Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom.

Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom by Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt. Jossey-Bass Publishing, San Francisco, California. 1999, 206 pages, $29.95, Paper, ISBN 0-7879-4460-2.

The authors of Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace: Effective Strategies for the Online Classroom explore the benefits, problems, and concerns inherent in computer-mediated distance education. As academic institutions move rapidly toward using the Internet to offer courses and programs, they subsequently create virtual universities; instructors must be trained and supported as they move into this technology-driven arena. With this book, Palloff and Pratt make a significant contribution to the discussions and struggles that frame this transition. Their practical and useful guide is designed for faculty who currently teach on-line and wish to discover new ideas to incorporate into their practice. It is equally useful, however, for instructors who are embarking on this journey. Other higher education professionals who will likewise find this book useful are department chairs and deans responsible for developing and delivering on-line offerings, those responsible for faculty and instructional development, and designers who are working with faculty and staff as they make the transition to on-line work.

Based on their many years of work in information systems and over five years of experience in on-line distance education, Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt share insights designed to guide readers through the steps of computer-mediated course design and implementation. Palloff and Pratt are managing partners in Crossroads Consulting Group; in addition, they actively teach well-planned and effective computer-mediated distance education courses. Palloff is an adjunct professor at John F. Kennedy University and the Fielding Institute, both located in California. Pratt serves as an assistant professor and chair of the Management Information Systems program at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas.

This outstanding book is divided into two parts. Part One lays the foundation for a distance education framework. Chapter 1 explores the issues involved in teaching and learning when learning takes place outside the classroom and occurs instead in an on-line environment. Key factors in the distance learning process include interactions among students, interactions between faculty and students, and the collaborative learning that results from these interactions. The formation of a learning community wherein knowledge is imparted and meaning is co-created sets the stage for successful learning outcomes.

Chapter 2 outlines the process of building a community in an on-line environment. In order for the learning process to be successful in distance education, attention must be paid to the developing sense of community within the group of participants. Community is the essence of these authors' distance education framework. In this chapter, they differentiate for readers between a traditional model of pedagogy and a model that will lead to success in the electronic classroom.

Chapter 3 explores in more detail the key issues that need to be addressed by educators striving to build effective learning communities while delivering classes on-line. These issues include virtual versus human contact, connectedness, and coalescence. Additional issues explored by Palloff and Pratt are shared responsibility, rules, roles, norms, and participation. The chapter concludes with an interesting account of psychological and spiritual issues, including discussions regarding vulnerability, privacy, and ethics as they relate to distance education. The authors strengthen this chapter by including excerpts of dialogue from their seminars to illustrate each of these important issues.

Chapters 4 and 5 tackle some of the more concrete issues of time, group size, and technology as they pertain to on-line teaching. Palloff and Pratt discuss several of the concerns related to the amount of time required for participation on the part of both students and faculty. These concerns include asynchronous and synchronous environments, time offline versus on-line, time constraints, and time management. Additionally, the authors discuss the various forms and uses of available technology in distance learning. They assert that it is critical for instructors to be continuously aware that people are connecting with them through a computer and that these participants are developing a relationship with each other and with the technology itself.

In Part Two, Palloff and Pratt provide an experiential guide to creating an electronic learning community that leads to effective distance learning. Chapter 6 provides direction for how to make the conversion from the traditional classroom to cyberspace. Chapters 7 through 10 provide practical applications of the framework. Specifically, Chapter 7 offers suggestions for creating an appropriate syllabus, setting objectives and learning outcomes, negotiating guidelines, setting up the course site on-line, gaining student participation and buy-in, and accounting for presence in the on-line classroom.

Chapter 8 provides instructors with examples of practical techniques for stimulating collaborative learning among class members. Also presented are ways to promote and facilitate relationship building and personal process, thus humanizing what can be viewed as a nonhuman environment. Chapter 9 explores transformative learning that is based on reflection and interpretation of students' experiences, ideas, and assumptions gained through prior learning. This chapter details methods for incorporating this process stream into the context of the on-line course.

Chapter 10 focuses on how to evaluate results, which is an important concern for educators. The authors discuss student assessment, appropriate assignments for evaluation purposes, and course and program evaluation. In Chapter 11, Palloff and Pratt summarize the keys to successful on-line learning and the ramifications of this work for teacher training.

Computer-mediated distance education is dynamic and ever-changing. Advances in technology will bring new challenges to this evolving field, and Panoff and Pratt have captured and discussed the issues as they exist today. I highly recommend this book as essential reading for today's educators. This practical, hands-on guide is strengthened by the authors' illustrative case studies, vignettes, and examples from a wide variety of successful on-line courses that will help readers successfully apply the recommended strategies to their own computer-mediated courses. Written for faculty, instructors, trainers, and others involved in distance learning environments, Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace is a guide for creating a virtual classroom environment that will help students excel academically while fostering a sense of community.

David L. Dollar teaches chemistry at the South Campus of Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas. [e-mail]