What is community?

1. What is a community (How is it defined)? What is a virtual /online community? What bring people together and what motivate them to stay together as members of a community? Cite examples from the recent issues of the Time magazine and/or from your personal experience with a real or virtual community you belong to and discuss the concept of a community.

Community means many different things to individuals. For me community can be my immediate surrounds including family, friends and those I see on a daily basis, but may not be on a name basis. This idea of community includes those in my neighborhood and university and town setting. Then, there is my global community, or all those I communicate with on a daily weekly or monthly basis that are located in a different geographical location than I am. My virtual or online community is comprised of elements from both my community and global community including family, friends, the students I teach, and other colleagues in the field of languages, technology and online and distance education.

In reading through the articles in Time magazine that focus on uses and users of the World Wide Web it is intriguing to see great variety in individual preferences for Internet usage. In the case of my eighteen year old son and his friends, Xbox 360° live is their way of becoming part of the virtual community. They can play a variety of video games with people they know from school or from all over the country. Generally their online bantering is full of bravado and bragging, which is really close to an alter ego in contrast to their real daily persona. All of my kids love YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, but I cannot say I am a user of any of these virtual spaces. YouTube is a new frontier for all those who need a good laugh, bit of attention or mini fame. Facebook and MySpace are too intrusive for me. If I need to share a personal moment I prefer talking to a friend over a good cup of tea, but that does not mean we are in the room. We might be miles apart chatting via emails or Skype. I really am more comfortable using email or working in online course management systems, places where I feel like I have more control over who is in my community, but times change and so might I. When I started teaching Spanish at the university I never imagined that I would be a pioneer in teaching in a fully online environment.

2. How are the real community and the virtual community similar and different at the same time? How do the emerging technologies, specifically the internet, “alter our sense of boundaries, participation, and identity” of a community (p. 14, Shumar & Renniger)?

The internet has allowed access to all corners of the earth, generally for the betterment of society, but sometimes for the worse. Classroom conversations do not have to be limited by the knowledge base of the participants contained within classroom walls. For me I see this as a good thing. We all view things from a different knowledge base and set of experiences, new technologies and the internet allow us to see things from perspectives we could never phantom with out the aid of someone else’s eyes, views, and experiences.

Shumar and Renniger, (2002) highlight the difference between real community and virtual community, “In the physical world, context tends to ground a person in one reality (view of the past, sense of self, ideas of group, etc). In contrast to the physical world, the lack of context in the virtual world enables imagination, identity, and the kind of valuing that deepens interest and enables knowledge building (14). The humorous side of this difference is clearly seen in the lyrics of Brad Paisley’s song “Internet.”

I work down at the pizza pit

And I drive an old Hyundai

I still live with my mom and dad

I'm 5'3 and overweight

I'm a Sci-Fi fanatic

Mild asthmatic

Never been to 2nd base

But there's a whole nother me

That you need to see

Go check out MySpace

'cause online I'm down in Hollywood

I'm 6'5 and I look damn good

I drive a Maserati

I'm a black belt in Karate

And I love a good glass of wine

While these lyrics exemplify the harmless escapism of the virtual community, there is also a darker side that the young and naive should be protected against. In a real, face to face community it is harder to hide our true personalities, motives and opinions, but in the virtual community we can become Jekyll or Hyde. That is, at least until our true colors bleed through.

3. From your own experience of a virtual community, do you think people learn and construct knowledge by participating in the community? If so, what are the implications of a virtual community for learning and change?

From an educational standpoint, the use of a virtual learning community is both exciting and boundless. From elementary to higher ed., being able to see the world and even our own community via multiple perspectives is phenomenal. I feel that learners in virtual communities can learn and construct knowledge the same as they would in a traditional class setting and many times they have the potential to construct even more as the contexts and boundaries of their physical world are diminished. I see this in the online language courses I teach in a form of lowered inhibitions. Students who are too shy to speak out in class participate in the voice forums. While the voice posts can be accessed by all members of the class, the students feel less threatened speaking in the target language via the microphone than in a the classroom setting. It may be a sense of control, as they know the topic they are asked to speak on and can then begin speaking when they are comfortable.

Along with the chance to garner multiple perspectives from around the globe comes the ability to comprise a classroom with students from all walks of life. This is great enrichment opportunity as learners are exposed to differing perspectives while at the same time introduced to people which a vast array of interests, abilities and specialties. I saw this first hand in EIPT 6343 where are collaborative project spanned not only abilities and content areas differences, but also a vast age range. There is something to be said about combining learners of varying ages and interests into a class community as the result can be an outstanding panoramic learning experience.