Research in distance education show a positive relationship between sense of community and learning among adults. To some adult learners, there is more to online learning than the fulfillment of academic work. From a socio-cultural perspective, learning in a virtual community is also about the expression of online selves, identity construction and building a sense of community.
Building a sense of community is a constant challenge at the UP Open University (UPOU), the first tertiary level institution in the Philippines to offer distance education programs to adult learners in the graduate and undergraduate levels. Its current student population engage in online academic courses through UPOU's Moodle-based learning management system. While there are small packets of extra-curricular discussion sometimes encouraged by individual faculties-in-charge, UPOU has yet to explore other platforms to harness involvement and participation among its community members, most especially the students. This is where the UPOU Community Site comes in. The UPOU Community Site is one distinct virtual community developed and maintained by a faculty member outside the course domain. This site was created to cater to students, alumni, faculty and staff who feel there is more to being part of UPOU than just the studies, work and research.
But what does the UPOU Community Site truly mean to these adult learners who manage to sustain online and offline engagements through this virtual community? This case study purposely narrated the development of the UPOU Community Site from the perspective of its current users who care enough to maximize it as a tool and platform for program improvements, community building activities and interaction. Through narrative inquiry, this study was able to surface varied meanings a select group of adult learners attach to this virtual community. The study examined how faculty members and students express their online selves, construct their identities and engage in community building activities outside their usual academic coursework. The study aimed at making explicit the nature of this virtual community's growing sense of community in order to arrive at possible directions it can pursue for it to thrive.
The study significantly provided evidence as to how a virtual community can become a valuable platform to extend the online world of adult learners in order to contribute to an open university’s evolving community of practice. As this qualitative research grounded itself on an interpretive-critical paradigm, the study was able to draw out possible goals and strategies from adult learners-site members in order to sustain engagements among its current users as they continue to take part in building and nurturing a sense of community with the larger population of UPOU adult learners it hopes to reach.
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