Trustful Online Learning Communities

Trust awareness and understanding its influence in online social relations are becoming increasingly important issues in learning contexts. Motivated by the idea that there is compelling evidence linking trust with technological artefacts and their applications within teaching and learning contexts, this paper describes the initial mind-set leading to a study on the role of trust in fostering successful and sustainable online learning communities. The major contributions of the work herein depicted are twofold: On one hand, we identify the main components of trust and draft a relation between trust and the success of online communities; on the other hand, we outline a research strategy to explore the above proposed relationship focusing in the interaction of the afore mentioned components with working, learning and sharing activity patterns in online learning communities. This rationale is built on the belief that a thorough understating of the role of trust in online learning communities facilitates the increased participation of individuals and communities in all dimensions of the knowledge-based society, through the reinforcement of trustful and trust fostering features, in all relevant technological artefacts and their applications.