Diary: March 19, 2009

Community and participation are what helps students to become successful in an online environment. When building a community among students it is important to understand support comes from within. So, students and instructors alike must work together in order for a community to work. In an online setting where you don’t have the face to face interaction it may be a bit harder to build bonds. However, class discussions and group project helps to encourages student participation thus in end possibly creating long lasting friendship in the process.

I have had a few bonding experiences in my time in distance education. I found when I had a group assignment, a much stronger bond exists then when we are individuals in the class. Since, there is so much joint work; there is a lot of communication that goes on. We use the study group conference, email and talking on the phones. With so many ways of communicating and feeling a level of comfort there were friendships that were born. To me, school is just like working at your job, there are people at your work place where you form lasting bonds. Since the internet is allowing a unique way of communicating, it is still a way to make new friends and succeed as a distance education student.