haythornthwaite, Michelle M Kazmer, Jennifer Robins, and Susan Shoemaker. 2000. Community development among distance learners: Temporal and technological dimensions. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 6, 1: 0.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Caroline Haythornthwaite and Barry Wellman. 1998. Work, friendship, and media use for information exchange in a networked organization. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 49, 1101--1114. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Jeffrey Heer and Danah Boyd. 2005. Vizster: Visualizing online social networks. Proceedings - IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization, INFO VIS: 33--40. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rick H Hoyle. 1995. Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. Sage.Google Scholar
- Li-tze Hu and Peter M Bentler. 1999. Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural equation modeling: a multidisciplinary journal 6, 1: 1--55.Google Scholar
- Sanna Järvelä, Paul A. Kirschner, Allyson Hadwin, et al. 2016. Socially shared regulation of learning in CSCL: understanding and prompting individual- and group-level shared regulatory activities. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 11, 3: 263--280.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Richard D. Johnson, Steven Hornik, and Eduardo Salas. 2008. An empirical examination of factors contributing to the creation of successful e-learning environments. International Journal of Human Computer Studies 66, 5: 356--369. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Michelle M. Kazmer and Caroline Haythornthwaite. 2001. Juggling Multiple Social Worlds: Distance Students Online and Offline. Online 45, 3: 510--529.Google Scholar
- Fengfeng Ke, Alicia F. Chávez, Pei Ni L Causarano, and Antonio Causarano. 2011. Identity presence and knowledge building: Joint emergence in online learning environments? International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 6, 3: 349--370.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Amy Jo Kim. 2000. Community building on the web: Secret strategies for successful online communities. Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Robert E Kraut and Paul Resnick. 2011. Encouraging contribution to online communities. Building successful online communities: Evidence-based social design: 21--76.Google Scholar
- Cliff Lampe, Rick Wash, Alcides Velasquez, and Elif Ozkaya. 2010. Motivations to participate in online communities. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: 1927--1936. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. 1998. Communities of practice. Retrieved June 9: 2008.Google Scholar
- Noah Liebman and Darren Gergle. 2016. It's (Not) Simply a Matter of Time: The Relationship Between CMC Cues and Interpersonal Affinity. Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing: 570--581. Google ScholarDigital Library
- David W McMillan and David M Chavis. 1986. Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology 14, 1: 6--23.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Michael G Moore and Greg Kearsley. 2011. Distance education: A systems view of online learning. Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
- Matti Nelimarkka and Arto Vihavainen. 2015. Alumni & Tenured Participants in MOOCs. Proceedings of the Second (2015) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale - L@S '15: 85--93. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Nicolae Nistor, Irene Daxecker, Dorin Stanciu, and Oliver Diekamp. 2014. Sense of community in academic communities of practice: predictors and effects. Higher Education: 257--273.Google Scholar
- G M Olson and J S Olson. 2000. Distance matters. Human-Computer Interaction 15, 2: 139--178. Google ScholarDigital Library
- N. Andrew Peterson, Paul W Speer, and David W McMillan. 2008. Validation of a brief sense of community scale: Confirmation of the principal theory of sense of community. Journal of community psychology 36, 1: 61--73.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Deborah A Prentice, Dale T Miller, and Jenifer R Lightdale. 1994. Asymmetries in attachments to groups and to their members: Distinguishing between common-identity and common-bond groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 20, 5: 484--493.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Gregory E Prussia and Angelo J Kinicki. 1996. A motivational investigation of group effectiveness using social-cognitive theory. Journal of Applied Psychology 81, 2: 187.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Dana Rotman, Jennifer Golbeck, and Jennifer Preece. 2009. The community is where the rapport is -- on sense and structure in the youtube community. Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Communities and technologies - C&T '09: 41--49. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Alfred P. Rovai, Mervyn J. Wighting, and Robert Lucking. 2004. The classroom and school community inventory: Development, refinement, and validation of a self-report measure for educational research. Internet and Higher Education 7, 4: 263--280.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mickey Shachar and Yoram Neumann. 2003. Differences Between Traditional and Distance Education Academic Performances?: A meta- analytic approach. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 4, 2.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Thomas D Snyder and Sally A Dillow. 2015. Digest of Education Statistics 2013. NCES 2015-011. National Center for Education Statistics Snyder, T.Google Scholar
- Emma J. Stodel, Terrie Lynn Thompson, and Colla J. MacDonald. 2006. Learners' perspectives on what is missing from online learning: Interpretations through the community of inquiry framework. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 7, 3: 1--24.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Na Sun and Mary Beth Rosson. 2017. Finding the Community in Online Education: It's in the Instructors' Eyes. Philadelphia, PA: International Society of the Learning Sciences.Google Scholar
- Na Sun and Mary Beth Rosson. 2017. Connection Enablers in Online Learning Community: From Informative Online Personae to Meaningful Social Space. Companion of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, ACM, 315--318. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Y.R. Tausczik, L.A. Dabbish, and R.E. Kraut. 2014. Building loyalty to online communities through bond and identity-based attachment to sub-groups. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW: 146--157. Google ScholarDigital Library
- E Vayre and A.-M. Vonthron. 2017. Psychological Engagement of Students in Distance and Online Learning: Effects of Self-Efficacy and Psychosocial Processes. Journal of Educational Computing Research 55, 2: 197--218.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Suzanne Young and Mary Alice Bruce. 2011. Classroom Community and Student Engagement in Online Courses. Learning 7, 2: 219--230. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no2/young_0611.htmGoogle Scholar
- Yuqing Ren, R. Kraut, and S. Kiesler. 2007. Applying Common Identity and Bond Theory to Design of Online Communities. Organization Studies 28, 3: 377--408.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Saijing Zheng, Mary Beth Rosson, Patrick C Shih, and John M Carroll. 2015. Understanding Student Motivation, Behaviors and Perceptions in MOOCs. Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing - CSCW '15, July: 1882--1895. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Where is Community Among Online Learners?: Identity, Efficacy and Personal Ties
Recommendations
Talk amongst yourselves: inviting users to participate in online conversations
IUI '07: Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Intelligent user interfacesMany small online communities would benefit from increased diversity or activity in their membership. Some communities run the risk of dying out due to lack of participation. Others struggle to achieve the critical mass necessary for diverse and ...
Non-public and public online community participation: Needs, attitudes and behavior
Nonpublic participation within an online community, often called lurking, occurs when an individual joins a community, but does not post. This study examines the nature of lurking, why people lurk and the differences in attitudes between lurkers and ...
Online community and the personal diary
Open Diary was the first online diary service to be created, in existence from 1998 to 2014. An ethnographic case study was performed in 2006-2008 to explore community-creation on the site, using the theory of sense of virtual community (Blanchard & ...
Comments