Title: The rationale of online learning communities

Authors: Urban Carlen, Ove Jobring

Addresses: IT-university of Goteborg, PO Box 8718, 402 75 Gothenburg, Sweden. ' IT-university of Goteborg, PO Box 8718, 402 75 Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract: Online learning communities facilitate communication between people who share common interests and learn collaboratively using networked technologies. Researchers and designers have to understand social practices in order to explore and develop technological tools for such collaboration and communication. In this article, a typology and constituents construct a rationale for examining this empirical phenomenon.

Keywords: online learning communities; rationale; constituents; typology; web-based communities; social practice; collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2005.006927

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2005 Vol.1 No.3, pp.272 - 295

Published online: 25 Apr 2005 *

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