What is a Learning Community Online?

The term Learning Community Online (LCO) is used to describe a group of schools that are bound together by formal agreement to provide enhanced learning opportunities for students across electronic networks. Typically this will involve situations where a staff member from one school provides instruction in a particular subject area to students who are attending a different school or schools, usually at a senior level. The term has been chosen to differentiate this arrangement from other forms of clustering or school networks that may exist. The three words in the title are each important in defining the arrangement: “Learning” denotes the main emphasis and purpose of the arrangement; “Community” denotes the nature of the relationships among the members (i.e. more than simply a ‘school’ or ‘class’); and “Online” describes the means by which these learning communities are developed.