A virtual learning community on a web-based course on the Claroline platform

Chen Weidong
Suzhou University of Science and Technology
Jiangsu, China

This paper analyses the instructional functions and features of the Claroline platform, drawing on the following learning theories: constructivism, systematic instructional design, cognitive apprenticeship and legitimate peripheral participation. It also examines the design and creation of a virtual learning community -- an important aspect of web-based courses -- exemplifying the process on a first-year undergraduate course, ‘Introduction to Educational Technology’, offered in the Suzhou University of Scienceand Technology in 2008. The Claroline platform can provide the technological environment which, together with the instructor and learners, form the component elements of a virtual learning community on a web-based course. In the course under consideration, learners worked in a communicative and collaborative learning environment.

The process of constructing a virtual learning community on the course included task design, group design, activity design, resource design and evaluation style design. According to instructional design theory, we should consider the course objectives, content and learners’ characteristics in constructing a virtual learning community. Analysis of the students’ characteristics included examining their learning styles/skills, life habits, and home, school and class environments. Also, as the activities in a learning community are nearly all based on the computer, we needed to consider carefully the learners’ computer skills and information literacy. The learning objectives of a virtual learning community mainly cover the analysis of the content and explication of themes.

We used social network analysis, a questionnaire survey and interview methods to analyse the effects of the course in terms of both quality and quantity. The analysis showed that:

• the cognitive apprentice system and legitimate peripheral participation theory provided guidance for constructing the web-based course’s learning community;

• the community multiple interactive designs based on the Claroline platform enhanced the students’ level of interest and involvement in studying, promoted their understanding of specialized knowledge and developed their interpersonal relationships.