An online learning community is a public or private destination on the Internet that addresses the learning needs of its members by facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Through social networking and computer-mediated communication, people work as a community to achieve a shared learning objective. Learning objectives may be proposed by the community owner or may arise out of discussions between participants that reflect personal interests. In an online learning community, people share knowledge via textual discussion (synchronous or asynchronous), audio, video, or other Internet-supported mediums. Blogs blend personal journaling with social networking to create environments with opportunities for reflection.
Much literature promotes online learning communities as environments conducive to communities of practice as described by Etienne Wenger. eTwinning is a European online community operated by European schoolnet comprising more than 50,000 registered teachers.
Read more about Online Learning Community: Categories of Online Learning Communities
Famous quotes containing the words learning and/or community:
“Their learning is like bread in a besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Stories of law violations are weighed on a different set of scales in the Black mind than in the white. Petty crimes embarrass the community and many people wistfully wonder why Negroes don’t rob more banks, embezzle more funds and employ graft in the unions.... This ... appeals particularly to one who is unable to compete legally with his fellow citizens.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)