Online Education Communities

IT used as a learning aid for education is pretty much as standard in the developed world as is using books and calculators. As online communities have revolutionised fields such as the music business and social networks, the question I’m asking is whether or not online communities as a learning aid will revolutionise educational practices.  

Discussed are two examples of online communities which have their uses in education – 

Wiki’s – Wikipedia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) is a widely used online encyclopaedia. Its content is edited by its members, whilst this makes its content wide ranging and needing minimal resources, it also makes it open to users uploading false content. Unlike Wikipedia, Google is launching an online encyclopaedia in which it is inviting experts to create the content (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7144970.stm), this will ensure reliable content. Unlike Wikipedia it will use advertising as part of its funding, this will be used to fund its many authors.   

3D worlds – Second Life (see www.secondlife.com) is a community in which members can congregate and interact in a 3D environment, which makes it an ideal platform to stage lectures and discussions. Ohio University (see promo video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuNFRie8wA) is one university to adopt second life by uploading a replica campus.  

 I believe that online communities will revolutionise educational practices as they have the tools to change the way people learn and interact with tutors. I would argue that communities such as Second Life will be used in parallel with traditional teaching practices allowing students to attend and take part in lectures and tutorials streamed online. Also this environment could be used to link to other trusted learning resources, creating a learning mesh.  

Advantages of such a system would be allowing students (who don’t need physical care) to save time travelling to a real-world campus, and would come in use with foreign students as it is a borderless model. Also this type of community model will impact on developing countries which have limited physical resources. 

The approach would have the disadvantage though of taking away the face-to face social side to campus life. Also advertising used on sites might be a concern. Such an approach would need piloting to iron out any unexpected flaws which may crop up.      

By taking more learning out of the classroom and online, students will find themselves researching topics individually and use mediums such as message boards for help from peers and tutors.