4. For this group, interest in creative writing offered the core for community.
Readers and writers in regular school culture are often ostracized, sitting quietly with books and paper in the back of the room. Online interactions allow students to have an authentic audience for their expression, and students potentially
receive dozens of responses to a single piece of writing.
5. The learning community is self-determining.
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Within 21 BEAT St., participants expressed a sense of being co-learners. In developing such a community, it is apparent that at the outset, while the students are still uncertain about their new environment, facilitators guide and mentor the
process of online communications. Then, as students take ownership, the line between teachers and students fades.
6. The online community fostered an exploration self and was highly social in nature in an environment that prompted risk taking.
There is no equivalent of the silent student at the back of the classroom, simply because such a student is completely non-existent within the framework of the online community. Where students are reluctant to participate, the facilitator must
engage with them, and draw them out until they are equal co-learners within the community, and then begin to take over this role of the "official" facilitator as well. The low-risk environment online makes it easier for this natural
progression to occur, resulting in a very relaxed, socially comfortable community capable of asking difficult questions of its participants without fear of exposure or derision.
The very act of bringing students to participate in discovering a viable definition of "community" stimulated the development of that community among them as an emergent property of shared, voluntary activity. Through an online
process of questioning, dialoguing, responding and refining, the students collectively defined a 'learning community' over a period of several months:
"Communities bond through common interests and shared levels of participation. A learning community builds trust through respect for multiple perspectives in exploring diverse ideas, opinions and insights, which creates a sense of
belonging. Dialogues are fueled by passionate inquiry and in-depth searching. This provides a comfort level where people feel encouraged to take risks as learners."
After the online discussion naturally slowed in participation, students stated they felt they had explored this to its full extent. By questioning their ideas further, we were able to develop a deeper understanding of our community and its
possibilities. Besides deciding on goals for the year, the students also reflected on ways to challenge those goals. They went on to explore not just what made our class a "community," but how we were affected by one another through
interrelationship online. Having a workable definition of "learning community" that satisfied all participants, I asked those questions that naturally followed:
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- "What kind of community do we want to create?"
- "How do we get there?"
As a result of many exchanges between students and facilitators, we eventually outlined practices which we felt would enhance the quality of the 21 BEAT St. learning community overall. The suggestions agreed on by participants included:
1. More face to face meetings.
This is an edited extract of a draft paper presented to the International Telecommunications Union/Telecom99 conference, Geneva, Switzerland, October 8-16, 1999. The full paper can be downloaded here.
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