Online Community

 Creating an online learning community is important to help a student not feel lost or alone during the semester of online learning. There are many ways an educator can set up the class so students can have a sense of community.

The first method is video conferencing or zoom. it may be regularly scheduled zoom meetings, conference hours between teachers and students, or even meeting with friends. Zoom meetings allow for an interaction where you can see someone's face but not in person. This method got very popular after the first shutdown. Zoom can be inconvenient because some people may not have an open schedule enough to have an actual meeting. 

The second method is a discussion board. This is one method that is usually for points but also allows for a decent connection between students. This method also lets students know their points of view and connect over opinions. As I said the method of the discussion board is mostly for points and can be viewed as a forced method of communication and connection, but this method is better for more introverted people.

The last method is encouraging open communication regularly between students either through open forums, emails, or social media. This method is for extroverted people to connect. And while a teacher may encourage it there is no way to really enforce or ensure the connection between students. Personally connecting this way is one I don't like because connecting this way is too personal for some people, me and other introverts included. 

My favorite method is the discussion board, this method lets me feel connected to my classmates while not intruding on someone's busy schedule too much. I am an introvert and this method allows me to connect and build a community in my own way and in a way that is more comfortable to me.