E-Model for Online Learning Communities

Results

The participants lived in all regions of the U.S. (n=17). The entire sample was female; 2 students were in the first year of the program, 6 students comprised the second year level, 4 students from the third year level and 5 participants had graduated from the program.

The analysis of the qualitative data collected from the participants revealed 4 stages of online learning communities throughout the graduate program. Participants progressed through 3 stages of formal learning community development as they completed the core courses in the curriculum and 1 stage related to transmuting the community to an informal entity as students experienced the independent coursework in the program. The development of the formal learning communities followed 3 stages: Stage 1: Building a Foundation for the Learning Community, Stage 2: Building a Supportive Network within the Learning Community and Stage 3: Investing in the Community to Enhance Learning (Figure 1). The last stage was Stage 4: Transforming the Learning Community, which signaled a transition to an informal network of learners.

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Figure 1:

E-Model of Learning Communities

The first stage of community development, Building a Foundation for the Learning Community, revealed 3 subcategories and actions to achieve each subcategory (Table I). The Initial Connection was the first subcategory of Stage 1. The actions experienced by participants consisted of meeting peers and faculty face-to-face at the on-campus orientation, sharing common experiences during the on-campus visit and connecting with new peers in courses throughout the program.

Ella explained the importance of the face-to-face connections made during the on-campus orientation: “Spending the week to get to know everybody was very helpful so when we got into the courses you could put names and faces together and personalities as well. That was the starting point and the key to the whole community and the whole program because it helped you feel connected. The beginning orientation was the start, it really got us off on the right foot.” Not all students attended the same orientation; some met for the first time in an online course. When students interacted in that environment it was suggested that “It should be a requirement that you put your picture on the discussion…. so when your postings show up, you can see who it is you are talking to. I think that is important” (Tango). Getting to know new students sometimes took longer as discussed by Online RDH, “Initially there were a couple of people who I felt that they were abrasive or a know-it-all, but once I got to know them, I realized they were not trying to be disrespectful. It did take longer by having not met them face-to-face and personally.” Katy's perspective on becoming familiar with peers was, “We were figuring out personalities and after a while you knew who would write a book for each posting, who was the minimalist, who was the aggressive personality and who was the nurturer of the group. I liked this aspect because it was similar to a face-to-face group.”

The second subcategory of Stage 1, Awareness of Online Learning Challenges, related to online communication, time commitment for course activities and the asynchronous format. June lamented about the lack of visual cues when engaging in online communication, “The biggest problem with online communication is not having the body language and not being able to see how peers said something. For instance, you post something and it is interpreted different than the way you meant it.” Sally shared her perspective of the time consuming nature of participating in the weekly discussions, “My challenge was being able to make postings and articulate the discussions without taking inordinate amount of time. I mean it took a lot of time even for a simple posting for me.” The asynchronous format of course delivery presented other challenges as depicted by Katy, “When you post at the beginning of the week and another person doesn't post until Saturday, but it's due by Saturday night at 10 o'clock, then you are all stressed out because you want to respond, but is it going to be in time?”

The third subcategory of Stage 1 was Online Learning Culture Socialization. The actions experienced by participants included learning shared norms of interaction and establishing self-imposed performance standards in the online learning environment. Learning shared norms was possible during the program orientation, “The ground rules for communication and using the emoticons to help with what you say was stressed at the beginning and pretty much everyone follows those rules” (Ella). Another aspect of socialization involved the language used in the discussions as depicted by Patsy: “As time goes on, you learn the language of online communication.” Furthermore, socialization included setting a collective standard for quality discussion postings was explained by Polly, “I don't think students in my class were very comfortable doing one liner postings. When you are with your peers and you see they post in-depth, you feel motivated and an obligation or greater desire to post something in-depth as well. Reading those increased my desire to post and learn and post more.” Establishing a self-imposed standard for interaction was articulated by Sally, “I felt I had a responsibility to the group as a learning environment to contribute with quality.”

Stage 2 of developing the online community was Building a Supportive Network within the Learning Community. Three subcategories and corresponding actions were revealed from the interviews (Table II). Developing Interconnected Learner Relationships was the first subcategory of the second stage. Participants' actions included being open to developing relationships, establishing commonality and developing feelings of closeness and caring.

One action related to building interconnections among learners was being open to developing relationships, “It is up to the individual to take advantage of those opportunities for interaction. I mean we all live in communities physically, but we never know our neighbors unless we do our part, unless we extend ourselves to learn from them and learn about them. The opportunities are there and it's up to us” (April).

Informal activities during the on-campus orientation visit were recognized as contributing to establishing common experiences with peers, as Whiskey indicated, “The outside of school interaction where you play and perhaps be a little naughty. It separates the student personality from the real person personality, who we are professionally and who we are as a student and who we are when we are kicking back and walking around in our underwear. It was a good interaction. Especially that first visit because we were just getting into the program and you have a bunch of scared students and they're telling their worries to each other.” Katy expressed her thoughts on commonality: “Everybody was interested in what everyone else was doing and everybody knew everyone understood teeth and everybody was juggling many roles from teaching to families. We were on the same page with everything. We were in the same situation and we could talk to each other and work things out together.”

Feelings of closeness were voiced by Sally, “I consider myself as a member of a family and from my perspective it was definitely as a class” and Tango discussed feelings of caring, “We were not afraid to be personal and to share experiences because we knew we were sharing them with people who cared.” These feelings of being connected were developed “by sending personal emails, making phone calls and by sharing, calling and asking how are you doing or sharing progress and asking about how your family was or how things were going” (Patsy).

The second subcategory of Stage 2, Network Support for Learners, related to the actions of experiencing a safe learning environment, developing trust through positive feedback from peers and faculty and receiving support from peers. A safe learning environment was conceptualized by Patsy, “The online community has to be a safe place where people can express their opinions” and Online RDH, “I never feel attacked ever in any way. Sometimes my opinions would be disputed, but it was always very professional and respectful.” A supportive network provided positive feedback as explained by Ella, “Good honest constructive feedback from both the instructor and peers probably is the most important thing in creating an environment that fosters learning.” Penelope expressed a growing dependence on the supportive network as time went on, “It's just nice to get a pat on the back and say hey, you did good…I'm becoming more dependent on the community support than I was initially.” The peer network was a resource for receiving help with technical problems and questions about courses and receiving emotional support as portrayed from the following quotations: Steel Magnolia: “When I had questions that I needed answered, most all the time it was another student who would jump in and help me or explain things to me before the teachers even got to me.”Whiskey: “It's nice having the community feel to the learning because truly they're the only ones who know what you are going through. Your family can be supportive, but they don't understand really what you are going through. They [peers] are the only ones who can keep you going because they understand.”

The last subcategory of Stage 2 was Fellowship, as participants began to experience learning as being a member of the community through the actions of developing competence in the online environment and being an individual contributor to community learning. Steel Magnolia illustrated her progress from Stage 1 to Stage 2 whereby she developed competence, “It was a learning curve for me at first because I had to get in the flow of learning online classes, getting used to the postings and the discussions was something that took some time, but eventually grew and flushed it out so that I felt very comfortable and competent at it” and her experience being a contributor, “During the leadership class a lot of my experiences helped others. They were interested in some of the stuff I had been doing and it was beneficial to them. I felt like I really contributed to something to their experience.”

The third stage of online community development constructed from the data was Investing in the Community to Enhance Learning. This stage revealed 2 subcategories, Collaborative Interaction and Synergy Creation and 2 actions within each subcategory (Table III).

The first subcategory of Stage 3 was Collaborative Interaction. The actions experienced by participants were committing to community learning and actively learning from each other. Online RDH explained commitment, “An effective learning community involves people who are committed, who prepare by reading and reflectively thinking and then bringing their preparations and thoughts to the table for everybody's discussion.” Bluthner elaborated further, “We try to apply ourselves to what we read in the previous post that can advance the topic” and “If you have a supportive online group, together we are working towards a similar mission. There is camaraderie and bonding in that and it provides a big source of motivation.” Actively learning from each other was discussed by Irma, “Part of this online program is the value or learning from your peers … It was valuable to hear and learn about what people were doing versus just reading about it in a book.” Steel Magnolia's perspective was, “The experience wouldn't have been half as enriching without the other people and without the instructor … When people help each other out and share their diverse knowledge that builds community. When they come from different backgrounds and give their input and experience, it broadens the experience for everyone.”

The second subcategory of Stage 3 revealed from the data was Synergy Creation. The first action in the synergy subcategory was developing a higher connection among peers from an interpersonal and intellectual perspective. Steel Magnolia shared her experience with developing stronger relationships, “I have been interacting with these people for over 2 years so they became a part of my life and are part of my graduate experience. We do develop a relationship even though it's not a 1-on-1 or face-to-face one. We definitely, over time, build the relationship and it evolves.” Online RDH confirmed relationship building by stating, “We all got closer by the end of the core courses. Our relationships absolutely changed….Relationships definitely did grow and progress throughout the curriculum.” Whiskey shared her viewpoint, “Discussions are definitely less formal, but there is a higher connection. There has been growth intellectually [over the semesters] and our critical thinking is advanced for sure….It's a sense of enlightenment.” The attainment of this level of community development was explained by Bluthner, ”My definition of an online learning community is learners who are passionate about their profession and their educational journey, who also…value the peer learning process and providing a synergistic positive energy environment.”

A sense of constructing knowledge as a community was articulated by Polly “I felt we all learned things together. We all reaped the knowledge together and then we could share it with each other. We could discuss the new things we all learned together and bounce ideas off of those new ideas and share ideas from that new knowledge.” Bluthner added, “From the aspect of an individual learner, we each need to become active with the material, read it, analyze, synthesize and develop from that process … As a community learner you can learn so much more after each person has shared what their perspective is or what they learned can be clarified and your perspective has been broadened. Deeper levels of understanding occur with community learning.” Polly explained further, “Peers influenced my learning when you had more in-depth postings where you get more information and ideas you have to ponder. It makes you open to everyone when you realize there is an endless amount of ideas to help problem solve. It adds up to a higher level of knowledge and it's stimulating too. When you are stimulated, it opens up your mind and you are motivated to learn more.” The concept of synergistic learning in the community was expressed by Sally, “All of the input from the individuals seemed like the group experience was overall greater than each person's individual part. We created something unique.”

The last stage in the online graduate program was Transforming the Learning Community (Table IV). The final stage's subcategorieswere Absence of the Formal Peer Network, Construction of an Informal Learning Community and Adaptation of the Informal Learning Community.

As students engaged in independent learning experiences in the practicum and thesis courses at the end of the graduate curriculum, the peer network formerly established during the completion of the core courses was absent. Students did not interact with peers on a regular basis and some students felt isolated. The lack of peer interaction was viewed as “It's like you're cut off from this group of friends. You miss the discussion boards. You miss getting online and having that connection once a week” (Patsy). The lack of a supportive network “lowered my motivation for learning because I don't have others to connect with. You can't support each other” (Polly). Isolation was articulated by Teeth Geek, “It does feel isolated at first and a little sad because what was initially scary when beginning the online program and learning so much in an unfamiliar format became the blossoming of new relationships and sharing wonderful learning experiences with a group of peers who uniquely understood because they were having similar wonderful experiences and celebrating those successes together. Then, suddenly being without them, this was a little hard to get used to.” However, Teeth Geek elaborated further as she reflected on this experience during a member check, “Because of the strength of the first 3 stages, I was able to use that synergy to get me through the initial ‘loneliness’ of the fourth stage and positively focus on the work at hand [in thesis].”

This feeling of isolation spurred some students to experience a Construction of an Informal Learning Community as they reconnected to peers through informal communication mechanisms as Katy indicated, “After I realized I wasn't getting enough peer support, I started talking to several peers on the phone and communicating via email or Facebook.” Re-establishing a supportive network was evident from Pasty's comment, “One person who was in thesis with me, we taught each other and we sat together on the phone across the United States.” June offered her perspective on a supportive peer network, “Hopefully you will have someone who's also going through thesis and then you can help each other and encourage one another and support one another…. It is nice to be able to confide in one another and it would be great to stay connected with them. It's important just to keep you motivated and help you realize there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

The last subcategory of the final stage was Adaptation of the Informal Learning Community. Teeth Geek explained her experience with struggling out of the chrysalis, “I began to realize that thesis is a chance to give back to future generations and is an important step in becoming the kind of educator, researcher, professional and mentor who facilitated the great experiences you've had during your MSDH journey. It is necessary to ‘struggle out of the chrysalis’ needed to find your own wings.” Maintaining lifelong relationships with peers and faculty was evident as some peers continued to interact after graduation, “I did have the opportunity to run into several of my classmates [now graduated] at the ADHA national convention and sometimes I run into them at the national oral health conference” (Tango). Furthermore, new informal learning communities were created after graduation as experienced by Tango, “I definitely participate in public health listservs so I do read those and participate in those and of course I peek through my ADHA district listservs. So it's a vast online community that I have.”