Constructing Community in a Postsecondary Virtual Classroom

Abstract

Interactional ethnography with a social constructionist perspective was used as an orienting theoretical framework to investigate how a community of learners was constructed in a postsecondary distance education class. The question guiding this research was: How do the interactions of the participants in an on-line classroom construct the social culture of a distance education classroom? Three analytical components of this larger study are expanded upon in this article: a) how the on-line conversational topic was changed to the on-task analysis of the weekly readings; b) how the use of an object became part of the class's repertoire; and c) how members compensated for the lack of face-to-face verbal and non-verbal conversational cues. Benefits of the study include providing insights into how the on-line communications resulted in student perception of being part of the classroom culture and providing practical examples of on-line application of student-centered pedagogical techniques.