Can video sharing enhance student interaction and foster a community of learners in an online learning environment

Online course environments provide the learner with time and flexibility to complete desired learning and career goals. In the design of these learning environments one of the optimal goals has been to replicate the connections formed among students and between instructor and students found within a traditional learning environment. With the development of innovative technology enhanced methods of communication are being implemented into the online course design that are intended to increase student interactivity and while building a learning community, while diminishing feelings of isolation by providing a means in which the visual and non-visual cues are present. A quasi-experimental study design was implemented to determine the effects of the integration of video sharing in relationship to the levels of student interactivity and the formation of a learning community. Four separate online courses participated, spanning the spring and summer terms. Data was collected using the Blackboard Learn Course Management System, which recorded individual student actions and interactivity. A modified Rovai (2001) Classroom Community Scale survey was also implemented during the non-video sharing period and the video sharing period to measure the formation of a learning community and social connectedness. There was no significant difference in interactivity or in the formation of a learning community. The results, however, identified conceivable rationalizations that may help instructional designers and instructors construct more enriching and engaging online learning experience with the inclusion of innovative technology tools.