Share Paper: Building Online Learning Communities: Using an Online Module to Enhance Student Experience

  1. Jo Axe, Royal Roads University, Canada
  2. Elizabeth Childs, Royal Roads University, Canada
  3. Hannah Dahlquist-Axe, Royal Roads University, Canada
Tuesday, June 21 12:10-12:30 PM Liberty 4

Abstract: As online learning continues to increase in popularity, there is a need to develop supportive learning communities and purposeful activities designed to facilitate online collaboration. This paper documents a multi-year study exploring student experience in a non-credit module provided at the start of three graduate-level programs. To inform their study, the co-researchers focused on literature in four key areas: building learning communities; sustaining and supporting learning communities; frameworks and online spaces; and types of communities. Over an eight-year timeframe, using a modified action-research approach, the researchers examined data obtained through surveys and student logs documenting how module activities, and the ...