An online learning community is a place on the Internet where people work as a community to meet a shared learning objective. There are two types of online learning communities: a) e-learning communities, b) blended learning communities. Online learning communities may be knowledge-based, practice-based, and task-based.

In an online learning community members can use text, audio, and video for communication, exchange of information, and collaboration. Some popular tools and technologies utilized by online communities are: wikis for collaboration, instant messaging for communication, message boards for discussions, learning and content management systems for posting and managing of content, structured and unstructured repositories for knowledge mangement and access to resources, blogs for reflection, and social networking applications for sharing information and linking to other networks. Click here to view the Tools That Enhance The Learning Ecosystem, and click here to view the Technologies of Social Software.

Organizations that set up professional learning communities foster collaboratove learning. They create a learning environment where learning is linked to collaboration and knowledge shaing much more tightly. In addition to formal training and access to organization’s resources, users will also be enabled by:

Finding the right person to contact to learn from
Learning from the experience of the other person
Learning from the resources of the other person
Learning from the professional social network of the other person