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The aim in this study was to identify how college students' experience of the online learning community influences their community identification and learning engagement. We used an online survey and the participants were 568 college students in the New Oriental English School's online
learning community in China. The results indicated that three dimensions of community experience, namely, information experience, entertainment experience, and interactive experience, each exhibit significant positive associations with community identity, which, in turn contributes to students'
learning engagement. Moreover, the finding confirmed the significant mediating effect of community identity between the three dimensions of community experience and learning engagement. The results give a deeper understanding of the role of community experience in influencing students' attitudes
and behaviors in the context of an online learning community.

Recently, higher education has focused on "learning communities." This
study examines a process in which students create expectations for their community of learners. The expectations provide the basis for assessment of students and the
program. Across three cohorts, common themes arise. The major themes from students' expectations of faculty are that faculty should be organized, use a variety of
teaching methods, and provide mentoring. Students primarily want their peers to
participate actively and constructively in class, have academic honesty, and contribute to class in a civil, respectful manner . Study findings indicate that students are
empowered in finding their collective voice and holding each other accountable for
classroom community. Using the transformative power of a learning community to
improve both student classroom behaviors and faculty teaching appears to be a
promising practice.

AbstractIn pedagogical practice, gratitude is recognised not as an emotion, but as an approach to learning. This study introduced gratitude messages into the academic online communication of university students and specifically examined the community in which students shared their messages with gratitude. This study examined the tendency of message connections and how gratitude messages prompted replies. To elucidate their connections, exponential random graph models (ERGMs) were used. A post-event questionnaire to evaluate gratitude experiences was also administered. Results revealed that 77.3% of the 172 connected messages from 123 students involved gratitude. When the post-event questionnaire results were examined using an ERGM, the score effects on increasing message connections were found not to be significant. The most prominent indication was a higher level of significant propensities to make mutual connections. The homophily of the message content was found to have a significant propensity to increase connections. The ERGM results and a review of messages revealed that students expressed gratitude for being both benefactors and beneficiaries of gratitude messages, which confirmed their prosocial behaviour.

AbstractThis paper presents the results of an inquiring process conceived as learning for action. The focus of the inquiry was the creation of some initial conditions considered necessary for the design of Evolutionary Learning Community (ELC)—an ideal alternative learning system that seeks to catalyze the purposeful creation of sustainable and evolutionary futures. These conditions included: (1) an idealized operational definition of ELC; (2) a description of the personal attributes of the potential designers of ELC; and (3) the design of a learning framework for empowering designers of ELC. The particular approach used was Evolutionary Systems Design: a systemic heuristic based on social systems design and complemented with an evolutionary and critical systems perspectives. The inquiry involved a theoretical exploration that was enriched with the experiences and perspectives of a group of individuals—who are involved in areas of work relevant for the design of ELC, such as systems design, community development, educational change, and environmental sustainability—who engaged with the author and principal researcher in learning conversations. Copyright © 2001 International Society for the Systems Sciences.