HICSS '04 Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'04) - Track 7 - Volume 7
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Social networks, communication styles, and learning performance in a CSCL community
Computers & Education
Journal of Management Information Systems
Knowledge sharing and creation in a teachers' professional virtual community
Computers & Education
Pedagogical lurking: Student engagement in non-posting discussion behavior
Computers in Human Behavior
Fostering the determinants of knowledge sharing in professional virtual communities
Computers in Human Behavior
Exploring factors that influence knowledge sharing behavior via weblogs
Computers in Human Behavior
Do students need teacher's initiation in online collaborative learning?
Computers & Education
Examining online teaching, cognitive, and social presence for adult students
Computers & Education
Understanding online knowledge sharing: An interpersonal relationship perspective
Computers & Education
Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model
Computers & Education
IT takes a village: Virtual communities in support of education
International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
Hi-index | 0.00 |
Despite their didactical potential many Virtual Learning Communities VLCs fail in enhancing learning outcomes. Therefore, we synthesise factors most critical for establishing a successful VLC. Applying a structured literature review, we searched for studies dealing with VLCs in the well known databases Business Source Premier, Science Direct and ERIC. We identified, classified and synthesised 64 relevant papers. Results indicate that critical success factors include a strong instructor that acts in different facilitation roles, face-to-face meetings that help establishing social ties and well structured small-group assignments that scaffold the learning process. Main challenges are a lack of common goals, feelings of inhibition and technical problems. Based on the review, we offer concrete advice for instructors building up VLCs. We suggest that future research should focus on the design of methods and tools for instructors to facilitate the learning process in a less resource demanding way.