Using online reflection and conversation to build community

Abstract

The authors examined online responses of a cohort of teachers, most of whom were taking their first graduate course. The teachers (students) posted their ideas within six blogs. Of 26 students, 11 (42.31%) consented to the analysis of their reflections. Basing their interpretation on stages of online community developed by Waltonen-Moore, Stuart, Newton, Oswald, and Varonis (2006), the authors describe the progress of one group through the stages, discuss three themes that related to a sense of classroom community, and offer suggestions for using online conversation to build classroom community.