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Building Virtual Communities

Building Virtual Communities

Building Virtual Communities

Learning and Change in Cyberspace
K. Ann Renninger, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
Wesley Shumar, Drexel University, Philadelphia
July 2002
Paperback
9780521785587

    This study examines how learning and cognitive change are fostered by online communities. The chapters provide a basis for thinking about the dynamics of Internet community building. They consider the role of the self or individual as a participant in virtual community, and the design and refinement of technology as the conduit for extending and enhancing the possibilities of community building in cyberspace. The volume will interest educators, psychologists, sociologists, and researchers in human-computer interaction.

    • Addresses both the design of online communities and the identities created by them
    • Includes case examples to illustrate contributor perspectives
    • Compares and contrasts the various forms of virtual communities

    Reviews & endorsements

    '… this volume provides an important initial grounding to a topic of much interest to educators, designers, sociologists, anthropologists, and even past, present, and future community members.' Convergence 2003

    See more reviews

    Product details

    July 2002
    Paperback
    9780521785587
    416 pages
    229 × 152 × 24 mm
    0.61kg
    19 b/w illus. 10 tables
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Preface K. Ann Renninger and Wesley Shumar
    • Foreword: virtual communities for learning and development: a look to the past and some glimpses into the future Michael Cole
    • Introduction: on conceptualizing community Wesley Shumar and K. Ann Renninger
    • Part I. Types of Community:
    • 1. The mystery of the death of Mediamoo: seven years of evolution of an online community Amy Bruckman and Carlos Jensen
    • 2. Female voices in virtual reality: drawing young girls into an on-line world Ann Locke Davidson and Janet Ward Shofield
    • 3. Community building with and for teachers at the math forum K. Ann Renninger and Wesley Shumar
    • 4. Learning in the virtual community depends upon changes in local communities Beverly Hunter
    • Part II. Structure and Community:
    • 5. Evolution of an on-line education community of practice Mark S. Schlager, Judith Fusco and Patricia Schank
    • 6. Building social networks via computer networks: creating and sustaining distributed learning communities Caroline Haythornthwaite
    • 7. Mask and identity: the hermeneutics of self construction in the information age Dorian Wiszniewski and Richard Coyne
    • 8. WISE learning communities: design considerations Alex J. Cuthbert, Douglas B. Clark and Marcia C. Linn
    • Part III. Possibilities for Community:
    • 9. Reflexive modernization and the emergence of wired self-help Roger Burrows and Sarah Nettleton
    • 10. Understanding the lifecycles of network-based learning communities James Levin and Raoul Cervantes
    • 11. Learning in cyberspace: an educational view of virtual community D. Jason Nolan and Joel Weiss
    • 12. Finding the ties that bind: tools in support of a knowledge-building community Christopher M. Hoadley and Roy D. Pea
    • Afterword: building our knowledge of virtual community: some responses David Hakken
    • Afterword: building, buying, or being there: imagining online community Steven G. Jones.
      Contributors
    • K. Ann Renninger, Wesley Shumar, Michael Cole, Amy Bruckman, Carlos Jensen, Ann Locke Davidson, Janet Ward Shofield, Beverly Hunter, Mark S. Schlager, Judith Fusco, Patricia Schank, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Dorian Wiszniewski, Richard Coyne, Alex J. Cuthbert, Douglas B. Clark, Marcia C. Linn, Roger Burrows, Sarah Nettleton, James Levin, Raoul Cervantes, D. Jason Nolan, Joel Weiss, Christopher M. Hoadley, Roy D. Pea, David Hakken, Steven G. Jones

    • Editors
    • K. Ann Renninger , Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
    • Wesley Shumar , Drexel University, Philadelphia