Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to highlight experiences and reflections on pertinent issues related to developing and supporting collaborative online learning communities and to share practical applications for fostering meaningful online learning in undergraduate and graduate level teacher education programs. Although the practical experiences with online collaboration discussed will stem from teacher education programs, techniques that may be generalized to many other areas will be examined. The main purposes of sharing such reflections are: a) to explore effective methods for developing, implementing, and assessing the pedagogical strategies used to promote effective collaboration in online learning communities, b) to describe suggestions for enhancement of online discussion techniques to maximize student learning, and c) to reflect on the collaborative e-learning experiences from the perspectives of both professors and students. The target audience for the content of this paper includes educators, educational researchers, IT designers, curriculum developers, and practitioners.