Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Cohesion, collaboration and the struggle of creating online learning communities: Development and validation of an online collective efficacy scale

Glassman, Michael ; Kuznetcova, Irina ; Peri, Joshua and Kim, Yunhwan LU (2021) In Computers and Education Open 2. p.100031-100031
Abstract
A number of strategies have emerged over the last decades to guide the development of online learning com- munities where members share, augment and co-create information but few tools to measure their success. This paper suggests that some online communities’ success can be understood through the lens of online collective efficacy. Albert Bandura introduced the idea of collective efficacy as an emergent variable where members have agency in community success. Collective efficacy sees group success as dependent on relationships between mem- bers of the group on two levels: the degree to which individuals feel that they able to contribute to the existing group, and the degree to which individuals perceive a fit between their own abilities,... (More)
A number of strategies have emerged over the last decades to guide the development of online learning com- munities where members share, augment and co-create information but few tools to measure their success. This paper suggests that some online communities’ success can be understood through the lens of online collective efficacy. Albert Bandura introduced the idea of collective efficacy as an emergent variable where members have agency in community success. Collective efficacy sees group success as dependent on relationships between mem- bers of the group on two levels: the degree to which individuals feel that they able to contribute to the existing group, and the degree to which individuals perceive a fit between their own abilities, desires and goals and those of the other members of the group. The present paper describes the development and validation of a 35-item Likert-scale measure of online collective efficacy to capture this phenomenon. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis corroborated the fit of the data ( n = 634) to the proposed theoretical structure of the scale (comprising 6 factors), and the convergence validity analysis yielded significant moderate correlations between the proposed scale and other instruments measuring related constructs. The developed measure has both descriptive value helping re- searchers/instructors understand the effectiveness of their strategies in managing online learning communities; and prescriptive value, helping offer guidance in how to move towards a more successful online community. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Collective efficacy, Online community, Collaboration
in
Computers and Education Open
volume
2
pages
12 pages
publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
2666-5573
DOI
10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100031
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2b212533-f6ba-49cc-bd7a-ab1de84966f6
date added to LUP
2021-12-09 20:01:57
date last changed
2021-12-14 11:09:45
@article{2b212533-f6ba-49cc-bd7a-ab1de84966f6,
  abstract     = {{A number of strategies have emerged over the last decades to guide the development of online learning com- munities where members share, augment and co-create information but few tools to measure their success. This paper suggests that some online communities’ success can be understood through the lens of online collective efficacy. Albert Bandura introduced the idea of collective efficacy as an emergent variable where members have agency in community success. Collective efficacy sees group success as dependent on relationships between mem- bers of the group on two levels: the degree to which individuals feel that they able to contribute to the existing group, and the degree to which individuals perceive a fit between their own abilities, desires and goals and those of the other members of the group. The present paper describes the development and validation of a 35-item Likert-scale measure of online collective efficacy to capture this phenomenon. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis corroborated the fit of the data ( n = 634) to the proposed theoretical structure of the scale (comprising 6 factors), and the convergence validity analysis yielded significant moderate correlations between the proposed scale and other instruments measuring related constructs. The developed measure has both descriptive value helping re- searchers/instructors understand the effectiveness of their strategies in managing online learning communities; and prescriptive value, helping offer guidance in how to move towards a more successful online community.}},
  author       = {{Glassman, Michael and Kuznetcova, Irina and Peri, Joshua and Kim, Yunhwan}},
  issn         = {{2666-5573}},
  keywords     = {{Collective efficacy; Online community; Collaboration}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{100031--100031}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Computers and Education Open}},
  title        = {{Cohesion, collaboration and the struggle of creating online learning communities: Development and validation of an online collective efficacy scale}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100031}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100031}},
  volume       = {{2}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}