Customer Reviews

Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom (Josse Bass Higher and Adult Education)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is quite simply one the best books on distance learning that I have read. Palloff and Pratt provide a well researched investigation into developing communities online.

The first part of the book goes to great length in defining distance learning and community. The authors provide both empirical and anecdotal evidence to support their claim that community building online is critical to distance learning success. They do a wonderful job stepping the reader through the psychological process of developing an online community and detailing the impact it can have on learning.

Their approach to instructional design moves the instructor into a collaborative and transformative learning model that places students at the center. Instructors become facilitators guiding student discussion and exploration. This stands in stark contrast to the chalk and talk lecture model that many instructors attempt to replicate in distance learning.

Part two of the book is a hands-on guide to best practices for building online learning communities. It covers everything from initial course design and maintaining a collaborative environment to student and course evaluation.

If you are involved in distance learning and online training... I would strongly recommend this book. It was published in July 2007 and is very up-to-date with references to blogging, wikis and social networks like Facebook and My Space. It's a great read a wonderful reference.

Let me start off by saying I am not a techy by any stretch of the imagination AND I have never built an online learning community or come close to it. This book seemed so basic, little was of help for the class I bought it for. I did not need to buy it, nor was it recommended, but it sounded as if it would help...it did not.

I did buy it for an online class in education. Save your money and see if there is another book out there which is better written with actual information.

Great title tho'.

This book might be good for someone writing a paper about online learning but, as someone looking to create an online learning course, there was very little, if anything, I could use or apply. To be honest, I stopped reading after 100 pages and started skimming because the dry, academic writing style combined with little actual specific information left me bored.

With all the text materials available, Palloff & Pratt's Building Online Learning Communities ... may as well have wordless pages. That is about what one may learn from the book. Palloff and Pratt's 2012 text, The Excellent Online Instructor: Strategies for Professional Development is an excellent alternative/replacement.

Pratt and partner need to go away. They need to take their long-winded profiteering asses and return to whatever dreadful pit in which they were spawned! How many titles can they publish regarding the most basic of concepts?! How long will academia consider their insipid work valid?! How many times will Pratt and partner be allowed to repackage the same shallow thoughts and theories for sale?!

This book is geared toward teaching adults, higher education, not k-12. I expected more concrete advice on teaching online,it really is just about creating "communities" as the title says. The need to connect the students. It's okay. Just not what I was hoping for.

The book was listed with you as being in 'Good' condition. It is not. Every page has ink pen (lines) underlining sentences unevenly. At some points the lines go into the words of the sentence above or below it, making them hard to discipher.