The introduction of web based instruction into the curriculum is creating new and virtual communities. Communities are rapidly transforming into entities in need of further definition. What sense of community is created when WBI is introduced into the curriculum? Are new forms of community created when interacting on-line? Unmistakably a new form of community is evolving as a result of well structured web-based instruction and Internet technology that is integrated into curricula regardless of subject or subject matter.

In the section titled “The Physical Presence,” I ask the question, “Is this utopia?” Of course a community created by integration of WBI and use of the Internet in the curriculum is not utopia but I would agree that the ability of those with slight to severe emotional restrictions and debilities - shyness, stuttering, lack of confidence, deafness, immobility, blindness - have the opportunity to interact in a virtual community where physical presence is not necessary. A major component of WBI is required student interaction, thus creating some sense community. Most classroom curricula do not require this level of intercommunication; therefore the creation of essentially millions of communities will be beneficial to the learning process. And because of this ‘next’ level of intercommunication within the classroom community, the need for fostering care, concern and connection will become greater.

Finally, the educator’s role in teaching as well as creating community is that of leader, mediator, moderator, facilitator and most importantly, community member. Educators create web-based curricula from varied sources including their own knowledge, but have the unique ability to easily adjust contents and allow students to create their own official knowledge by adding personal opinions and comments to community discussion on the topics presented by instructors. In the case of teacher training, I will present aspects of the distance education/teacher training course, Taming the Information Technology Jungle: Applications of Information Technology and the Information Infrastructure, that emphasized the Internet, Web, and listservs. The course was taught in May, 1997, from the University of South Carolina’s College of Library and Information Science by Dr. Dan Barron.

Defining the Virtual Community

"Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace" (Rheingold, 1993). Although various definitions exist, Rheingold presents the most broadly acceptable interpretation of a virtual community. A sense of community is many different things to many different people but when a sense of community is created as a result of the integration of WBI or the Internet into curricula, an old problem - that of manipulating curricula to force interaction among students in a classroom - can be turned into a new and meaningful experience.

A classroom is filled with students. Each student eventually learns the others’ names. The teacher learns the student’s names. All interact on a daily or weekly basis and in that classroom interaction we appercieve a community. That community can be broadened dramatically when WBI or the Internet is integrated into curriculum. Using technology such as e-mail, listservs, and chat rooms, students are able to interact on a broader scale with other students locally or world-wide whether they are working on science projects cooperatively, editing group writing projects or simply sharing philosophies. WBI can be applied to any subject and by virtue of the personal (not physical) perpetuated interaction among students over the Internet, virtual communities are created.

Well structured WBI or the integration of the Internet into the curriculum should include some form of student interaction, i.e. listservs, message boards, or chat rooms. These virtual communities, facilitated by the instructor, bring into being the non-physical community. Educational philosophers such as Paul Theobald might argue that the lack of physical interaction in these communities is counterproductive because of the physical displacement. But isn’t the exchange of ideas, personal interaction, understanding and sharing knowledge part and parcel of a community? Community is certainly an ambiguous term yet it conveys and includes these senses. No matter what opponents might say negatively about virtual communities, they are communities.

When describing the integration of technology into the classroom, Paul Theobald points out, "Used as a tool for research inside classrooms, technology holds great promise. But if used as a delivery system, technology spells educational disaster" (Theobald, p.130). A sense of community must be integrated into the curriculum along with technology. Students should use e-mail and discussion groups related to their topics of study to enhance their learning and in the process expand their knowledge of global cultural diversity. Remember, the world wide web is just that, world wide. When these technologies are implemented and utilized properly by the teacher, student interaction, even if it exists within a virtual community, will make the learning process more beneficial because of the creation of the community itself.

Theobald also states, "...new information is just one ingredient in the level of consciousness and without give and take in making sense our of past experiences relative to cultural assumptions and new information, understanding is not going to occur." (p.131) Virtual communities are creating new senses of experience on different levels that incorporate global responsibility especially when a 10 year-old child in a rural classroom in Nebraska is able to discuss her science project with another 10 year-old child in the Ukraine. I realize some teachers integrate ‘pen pal’ projects into social studies curricula, but the technology of the Internet, once grasped, is much easier to integrate into every subject.

The Physical Presence

An argument could be made that to have a community, to feel a part of a community, one must experience the physical presence of the others. But when relating the classroom to community, how much hugging, handshaking, smiling or frowning take place in the classroom community that requires the physical presence? Most classrooms have a class clown, an introvert, an extrovert, a clique who exclude the unpopular. The physical presence of these community members can be intimidating and at the worst, threatening. "Some people--many people--don't do well in spontaneous spoken interaction, but turn out to have valuable contributions to make in a conversation in which they have time to think about what to say" (Rheingold, 1993). A curriculum that includes a mechanism for technological communication within the virtual community allows those introverts, extroverts, class clowns, etc. to have the same voice, reduces the pressure associated with public speaking, of being called upon be the instructor, or of being laughed at by the class bully. I do believe in the importance of gaining confidence by speaking in groups and voicing opinions as a character-building exercise, but with the addition of virtual community communication, those having difficulty getting a word in edgewise are given the equal opportunity. A physical presence is simply not needed to interact within a community. "Social presence can be achieved ‘virtually,’ at a distance, as is well demonstrated by the telephone call. Two speakers are at different physical locations, but they feel fully present with each other in the context of the conversation" (McLellan, 1997).

Is this virtual classroom community utopia? I think it comes pretty close. "Formed not on the worn and crowded terrain of the earth but in the bodiless ether of cyberspace, virtual communities satisfy human needs for communication and belonging without imposing any of the traditional constraints, duties and responsibilities" (Gray, 1995). Intended to be a sarcastic opposition to virtual communities, the important aspect of this statement is that virtual community can satisfy the human need for communication and belonging. Opening new realms of community via on-line and electronic communication, those with a debility - shyness, stuttering, lack of confidence, deafness, immobility, even blindness - are given the opportunity to join the virtual community without being judged. Instead of being judged for their debility, their voices are heard along with the extrovert, class clown, and ever-popular conversation manipulator, thus fracturing the barriers often planted in the subconscious. In these virtual communities, we will react first to words, and not judge first by physical appearance.

How can educators make the correlation between Martin’s concept of care, concern and connection to that of the virtual community? In her 1991 essay, The Contradiction and the Challenge of the Educated Woman, and throughout many of her other essays, Martin promotes the integration of care, concern and connection into the curriculum. She makes the strong case for educators to "fill our classrooms with Nightingale and her sisters, both historical and contemporary, not in the capacity of role models or exemplars but as examples of women who in the lives and work have brought together and in the process transmuted the ‘manly’ qualities of rationality, critical thinking, and autonomous action and the ‘womanly’ ones of care, concern, connection, nurturance, and love" (Martin, p.115). Are not these emotions and actions part of what it takes to build a community? Care, concern, and connection are vital to producing strong social presence within a group, especially that of a virtual community. By communicating these emotions either on a listserv, message board or chat room, a group of learners can evolve into a meaningful community.

Educators that integrate WBI or the Internet into their current curriculum need to take these issues seriously. We do lose the physical presence when entering a virtual community and a way to replace it is to emphasize the textual representation of our feelings and emotions. "A sense of community requires a change in our consciousness so that we see ourselves not as self-sustaining atoms, but as dependent, contributing members of a group" (Martin, 1981). A paradigm shift must take place to integrate care, concern, and connection into virtual communities. This process of change should begin in the classroom with educators taking the lead by promoting and emphasizing the importance of expressing emotion and feeling though writing. By promoting this change, we will begin to see the lessening of distinction between physical communities and educational virtual communities.

The Educator’s Role

Teacher training must strongly emphasize the combination of technology and community. Within the last five years, educators have witnessed a geometric progression of the integration of technology into the classroom and many are unable to match the pace. The University of South Carolina College of Library and Information Science distance education course, Taming the Information Technology Jungle: Applications of Information Technology and the Information Infrastructure, was designed for "school library media specialists, teachers, administrators, parents, and other citizens interested in practical applications of information technology applications to support learning, decision making, and community building" (Appendix A).

Community building is essential especially when teachers integrate technology into the curriculum. Technology for so many is intimidating, but if educators can themselves learn enough about technology and its benefits to community, they can develop a bridge between the Information Age generation and the Industrial Age generation. All educators are currently on the cusp of this paradigm shift and it is proving to be difficult because of the rapid change we face. Change is difficult but if educators, via teacher training, can erect that bridge between technology and community, and make the shift to integrate care, concern, and connection into the classroom, I feel our future Information Age generations will be all to better for it because they will translate those senses - care, concern, and connection - into their daily lives whether it be in the board room, car garage, or chemistry lab.

The educator’s role in teaching with technology to create community is that of leader, mediator, moderator, facilitator and most importantly community member. In the Technology Jungle course, many technological media were presented to students, including visiting the course’s web site and joining one or two of the many subject listservs. Each of the listservs essentially created it’s own virtual community. The listserv subjects ranged from Elementary Language Arts to Middle School Administration to Industrial and Vocational Arts and every student was required to subscribe to at least one. The web page provided specific instructions on how to join a listserv and accurately explained how "listservs give us the opportunity to share information and questions with folks who have a similar interest. This supports a learning community--one of the goals for this course" (Appendix A.1). Supporting a learning community should be part of all curricula whether it be for teacher training or first grade. Most WBI and technology-related curricula should incorporate and support building community and intercommunication among students. Educators must learn how to foster a sense of community or utilize current technologies to foster a sense of community in the classroom as well as the virtual classroom.

During the Technology Jungle course, I was fortunate to have been a mentor for one of the listservs and felt a sense of community develop throughout the semester. Occasionally, I would receive messages addressed specifically to me instead of the listserv from someone in need of clarification on a matter but mostly, community building within the listserv took place and as a mentor, it was my responsibility to get the community ‘on track’ or interject ideas to get the wheels turning. I was pleased to see the positive course evaluation results about listserv and web usage from the Technology Jungle. The following were four evaluation questions with their responses:

1. Learning Team Leaders and subject area listservs enhanced the educational value of the course.

2. My Learning Team Leader had good command of the subject area of my listserv.

3. Listserv discussions and the Jungle website broadened my general knowledge of subject area.

4. Listserv discussions and the Jungle website helped me locate resources that I can use in my own classroom or other educational setting.

Unfortunately, none of these addressed if a sense of community was created in the listservs but the high rates of positive responses suggest that teachers were successful at communicating with other students in the class. This intercommunication electronically created learning groups that developed into virtual communities. Personalities developed through written expression and well formed mental images of those with whom we interacted. Black, white, deaf, or shy, we became a learning community.

Teacher training in the areas of technology and community building are essential for the current generational transition from the Industrial Age into the Information Age . The Taming the Information Jungle teacher training course is only one attempt to bridge the gap between the 10 year-old computer expert hacker and the 42 year-old teacher who has little time to ‘learn the Internet’.

Summary

Paul Shotsberger, one of my personal resources, for research on this topic describes the progress taking place in the world of teacher training,

Teachers must learn to manipulate technology to build community to teach today’s computer-savvy students. The Information Age is replacing the Industrial Age, and teachers must change too. I am not proclaiming teachers follow a curriculum of technology on a cart and simply have students ‘play’ on the Internet or only utilize the Internet for its research capabilities, but I ask that teachers choose teacher training courses such as the Technology Jungle course to actually join listservs, interact as a community member in an on-going chat room, or surf the web for WBI tools to use in the classroom.

Educators must learn to deal with change first, then concentrate on learning the technology basics. Teacher training opportunities are plentiful and teachers must learn to link technology to community. And we ought to merge Martin’s 3C’s - care, concern and connection - into these technology- laden curricula. Do not let the technology intimidate. The Information Age is almost here and the paradigm shift will take place with or without us.

Apple, Michael. Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age. 1993, Routledge.

Gray, John. "Cyberspace Offers a Hollow Freedom." Manchester Guardian Weekly, April 16, 1995. http://staff.sb.aol.com/gww/luddite/hollow.html [accessed November 9, 1997].

Martin, Jane Rowland. Changing the Educational Landscape: Philosophy, Women, and Curriculum. 1994, Routledge. (Both essays are included in this title. 1991, The Contradiction and Challenge of the Educated Woman; 1981, Needed: A New Paradigm for Liberal Education.)

McLellan, Hilary. "Creating Virtual Communities Via the Web." Chapter 22 of Web-Based Instruction edited by Badrul H. Kahn. 1997, Educational Technology Publications, Inc.

Reeves, Thomas C. The University of Georgia. A Model of the Effective Dimensions of Interactive Learning on the World Wide Web. Online publication available at http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/Faculty/treeves/WebPaper.pdf (web address provided by the author in correspondence)

Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, 1993. on-line book version. http://www.well.com/user/hlr/vcbook/vcbookintro.html [accessed November 8, 1997].

Shotsberger, Paul G. University of North Carolina at Wilmington. "Emerging Roles for Instructors and Learners in the WBI Classroom." Chapter 12 of Web-Based Instruction edited by Badrul H. Kahn. 1997, Educational Technology Publications, Inc. (and e-mail discussions)

Theobald, Paul. Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Community. 1997, Westview Press.

Taming the Information Technology Jungle: Applications of Information Technology and the Information Infrastructure.

Dr. Dan Barron, College of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina. 1997.

Course Description:
Introductory knowledge for school library media specialists, teachers, administrators, parents, and other citizens interested in practical applications of information technology applications to support learning, decision making, and community building.

Purpose:
This course provides: definition of terms and concepts currently associated with information technologies; instruction in the systematic identification, selection, use, and evaluation of software and hardware for instruction and information; and the consideration of various theories of human cognition, perception, and communication related to information technology and the information transfer process. An emphasis is placed on the role of the library information professional as a instructional collaborator, manager, and coordinator of information which is currently available in the full range of information systems including public, commercial, and educational telecommunications (radio, tv, cable, Internet) and other local and global networked resources accessed via computers.

Goals:
1. To introduce applications of systematic identification, selection, utilization, evaluation, and maintenance of information resources used to support the information transfer process, learning, decision making, and community building.

2. To introduce selected theories of human cognition, perception, and communication which help explain the ways in which information systems can be used to support the information transfer process, learning, decision making, and community building.

3. To introduce the characteristics, strengths, limitations, and effective use of a wide variety of complementary and converging information technologies including distance education, electronic communications, and multiple media systems which are potentially useful to support the information transfer process, learning, decision making, and community building.

4. To introduce systematic selection and evaluation processes, collection development processes, and information policy development issues related to information technology collections and access to support the information transfer process, learning, decision making, and community building.

5. To facilitate school environments in their implementation of school library media specialists collaborating with teachers and students to use information technologies for information access, instruction, and presentation; and managing programs which provide the school community with access and services related to these technologies.

Objectives:
By the end of this course, you should be able to complete the following tasks:

1. Define terms related to information technology and the information infrastructure.

2. Describe an information technology development plan for you as an individual and your school.

3. Describe several theories related to human cognition and perception and the implications of those theories for the selection, evaluation, and use of information technology in the curriculum of a school.

4. List the various support groups and agencies from which information and consultation may be obtained to effectively use the information infrastructure in South Carolina for learning, collaboration, decision making, and information gathering.

5. Develop a list of resources available via public, instructional, educational, and commercial television, cable, and radio; microcomputer software; and the Internet which relate to the specific subject area of the participant and demonstrate how those can be used as integral parts of a curriculum area or for a specific group of learners.

5.5 Plan for, use, and evaluate an instructional television program and an online project with a group of students.

6. Use the Internet for information, communication, collaboration, and instruction as an integral part of the curriculum.

7. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of copyright law as it applies to information technologies use in the school.

8. Develop policies and procedures which will provide appropriate access to information in many formats, including the Internet, without compromising the ideals of intellectual freedom.

Grades and Grading:
Criteria for grading each assignment accompanies the description of that assignment either in the study guide or as distributed during the class in which the assignment is made.

Assignments submitted after the due date announced by the instructor will receive one letter grade less than would have been given otherwise. Participants may make arrangements with the instructor for special considerations on any assignments should there be a circumstance beyond which the participant can control. Please read the Student Handbook for other University and College policies related to grades and grading.

PLEASE KEEP A COPY OF ALL OF THE ASSIGNMENTS THAT YOU HAND IN!

Grades for CLIS 797i will be assigned based on an evaluation of your complete portfolio. The items to be included and the percentage each counts toward the final grade are:

Email/Telecommunications/Internet Project 40%

Technology Planning Project 20%

Collaboration/Integration Project 30%

Information Policy and Procedures Statements 10%

Assignments will be given a letter grade of A, B+, B, C+, C, or F with corresponding numerical values of 4, 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2, or 0.

Required Texts:

Barron, Ann E. and Orwig, Gary W. New Technologies for Education: A Beginner's Guide. (3rd Ed). Libraries. Unlimited, 1997.

South Carolina Educational Technology Plan, 1995. (provided courtesy SCDOE)

Appendix A.1

Jungle Listservs
Our Connections for a Learning Community

Because the Class is so diverse--we will have several listservs not just one. We will not activate JungleL. Instead, we want you to enjoy the folks who have a similar interest(s) as you so join one of the specific listservs listed below.

Be sure to read the message that comes to you when you subscribe to the listserv.

Note: A listserv is like subscribing to a magazine. You subscribe and it comes to your home mail box. In this case, it comes to your email box. Use your email account, subscribe to one, send a message about you and yours interests and the conversation will begin.

The following are separate listservs (the discussion groups) for our course this semester. Listservs give us the opportunity to share information and questions with folks who have a similar interest. This supports a learning community--one of the goals for this course.

You may subscribe to one or more (be careful not to get on too many and fill up your mail box). When you do subscribe, be sure to keep the message that comes to your mailbox that tells you that your subscription was successful. It has lots of helpful information that will be important to you.

MOSTLY USE AND ENJOY EACH OTHER'S COMPANY!!!

Follow the directions exactly: you now know why computers need humans to make them work and why we get so frustrated because they don't talk like humans.

To Subscribe to any one of them (for example juncoach) Send a mail message from your internet service provider (isp) account to:
Listserv@vm.sc.edu
Don't put in a Subject
Don't put in a Name
In the body of the message enter:
Subscribe juncoach yourfirstname yourlastname
for example: subscribe juncoach Dan Barron
then send the message and you will get one back--almost immediately.

The Listservs for CLIS J797I:
juncoach=Coaches
junk-3ls=grades k-3 general
jun4-6ls=grades 4-6 general
jun7-8ls=grades 7-8 general
junELaLS=Elementary Language Arts
junESciL=Elementary Science
junEMatL=Elementary Math
junESoSL=Elementary Social Studies
junEngls=English/Language Arts (high school)
junHisls=History (high school)
junScils=Science (high school)
junMatls=Math (high school)
junSoSls=Social Studies (general)(high school)
junEadmn=Elementary Administration
junMadmn=Middle School Administration
junHadmn=High School Administration
junadmin=Administration (for all types of schools and levels)
junSLMSL=School Library Media Specialists
junguide=Guidance/Career Education
junSpEdL=Special Education
junSp-LS=Speech
junArtls=Art
junMusls=Music
junEPe-L=Elementary Physical Education
junSPe-L=Secondary Physical Education
junTA-ls=Teaching Assistants
junAdEdl=Adult Education
junDrsEd=Drivers Education
junComLS=Instructional Computing/Technology
junEForL=Elementary Foreign Language
junSForL=Secondary Foreign Language
junACtal=Academically/Creatively Talented
junSchWk=School to Work
junHomEc=Home Ec
junIvocA=Industrial and Vocational Arts
junreadn=Reading

Appendix B

Corespondence with Dr. Paul G. Shotsberger, Assistant Professor, Mathematical Sciences Department, Univ. of N. Carolina at Wilmington:

From: Paul G. Shotsberger
To: CRR@conterra.com
Subject: Re: web based learning
Date: Monday, October 27, 1997 9:46 AM

Curis,

Thanks for your note. The subject of your seminar paper sounds very interesting. I think the idea of comparing different types of communities, especially between physical and virtual, is very timely. With regard to your questions:

Web based learning - what does this say about teaching? Whose 'official knowledge' is the teacher using?

This problem is not unique to WBI, that is, teachers in many and varied settings (my field is math education) are having to come to grips with the idea of not being the definitive source of information in the classroom. This is perhaps even more true of the WBI environment, where the facilitator will likely die a slow death if s/he tries to anticipate or predict all of the students problems/questions/difficulties. Distance education in general, and WBI in particular, are a very low-cue educational environment, and so the facilitator needs to make sure that s/he is getting maximal input from students. This is made somewhat easier in my area because I am dealing with practicing teachers who have a lot of experience in the classroom, but it still takes a lot of work to let that experience speak in the WBI setting.

Does web based learning subconsciously promote a narrow sense of community making the learner feel a sense of displacement from a group of students taught in the traditional classroom style?

I guess I would ask here, More narrow than what? I am familiar with Apple's writings. They're pretty theoretical and generally (to me) more suited to the college classroom. In general, I am unimpressed with the "community" displayed in typical classrooms, except perhaps at the graduate level. As far as I can tell, this concept of an increased sense of community is actually turning out to be one of the great benefits of using WBI. Essentially, for WBI to succeed, students *must* interact with each other (generally in chats or on discussion boards), which is not the case at all in a typical physical classroom. In fact, in the area of adult distance ed. (in my case, professional development for practicing teachers), WBI has filled a long-unmet need. We workshop facilitators have complained for years that whereas the sense of community is strong during a typical face-to-face workshop of a week or so, there is no way to sustain that community or adequately support teacher change once they return to their schools. WBI gives us a way to do both in a very adaptive, flexible environment. The teachers I work with *complained* when we couldn't meet last week due to a conference that some of us were attending -- they missed the interaction. This is *not* normal behavior for the typical teacher, who is generally swamped with work at this time of year. So, I say let Apple and others talk about what *could* be, and I'll use WBI to accomplish what *can* be right now.

I hope this helps.

Paul

From: Paul G. Shotsberger
To:crr@conterra.com
Subject: Re: opinion
Date: Monday, November 10, 1997 9:38 AM

Curtis,

The outline looks good. Instead of just defining virtual community, as so many other articles have done, I think it's more interesting to define community generally and then ask yourself (and the reader), based on the information presented in the paper, how is a virtual community different from a physical community? What I've found is, given the interactivity possible for the virtual community, there is essentially no difference, and so the distinction between the two types of community is artificial (and in the next few years will be eliminated).

Paul Shotsberger

Dr. Paul G. Shotsberger, Asst Prof Mathematical Sciences Department
Univ. of N. Carolina at Wilmington
601 South College Road
Wilmington, North Carolina 28403