Online Learning: From Information Dissemination to Fostering Collaboration

In this article the trajectory of an online course in which graduate students collaboratively investigated and shared their personal experiences with respect to adult development is described. For this study, naturalistic inquiry was used to gain a holistic view of this semester-long course and to identify the specific emergent issues that characterized course dynamics. Using open, axial, and, to a lesser degree, selective coding, the following three issues were selected for further discussion: (a) flexibility of course to accommodate participants ; (b) co-construction of meaning through the sharing of personal experiences; and (c) the expression of vulnerability and personal growth. This course provided evidence that on-line courses can support deep learning about content, open sharing about personal experiences, and the development of a sense of camaraderie among participants. Students readily shared their feelings, critically examined course issues, extended their support in helping peers, and embraced many of the challenges of taking an online course. Implications are that benefits of online courses extend beyond the time and 106 Barab, Thomas, and Merrill place independence they provide for participants, but also include the reflective and social environment they can foster. Additionally, in terms of developing environments to support interactivity, especially with respect to human-human interaction , it may be that less is more. Over the last decade we have witnessed an explosion of the use of the Internet for supporting distributed education World Wide Web (WWW or Web), creates exciting opportunities to make information available to large numbers of users residing at distributed locations and who work at different times. As such, there are numerous courses and even entire degrees being offered online—referring to those courses taking place by way of a computer network One frequently cited reason for the development of these online courses is the increased availability of educational opportunities to users who, if required to be at a particular location (e.g., university classroom) at a particular time, would not be able to take the course. Less frequently given as a rationale for these courses is that the learning climate that develops online is more supportive in terms of promoting reflection, intimacy, and community than are those climates that emerge in the traditional classroom learning environments (Sheingold, 1991; Spitzer, 1998). In fact, it has been argued that courses taken online are impersonal, superficial, misdirected, and potentially dehumanizing and depressing, with online courses actually disrupting the student-instructor interaction that creates a …

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