In traditional online discussion forums and chats, instructors are charged with developing and maintaining a learning community with students that are miles apart and will likely never meet. The University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) collaborates with Chicago State University to increase diversity using online discussions, Web conferencing.

To address the challenge of creating community, UIS professors are encouraged to help students build knowledge, instead of lecturing. It’s a constructivist approach to learning that puts the “burden on the faculty member to be insightful in selecting discussion questions, case studies, and in probing the imagination and interest of students,� says Ray Schroeder, director of technology enhanced learning.

As online learning expands, Schroeder expects blogs, wikis, Second Life, and other virtual worlds to give way to “mode neutral� teaching that allows students to choose how they get their information — online, in class, or a combination of the two.

Dr. Meg Benke, dean of Empire State’s Center for Distance Learning, sees opportunities for blended learning that allows students to work online and on site, like short-term residencies that connect students’ online learning with on-the-ground experiences. And, there’s always the next group of kids coming through classrooms.

“There is a generation of kids that already get this immersive chat-based, synchronous pretend environment,� says Kemp, those kids “are going to be savvy to the point of expecting integration with learning management systems.�