Going Full Circle

Approaches to Investigating the Characteristics of

Community in Blended Formal Learning
Environments

Based on:
Schwier, R.A., & Daniel, B.K. (submitted yesterday). Did we become a
community? Multiple methods for identifying community and its constituent
elements in formal online learning environments. In N. Lambropoulos, & P.
Zaphiris (Eds.) (2006). User- evaluation and online communities.

   
 The Big Concerns
• Focus of research
• Atomized view of communities
• Validation of models
• Using research to inform community
design

   
 Community

Modeling Constituents

Comparison

   
   
 Sense of Community
• Chavis’ “Sense of Community Index”
• Rovai & Jordan’s “Classroom
Community Scale”
– Connectedness
– Learning

• Pre-post design (t-Test, p<.005)

   
 Interaction Analysis
• Fahy, Crawford & Ally (TAT)
• Included only peripheral interactions
• Density
– the ratio of the actual number of connections observed,
to the total potential number of possible connections

2a/N(N-1) = 2(122)/13(12) = .78

   
 Interaction analysis
• Intensity
– “levels of participation," or the degree to which
the number of postings observed in a group
exceed the number of required postings

– 858 actual/490 required = 1.75

   
 Reciprocity ratio
the parity of communication among participants

   
 Reciprocity

   
 Characteristics of Community
• Transcript analysis
• Interviews
• Focus groups

   
 Characteristics
• Awareness • Participation
• Social protocols • Trust
• Historicity • Future orientation
• Identity • Technology
• Mutuality • Learning
• Plurality • Reflection
• Autonomy • Intensity

   
 Comparison of characteristics
• Thurstone analysis

   
Thurstone Scale
 Modeling
Bayesian Belief Network