Assembly Time: Strategies for Creating Learner Connections Online

There are both theoretical and practical foundations that call attention to the value of facilitating social connections among students to enhance their learning. Social learning theory and its derivatives highlight the value of social connections for learning, both through direct knowledge exchange from interaction and through the motivational impact of such connections on individual students. Long standing practices of educators in face-to-face settings have also evolved from an appreciation of the value of student interaction. Such practices are symbolized in the common practice of the school assembly in which a group of students, often the entire student body, is brought together to share a common experience. Face-to-face learning settings are replete with opportunities for social interaction, both formal and informal. Indeed, educators in face-to-face settings are confronted with the challenge of moderating and often curtailing such interactions to maintain an orderly school or classroom environment. Thus, through long experience educators have evolved practices for managing ongoing student interaction. Online learning settings present a different set of challenges when it comes to harnessing the power of social interaction to support learning. In the online setting educators often encounter students, alone or in groups, who have little or no prior interaction before entering the course or learning experience. In this paper we consider a variety of strategies and practices for enhancing the social connections among students to foster learning.