Building an Online Student Community

BACKGROUND

Building an online community with students enables them to connect with the content, and with you the teacher/trainer, to share their ideas and answer each other’s questions through discipline-specific conversations. Research shows that when students feel they belong to their academic community and matter to one another, they can find emotional, social, and cognitive support for one another, engage in dialogue and reflection more actively, and take ownership and responsibility of their own learning.

Without a physical classroom, a student can feel isolated, alone in their educational
journey, at risk disengaging from the learning, and perhaps withdraw from the program.
Involvement in an online community strengthens their relationships, your rapport with the
students, engagement, and skill development in your program.

COURSE CONCEPT

Building an online student community extends the relationships between students and teacher/trainer beyond the online class, where students take responsibility for their learning. They interact with each other in a designated online space, sharing opinions,
perspectives, thoughts, and information. There is a sense of belonging and connection to the program, engagement in the course, and skill development in your program to develop personally and in their career.

AIMS

Create student engagement by building a strong online community where students
connect with each other, the content, and you, the teacher/trainer
Create a safe online environment where students interact , share their ideas, and
answer each other’s questions to actively take ownership and responsibility of their
learning

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

Define an online community and identify the aims
Understand the online student’s background, needs, and responsibilities
Identify the Features of an online community
1. Social presence
2. Cognitive presence
3. Teaching presence
Establish an online class culture
Establish and demonstrate online class etiquette methods to establish a positive
presence
Define the scope of teacher/trainer involvement in the online community
Build a strong online student community and appreciate the benefits to students

COURSE CONTENT

Define an online community
Aims of your online community
Understanding online students
Features of an online community
1. Social presence
Establishing the class online culture
Online Class Etiquette
2. Cognitive presence
3. Teaching presence
Methods to establish a positive presence
Scope of teacher involvement in the online community
Building a Strong Online Student Community
Benefits of building a strong online community

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Professional Development

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT POINTS

The time spent on each course of study may be claimed as continuing professional development (CPD) by the Institute of Learning and Performance Asia Pacific requirements.

CERTIFICATE

Upon successfully finishing the complete course, students will receive a Certificate of Professional Development accredited by the Institute of Learning and Performance Asia Pacific.

Students can also receive a Certificate of Professional Development for each course they complete accredited by the Institute of Learning and Performance Asia Pacific.