It is an inertia thing, no-one uses it, so no-one uses it: the failure of a virtual social space (vss) intended to create a learning community

This paper reports on the evaluation of a Virtual Social Space (VSS) intended to resolve the problems of isolation and lack of socialisation in a continuing professional distance education Masters programme in Information Technology (MA in ITM). These phenomena are due to geographical dispersion and disparate time schedules of learners. Very often, peer-to-peer socialisation in distance education only occurs as part of formal learning activities, or is just left to the student’s own initiative. This situation is then compounded by the modularity of VLEs, forcing students to jump from one module space to another as they progress through a course. All discussion threads, conversations or record of previous dialogues are then lost. This paper reports on the evaluation phase of a project that used an action research approach to establish student needs and requirements, design and develop the site, and, finally, explore it with the students. Initially received with enthusiasm and seen as a good idea by students, the VSS was not entirely successful. This paper discusses how the characteristics of this cohort of students had an impact on their perception and usage of this social space to create a learning community.