Editorial: Creating, supporting, sustaining and evaluating virtual learning communities

Abstract

This special issue is dedicated to creating, building, supporting, sustaining and evaluating virtual learning communities (VLCs) using emerging technologies. The contributors from diverse disciplines have come together to share their valuable experiences and findings through their research in the following themes: (a) instructional models, strategies, approaches for building, supporting and evaluating VLCs, (b) designing effective use of tools to promote discourse and scaffold peer interactions among members, (c) iterative processes and models of designing and evaluating VLCs; and (d) various variables concerning VLCs, such as virtual community behaviors, cultural factors, adoption patterns of tools. It is hoped that these articles will provide practical guidance and offer valuable experience to both educators and researchers who are interested in designing effective VLCs and examining various aspects of VLCs to advance our understanding of VLCs.