The redesigning of a higher education online course as a virtual learning community: its process and outcomes

Distance education efforts at the University of Puerto Rico´s Rio Piedras Campus emerged as a result of a grassroot movement. The Faculty of the Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies were early adopters of distance education on campus. The professors designed several online courses as part of a pilot project. Since they were more related to Web based education platforms than with online course environment design, the pilot courses´ evaluation showed that improvements had to be made in this area. Professors offering Web based courses were required to take workshops on the design, offering and evaluation of online courses. This paper shows the process of transforming a higher education online course developing a virtual learning community environment. It also presents the impact of the changes on the students´ perception of the course´s characteristics identified as promoting its social and knowledge capital and learning.