Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace

by K. Ann Renninger (Editor), Wesley Shumar (Editor)

Overview

This study examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. They consider the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. The volume will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521785587
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/08/2002
Series:	Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Preface K. Ann Renninger and Wesley Shumar; Foreword: virtual communities for learning and development: a look to the past and some glimpses into the future Michael Cole; Introduction: on conceptualizing community Wesley Shumar and K. Ann Renninger; Part I. Types of Community: 1. The mystery of the death of Mediamoo: seven years of evolution of an online community Amy Bruckman and Carlos Jensen; 2. Female voices in virtual reality: drawing young girls into an on-line world Ann Locke Davidson and Janet Ward Shofield; 3. Community building with and for teachers at the math forum K. Ann Renninger and Wesley Shumar; 4. Learning in the virtual community depends upon changes in local communities Beverly Hunter; Part II. Structure and Community: 5. Evolution of an on-line education community of practice Mark S. Schlager, Judith Fusco and Patricia Schank; 6. Building social networks via computer networks: creating and sustaining distributed learning communities Caroline Haythornthwaite; 7. Mask and identity: the hermeneutics of self construction in the information age Dorian Wiszniewski and Richard Coyne; 8. WISE learning communities: design considerations Alex J. Cuthbert, Douglas B. Clark and Marcia C. Linn; Part III. Possibilities for Community: 9. Reflexive modernization and the emergence of wired self-help Roger Burrows and Sarah Nettleton; 10. Understanding the lifecycles of network-based learning communities James Levin and Raoul Cervantes; 11. Learning in cyberspace: an educational view of virtual community D. Jason Nolan and Joel Weiss; 12. Finding the ties that bind: tools in support of a knowledge-building community Christopher M. Hoadley and Roy D. Pea; Afterword: building our knowledge of virtual community: some responses David Hakken; Afterword: building, buying, or being there: imagining online community Steven G. Jones.

Editorial Reviews

'… this volume provides an important initial grounding to a topic of much interest to educators, designers, sociologists, anthropologists, and even past, present, and future community members.' Convergence 2003

From the Publisher

An examination of the types, structures, and possibilities of Internet communities that should interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction. The 12 papers include a case study of third grade girls which demonstrates how their interactions in a virtual community-based learning environment increased both their technological interest and competence; a description of the life cycles of network-based learning communities; a discussion of design considerations for creating online learning communities; and an analysis of the death of MediaMOO (Amy Bruckman's text-based virtual community for media researchers, which lasted from 1992 until 1996 when it began its decline). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR