Content area
Full text
The rapid growth in online courses continues to spark faculty concern about the quality of instruction related to the lack of interaction, social process, and social presence thought to promote socialization of students into a profession. Courses designed to promote a sense of community in online courses may address these concerns. The purpose of this study was to measure a sense of community in online classes at a western, landgrant university. Students taking online classes using the eCollege Web platform completed the Classroom Community Scale developed by Rovai (2002b) to measure a sense of community. Student interviews validated the scale.
SENSE OF COMMUNLTY IN ONLINE COURSES
Distance learning has expanded rapidly in the last decade, primarily because of the growth of online courses. The rapid growth of online classes fosters concerns about quality of instruction as well as student learning. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) between 1995 and 1998, the number of distance courses in general doubled, and online courses alone increased from 20% to 60% (NCES, 2000). According to a more recent survey the trend continued as online course offerings increased from 1.98 to 2.34 million in 2004, a rate 1 0 times faster than projected by the NCES (Allen & Seaman, 2004). A follow-up survey revealed that 65% of schools that offer graduate courses on-campus also offer graduate courses online indicating this delivery method has entered the mainstream of higher education (Allen & Seaman 2005).
The rapid growth in online courses and programs causes considerable concern for educators about the quality of the distance learning experience (Carstens & Worsfold, 2000). Even though these concerns may be to be dwindling, 40% of academic leaders still report their faculties fail to embrace online teaching (Allen & Seaman, 2003). Faculties have voiced concerns about several aspects of the quality of online learning. Some feel that higher education and administration sold out to pressures outside the university. Others tend to believe students can only be socialized through face-to-face (F2F) contact with instructors in the traditional classroom setting and question the quality of online learning (Diekelmann & Schulte, 2000; Mallow & Gilje, 1999; Nesler, Hanner, Melburg, & McGo wan, 2001). Even though many faculties have resisted the movement to teach courses online,...