Maintaining a Sense of Community in an E-Learning Environment

With the rapid popularization of mobile devices comes a lot of criticism. In personal life, on social media, and in schools, many people are concerned that interactions between people are becoming increasingly impersonal. The fact of the matter is that whether or not that holds true is up to the mobile device user. For teachers who want to incorporate e-learning and mobile devices into their classroom environments, they can actually stimulate the sense of community in the classroom rather than disturbing it. It's all about taking an approach that encourages engagement.

Use Tools for Collaborative Brainstorming

If you utilize your tools to ask for ideas as often as you ask for answers, you'll have a positive experience. It encourages the students who are too intimidated to present their ideas to get involved. The trick is to use an interactive e-learning tool that allows students to enter text or resources onto a community board. This way, everyone is provided the opportunity to be seen, the content will remain on-topic, and students are encouraged to think outside the box when brainstorming. Encourage students to start discussions based off of individual posts.

Encourage Feedback

It's not just about getting the students to interact with one another, but getting them to interact with you as well. Whatever e-learning system you use will probably come with a poll or multiple-choice question app. Use this to administer quizzes as well as surveys about the classroom experience. This gives students the opportunity to anonymously express their feelings without being overcome with shyness.

However, feedback doesn't have to just be for you. If you encourage your students to post their work on the e-learning platform, other students can provide feedback on that, as well. You could use this for peer-editing projects or for general sharing of resources.

Create a Push-and-Pull

Yes, e-learning systems are great for quickly and efficiently uploading resources and information, distributing it to the entire class. But you should also be encouraging students to do their own research, find their own resources, and learn at their own pace. When they're struggling with a topic, have them post about it in the discussions and attempt to draw out information from those who know better. When they do poorly on a quiz, ensure that they know where they can get the resources to do better next time. Have the students use their devices to their maximum potential to contact you, contact one another, and reference their educational resources for a sense of community.