Effects of online learning communities on college students’ knowledge learning and construction

Abstract

This study aims to discuss the application of online learning communities to university courses and the effect on students’ knowledge construction. Total 186 college students in Fujian Province, China, are selected as the research objects. The virtual online community in this study is a course online community with the constructive teaching theories as the core idea, combines knowledge sharing and co-construction, and applies online community platforms to assist students in the course learning. According to different interaction styles in the virtual online community, the students are divided into the teaching assistant (TA) participation group and the control group for the teaching experiment. Referring to Salmon’s (2003) five-stage online teaching model, teaching assistants in the TA participation group proceed online teaching, participate in the interaction and discussion in the virtual online community, and apply knowledge construction code table as the data analysis tool to code and analyze the interaction contents between teaching assistants and students in virtual online community as well as to discuss the effect of virtual online community integrated teaching on college students’ knowledge construction. The research findings show positive effects of the virtual online communities and online teaching of teaching assistants on students’ knowledge construction; besides, teaching assistants and the timely application of teaching strategies are the key factors in students constructing high-level knowledge. Nevertheless, students’ aggressiveness and reflection depth to actively participate in online community activity and express feedback opinions require reinforcement.

Keywords:

• Virtual online community
• Knowledge construction
• Knowledge sharing
• Online learning