An online virtual community is any sustained group of people who correspond via information technologies such as email, discussion forums or chats. An online virtual community can take many forms, including social, gaming/recreational, professional, and educational.
A social virtual community is usually a informal group of people who correspond about one shared interest. As time marches on and relationships develop, this social type of virtual community can evolve and grow to incorporate more than the original topic. Although they may never meet in person, these social virtual communities can provide support and nurturing to its members. Examples of social virtual communities abound on the Internet - listservs and discussion groups that revolve around just about any topic imaginable such as expectant parents, automobile fanciers, scrapbook makers, etc.
Another type of community may be formed through recreational games available online. These may take the form of complete worlds in which the members "live" and participate. There are social constructs and rules determined by the creator(s) and membership by which all the members abide. In these "worlds," members can create a persona called an avatar which is a visual representation of the self. However, a member can adopt a persona/avatar which does not literally represent who the member is in "real life." This allows members to "try out" different personas in relative safety.
Professional virtual communities are sometimes described as Communities of Practice (CoP) or Communities of Knowledge (CoK). Practice-based communities are often formed in the workplace either formally or informally. It may be comprised of persons who have similar job functions, titles or use the same tools. For example, there are many CoP in the informational technology realm centered on the use of one (or more) software program(s). Within these CoP, questions are asked with the understanding that someone with more experience will be able to provide an answer. As the name implies, there is an implicit understanding within the group membership that the main shared goal is to advance the skills of the membership in a practical manner. Similar to CoP, "a knowledge-based learning community seeks to advance the collective knowledge in a subject or field of inquiry, and to do so in a way that supports the growth of each of the individuals in the community, that is, the intentional development of experts within the community" (Reil and Polin, 2004). One main difference between a CoP and a CoK is the scholarly intent of CoK.
Educational virtual communities, sometimes called learning communities, are often a part of online courses. By giving the online student the ability to make social connections with others who are in the class, learning is enhanced because the participants know each other better and feel more comfortable accepting the collective knowledge of the group, rather than just relying on the instructor as the font of course knowledge. In addition to the social aspect of the learning community in an online classroom, new knowledge can be created as the result of collaborative learning between participants.
Although mastering course content may be important, it is only one of the goals of most well-designed courses. There are social needs and expectations of participants that should also be valued as goals. If the social needs of participants are not addressed and met, students are less likely to give high evaluations of the course and their learning experience may be diminished (Palloff & Pratt, 2005).
College-age students, sometime called Millennials or Net Geners, gravitate toward group activity. The Net Gen is already using online communities as a social outlet, having grown up with the Internet. For Net Geners, online interactions and conversations are very meaningful. There is a blurring of their lives between online and offline. They are often members of social and gaming virtual communities, sometimes quite a few at the same time. Net Geners are very social, in general. "They seek to interact with others, whether in their personal lives, their online presence, or in class" (Oblinger, 2005).
If the sense of community is developed, then students may be more likely to answer each other's questions, relying less on instructor input. According to Oblinger, Net Geners find peers more credible than teachers when it comes to determining what is worth paying attention to. If discussions go too far off course, it is up to the instructor to gently guide the discussion in productive directions related to the learner's needs, goals and objectives. "By learning together in a learning community, students have the opportunity to extend and deepen their learning experience, test out new ideas by sharing them with a supportive group, and receive critical and constructive feedback" (Palloff & Pratt, 2005).
Many studies have shown that introverted students are more willing to participate openly in an online classroom environment. This creates a more "even playing field" for all students to be equal participants and the class as a whole gains a greater understanding of who their classmates are.
A virtual community can be created simply by creating a discussion forum devoted to social topics within a course. For a more robust virtual community, set up various methods for group interaction that are both social and educational. There are various tools available within a course management system like Desire2Learn (D2L) that can be utilized for community building. The tool most frequently used for online communities is the discussion tool. A forum that encompasses off-topic discussion, sometimes called "The Hallway" or "The Café," encourages student interaction. The chat tool can also be used for large or small group synchronous discussion with archives made available after the chat event. The classlist tool could be used instead of a class mailing list to encourage students to participate in the online discussions.
Planning and flexibility are key to creating a successful virtual community. It is useful to understand the six stages of the virtual community lifecycle: Inquire, Design, Prototype, Launch, Grow and Sustain (Diermyer & Stevens, 2005).
References
Barab , S.A. 2003. An introduction to the special issue: designing for virtual communities in the service of learning. The Information Society, 19:197-201. http://inkido.indiana.edu/research/onlinemanu/papers/intro_InSoc.pdf
Barab , S.A. , MaKinster, J.G., and Sheckler, R. 2003. Designing system dualities: characterizing a web-supported professional development community. The Information Society, 19:237-256. http://inkido.indiana.edu/research/onlinemanu/papers/barab_dualit_IS.pdf
Caralambos, V., Michalinos, Z. and Chamberlain, R. 2004. The Design of Online Learning Communities: Critical Issues. Educational Media International 41:2, 135-143. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/remi/2004/00000041/00000002/art00006
Diermyer, C. & Stephens, C. 2005. Communities of Practice: Lessons Learned from a Virtual Community of Practice, CoMETS presented at 2005 D2L Users Conference, Madison , WI . http://cimc.education.wisc.edu/staff/catherine/VCOP/index.htm
Lock, J.V. 2002. Laying the Groundwork for the Development of Learning Communities within Online Courses. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education 3:4, 395-408. http://www.ucalgary.ca/~lrussell/lock.html
Oblinger, D. & Oblinger, J. 2005. Is It Age or IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation. In Educating the Net Generation http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/
Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. 1999. Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom. San Francisco : Josey-Bass Publishers.
Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. 2005. Collaborating Online: Learning Together in Community. San Francisco : Josey-Bass Publishers.
Reil, M. & Polin, L. 2004. Online Learning Communities: Common Ground and Critical Differences in Designing Technical Environments in Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. 16-50.
White, N. 2004. Facilitating and Hosting a Virtual Community. http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communityfacilitation.htm
Molly Immendorf is an Instructional Technology Specialist with Cooperative Extension Technology Services, University of Wisconsin - Extension.