Social phenomenon of community on online learning: digital interaction and collaborative learning experience

Digital interaction in e-learning offers great opportunities for education quality improvement in both - the classical teaching combined with e-learning, and distance learning. Zagreb School of Economics & Management (ZSEM) is one of the few higher education institutions in Croatia that systematically uses e-learning in teaching. Systematically means that all courses are developed combined with e-learning and all these courses use the same LMS (Learning Management System). Discussions are very important part of each e-learning system. The study focuses on the importance of the social phenomenon of community on online learning. The phenomenon of digital environments and social experience in education is examined through discussion boards of two different freshmen courses offered at ZSEM. Effectiveness and communication dynamics of discussion boards is analyzed through comparison of students' participation rates according to the topic, discussion type and quality of discussion. The goal of the study is to analyze the potential of online communication tools in creating student-centered digital communities of inquiry. However, the focus is not on the individual student learning and achievement outcomes, but on the collaborative learning and student digital interaction from a pedagogical perspective. Based on social constructivist principle and the assumption that knowledge creation is a shared, rather than individual experience, the study examines how and why digital environments enhance online collaborative learning experience.