By Danyelle Hennington

What are instructors doing to build a sense of online community in their courses? We analyzed qualitative data from our Building Online Community forum in our faculty development course to find out more.

During faculty development training, faculty engage in a building online community forum where they discuss the tools they use or would like to use to build a sense of online community in their classes. To get a better sense of how they are doing this, we analyzed data from this forum to inform future IDeaBook posts.

Tool Summary

Looking over 3 semesters worth of data in the Building Online Community discussion forum, several trends begin to emerge. First, the forums tool represents 30% of the total responses faculty identified in building online community. In this they discussed strategies using the following:

• Introduction forums
• Content/Personal Reflection prompts
• Help forums
• Small group postings

A couple of faculty in two separate semesters discussed a need of understanding when to choose between the various communication tools, i.e., blogs, wikis, forums, and announcements.

The tool mentioned second most was the use of video (16%). Some of it was discussion of including mini-lectures whereas others focused on students creating their own content using video.  YouTube was mentioned the most as the tool of choice whereas only one faculty member mentioned MediaFlo.

Video conference followed next with 15% percent of the respondents choosing it as a tool to build community. Faculty mentioned using video conferencing for review sessions, small group collaboration, as well as having lectures.

Google Docs represents the largest 3^rd party tool that faculty have either chosen to incorporate or have been using. A couple of times this brought up FERPA concerns. In one semester of responses, the mere mention of FERPA changed the conversation from “what tools can I use?” to “what Texas State supported tools can I use?” In another semester, the mention of FERPA failed to gain any traction.

There was another theme that is worth noting. A number of faculty members admitted feeling overwhelmed by the availability of tools. This could be a topic worth tackling in IDeaBook or Professional Development.

Summary tools pie chart

The pie chart below represents the frequency in which faculty mentioned various technology tools for building online community. They were not limited in how many tools they could mention. In 4 professional development deliveries, faculty identified various tools 74 times. The chart below represents the various tools.

Strategies for building online community

In these posts, 7 categories of strategies were identified. 34% responses discussed using tools for small group collaboration. Reflection followed next comprising of 25% of the responses. Students may be asked to reflect on their own work or on the content presented. Faculty members discussed various discussion prompts that they were choosing to employ. This represented 13% of the responses.

In these responses faculty recognized a need to identify strategies for grading forums as well as peer participation. When faculty members chimed in many discussed the use of rubrics to help address their concerns. Faculty members also wanted to notify students on what to do when technology fails.

Summary Strategies Pie Chart

The pie chart below represents the frequency in which faculty identified strategies in the Building Online Community discussion forum. They were not limited in discussing their strategies. It was recorded that various strategies were identified 32 times during four deliveries of professional development.

Conclusion

To begin writing articles in IDeaBook that would be useful in the Building Online Community lesson, the following tools have been identified as covering 78% of what has been previously discussed:

1. Discussion forums
2. Video
3. Video conferencing
4. Blogs

In this if we focused on strategies that enabled small group collaboration, reflection, responding to various discussion prompts and/or project sites that will ensure we cover about 81% of the strategies faculty members have expressed interest.

Anything to add? What would you like to know more about when it comes to building online community? Why not join the conversation.