Strategies Employed By Participants In Virtual Learning Communities

This paper examines the learning behavior of online students in an asynchronous learning environment. We employ the theoretical lens of an online community of inquiry, to understand how students build an understanding of course concepts as part of an online community of learning. Findings are presented from a study of an online, graduate University course. Student behavior was analyzed to investigate the detailed learning strategies employed by various students. An e-learning framework was devised, that identifies various types of behavior, each of which is associated with the distinct needs of an online learning process. We conclude with the reflection that we may need many different types of course interactions for different types of learning role.