Jan, Shazia K., and Panos Vlachopoulos. "Influence of learning design of the formation of online communities of learning." International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 19.4 (2018).

This study investigates the impact of learning design on the development of learning communities within a fully online Bachelor’s course in Health Sciences at a European University. Employing the Integrated Methodological Framework (IMF), which combines Social Network Analysis (SNA) with the Communities of Practice (CoP) and Community of Inquiry (CoI) frameworks, the research analyzed how different designs of three consecutive discussion forums influenced student engagement and community formation. The findings indicate that the varying learning designs led to distinct levels of community engagement: a tutor-initiated and -mediated Community of Practice formed in the first forum, was sustained by students in the second, but disintegrated in the third due to a lack of guidance. Qualitative content analysis highlighted the role of group-oriented messages in fostering the CoP. The study underscores the significance of learning design and the tutor’s role in online community formation, offering valuable insights for enhancing online learning experiences through strategic learning design and analytics.