Although there are several virtual communities I belong to, the one I will focus on is Angel. A virtual community, as defined by Michele Willson are "communities experienced through technological mediation over the Internet and possibly enhanced in the future by virtual technologies." This being the case, I choose Angel because it is a virtual community I belong to that links me solely to the other community members online through the Internet.
I am taking my third class online this semester, having taken two last semester. As part of DDP, I am linked to fellow classmates living in almost every corner of the world; some are in Tri-Cities, some in WA, some in the U.S. and still others in China, New Zealand, Great Britain etc. Our community resides in Angel since I have neither spoken to or met any of my current or previous classmates aside from commenting on their discussion posts. This holds true of the professor as well...I've neither talked to or met them aside from reading or responding to their discussion posts. As part of this community I interact not only according to the guidelines set by the professor teaching the course but through necessity to relay or receive information pertaining to the class. If we are not posting our ideas and commenting on others, we're emailing each other. This is not to say that I could not interact with these community members outside of the virtual realm. However, time, space and interest pose an issue. I choose NOT to interact with my virtual classmates outside of the Angel realm because I neither have the interest, time or resources to do so, but mostly interest. My connection to my fellow community members/classmates rests solely on the temporary but still important committment to the class. Once the class is over, I'm done. On to the next class. If I happen upon a former community member/classmate in another online class (or even 'embodied' class) then great. Maybe we'll become friends and want to meet up for a Hefe at Jackson's or a coffee at Barracuda.
The terms of entry into this particular community rests on a few things.
1. You must first be a student who has met the required entrance prerequisites (ie transcripts and application etc) paying tuition to WSU to take the online class.
2. Because of #1, this means you have to be reasonably educated and literate (one must be able to read, write and perhaps even do some critical thinking) to engage in this community.
3. Once access to this community is granted, a computer with Internet is required to participate since an online username and password are required to enter into the virtual community space.
After discussing barriers of the digital divide: access, content, literacy, pedagogy, and community it's easy to see how Angel fits into this. Access and a certain degree of literacy are a must. Community is implied since that's essentially what the access is granting you entry to; a meaningful space via Internet connecting people with a common interest. The content revolves around learning or at least the opportunity to learn something. Community interaction is usually required, but encouraged with enthusiam for community building and critical thinking. The hiccup comes with pedagogy. In my opinion, Angel is a pretty straightforward program to navigate. But I have seen posts from people who have minimal computer skills get help with navigation from fellow classmates, the professor or TA, or online Angel assistants. Does that count as pedagogy? I don't mean to dumb down any the nature of this assignment but even after our discussion on the digital divide, I think there's some gray area with how wide the divide is from person to person.
My notions of the digital divide and virtual community are being shaped and molded into a broader and diverse understanding of the technological world. Other communities that came to mind that I belong to would have included Facebook, Blogger, perhaps email? After our last class discussion, I no longer knew what to think about "community". I chose Angel because it seemed to be the most authentic of the virtual communities I belong to; virtual community as defined by Willson.
I still feel like I'm processing everything: cyberspace, digital divide, virtual community, technology...
Bring it.
Angel is definitely a good example to use that is unlike many other online communities out there. With Angel as you say, it is a strictly professional relationship between other members, as you are all there for the same goal, to get a degree. With other communities it's for recreation, or to meet new friends or keep in touch with family.
ReplyDeleteMany classes I have taken use Angel but also meet in the classroom, and the online community is only used to distribute information and to get in contact with the instructor outside of class time. I found that in classes like this, when we had to use Angel to arrange a group project or something I felt more engaged with the other students because I had met with them in class before, while with other online-only courses, that connection isn't there, and I tend to not be attached to the other students in any way.
Melanie Erickson
ReplyDeleteI agree I did not even think about Angel as a community and yet with every class each teacher uses it not just for DDP classes. Teachers that have inclass also use angel for communication plus the class room lecture. It seemed so second nature that I did not even think of it as virtual communities, probably because I go to the classes as well as turn things in on Angel. E-mail and kind of a half and half classes. Good point.
Melanie Erickson
The sole purpose of Angel is a learning management system. Itself, it has no community. The university has enacting a class inside a virtual representation (a course within the Angel system) of a physical space (a classroom), crossing barriers of time and space in order to recreate the physical. What other distinctions are there between this and a virtual community?
ReplyDelete