I set forth how the use of both email discussion lists and synchronous written communication helps to form learning communities. I begin with several composite portraits of the atypical community college student. These students often differ dramatically from the more homogenous population found at selective four-year schools. Thus, the expectations and preconceptions they carry about learning—as well as their own social contexts—dramatically affect their classroom performance. With this background in place, my presentation shifts to a more pragmatic discussion of how networked communication functions in my classroom and in my distance learning course. The many-to-many communication model enables my students to form a hybrid social/academic sphere within the real or virtual classroom. I argue that this sphere enriches the academic experience for students who would otherwise not have the standard opportunities to interact with their peers and, further, that this interaction may begin to build within the students a sense of the importance of their active participation in learning. By moving students’ writing out of the strictly one-to-one, teacher grading model, instructors will find that their students have much more to say once they know more than one person is listening.

I set forth how the use of both email discussion lists and synchronous written communication helps to form learning communities. I begin with several composite portraits of the atypical community college student. These students often differ dramatically from the more homogenous population found at selective four-year schools. Thus, the expectations and preconceptions they carry about learning—as well as their own social contexts—dramatically affect their classroom performance. With this background in place, my presentation shifts to a more pragmatic discussion of how networked communication functions in my classroom and in my distance learning course. The many-to-many communication model enables my students to form a hybrid social/academic sphere within the real or virtual classroom. I argue that this sphere enriches the academic experience for students who would otherwise not have the standard opportunities to interact with their peers and, further, that this interaction may begin to build within the students a sense of the importance of their active participation in learning. By moving students’ writing out of the strictly one-to-one, teacher grading model, instructors will find that their students have much more to say once they know more than one person is listening.

Presenter: Anne Kress

Category: Classroom practice

Target Audience: Intermediate