Community Development Among Distance Learners: Temporal and Technological Dimensions

Abstract

This paper explores social support and community development among members of a computer-supported distance learning program. The research focuses on what characterizes this community, and how students define and maintain community while largely restricted to communication through media that have been viewed as unsuitable for the maintenance of close social bonds. Interviews conducted over a year with 17 students reveal the importance of community and its role in supporting them in their “different kind of world” and important temporal and technological dimensions associated with community development. Each cohort begins in physical proximity with an intensive, on-campus “boot camp” that acts as a lasting bonding experience. When students return home, they reinvent this physical proximity as virtual proximity, appropriating technology and the opportunities afforded them by class and program structures to socialize and work with people they met on-campus. They enjoy the temporal proximity of “live” lectures and appropriate Internet Relay Chat's “whispering” facility to socialize; they make near-synchronous use of email, and use the timing of assignment submission to initiate email exchanges. Those who fail to make such connections feel isolated and more stressed than those who are more active in the community. Recommendations include promoting initial bonding, monitoring and supporting continued interaction and participation, and providing multiple means of communication to support the need to engage in work and social interaction, both publicly and privately. Overall, our interviews show that belonging to a community brings benefits to the individuals and to the program, and supports efforts by educators who strive to provide such a community for their distance learners.