Strategies for Building Community among Learners in Online Courses

Abstract

Building relationships and community in online courses can be challenging, particularly if those courses are also limited by tight time constraints. In this brief commentary, I share some of the strategies that helped me to build relationships with students over distance and within a limited timeframe, including organization, communication, and use of social media. I provide examples from my teaching to illuminate the specifics and effectiveness of each strategy.

Keywords:

• Online learning;
• distance education;
• course design