Cambridge Scholars Publishing Community Building in the Online Classroom

This book offers theories, principles, and strategies for developing the online classroom as a deep and full learning community that students feel is truly about, by, and for them. To be immediately useful, it offers practical ideas for helping students to actively contribute to shaping classroom affairs toward relevance and meaning. However, in order to elevate the discussion beyond the “primer” level, the book anchors those ideas in social and educational principles and theories. As social learning theories posit, deep and full learning occurs when our full cognitive, emotional, and social selves are engaged. This book mitigates the challenges to such engagement in the virtual classroom, arguing that a strong sense of community ownership will enhance students’ ability to successfully master content. Although not all strategies are group based, the use of groups both large and small is a primary way of helping online students to become active on their own behalf in building a learning community that meets their needs. Strategies outlined here focus primarily on promoting shared authority, visibility, and voice and on encouraging student disclosure of needs and peer connection. About the Author With 20 years of experience as a certified professional mediator and 40 years of experience in social work practice, education, research, and scholarship, Dr Dominique Moyse Steinberg’s last educational affiliation was with Simmons University School of Social Work, USA, where she spent several years supervising faculty and teaching for the online Master’s program. Her clinical background has focused particularly on inner-city families, including the homebound elderly. She has many articles and books to her credit, including three editions of The Mutual Aid Model of Social Work with Groups; Making Joyful Noise: The Art, Science, and Soul of Group Work; Orchestrating the Power of Groups; and two editions of The Social Work Student’s Research Companion. In 2020, she received the Day-Garrett Award from Smith College School for Social Work.