A Framework for Understanding Online Learning Communities.

This paper attempts to provide a deeply understand of how a community are developed in an online learning context. This research was developed as a part of a broader research purpose that aims to deeper understand how does trust relate to the activity patterns of the online learning contexts. Results gather there from supported a survey design on relate trust with online activity patterns as well supported the development and implementation of an ontology that aims to facilitate a systematic recording of online learning community manifestations as an effort to understand their life cycle. The relevance of this paper is grounded in the changes that are taking place in today learning and teaching contexts. Among other relevant aspects a key features of this conceptualization - on "what are online learning communities" - is to provide a broader perspective and understand on possible potential effects that those changes can have in our daily relationships, in the way we seek and acquire information, or even in the way we teach and learn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]