Facilitating the formation of learning communities is important in the first week of class. Through your group messages, first bulletin board postings, and first weeks’ office hours, you make learners feel that they are part of the larger group studying the same materials at the same time. Introductions among all class members are important, as is socializing the group to the “rules of the road” for taking this class. Then you can work to facilitate smaller communities, made up of personalities you think will work well together on a special project or will discuss concepts at about the same speed in a chat. You may randomly assign some people to work together, or, after you have become familiar with learners’ interests and learning styles, you can purposely group people who will create a good mix for discussion or completion of a specific task. Sometimes you become a member of a learning community, but in that situation, your status as teacher is not important; you are just another member of the community. Smaller communities can range from three to 10 people, but for scheduling and management purposes, four to six is a better number. Each learning community shares information, resources, and experiences, for example, through chat sessions. Some communities also complete a specific project, such as a role-playing exercise, research for a paper, or a series of math problems.

A persistent question about online learning is this: If learners take responsibility for their own education, even if they work in a learning community of other learners new to a subject area, how can educators ensure that learners are correctly interpreting the material? In some courses, learners can memorize data and repeat it for credit; however, that does not indicate mastery of the subject matter. When learners work on their own, they may follow a tangent of particular interest and lose track of the larger perspective. They may research topics that support their own ideas and biases and fail to understand opposing arguments. They may superficially study problems with little understanding of the complexity of situations.

One possible checkpoint for adequate research and interpretation can be provided by mentors. As a facilitator, you may also suggest people outside the classroom (e.g., professionals who can communicate with learners online) who might be good additions to the community. For example, you may suggest that learners contact a professional association’s members who expressed an interest in working with learners or who have expertise in a particular subject area. Mixing external and internal communities within a class offers learners the opportunity to work with other professionals who share career interests or specific information useful to a current project. Professionals from different businesses, countries, levels of experience, career tracks, etc., may be good mentors. Offering different perspectives from those of learners, mentors can provide a framework for discussion and an introduction to new ideas or resources.

Although teachers also should be effective guides who steer learners toward a broader understanding of the subject matter, outside mentors, if they are carefully selected to offer diverse points of view, back up the teacher’s influence. They can provide more credibility to the course and the program. The level of technology is not as important as the quality of the mentorship. Effective learning communities can use low-level technology; the important aspect of a learning community is collaboration. Your class does not have to have streaming audio or video capabilities, two-way audio or video communication, or frequent synchronous communication in order to create an effective community. Working together can be facilitated through e-mail messages, bulletin board postings, online chats, whiteboard sessions, and personal, group, or corporate Web sites.

Chat rooms are often the preferred place for discussion, interviews, Q&A sessions, and group work sessions. Community members may prefer realtime communication instead of asynchronous communication for work sessions, although both synchronous and asynchronous communications are useful. The community members’ geographic location, personal and work schedules, and time zones determine which communication methods are used most often and the amount of time they can devote to working with a group.

For example, each member of a class-based community may be required to communicate with group members at least twice a week for the duration of a project. Groups get together to discuss materials, research topics, and share information. It is not unusual for learners to stick around a chat room after the formal session is over, just to compare notes, bond, and plan upcoming work.

Although a few learning communities only last a brief time (e.g., the duration of an assignment or a course), group members may continue to meet informally or formally well beyond the class time. Learning communities even may continue to meet longer than an academic term, grow beyond the initial group, or form an ongoing community based on other mutual interests.