I’m reading a report by Bonk and Wisher on collaborative and e-learning tools.
http://publicationshare.com/docs/Dist.Learn(Wisher).pdf
They identify the following questions, most of which seem to originate in Chao’s unpublished thesis.

I like question 8 about the development of trust and openness.

1. What conditions foster online learning communities? What social structures must be in place?
2. At what point does the learner or participant become part of the community?
3. How can CMC environments substitute for the social cues of FTF environments that help foster a sense of community?
4. When and how do students develop a sense of online communities within both training and higher education classes? What principles, practices, and tools spur the growth of learning communities?
5. How does the development of a learning community relate to student perceptions of course tasks and activities?
6. Does the formation of new relationships relate to the depth of student learning?
7. How do instructor styles, student experiences with e-learning, and course materials contribute to the development of an online community?
8. How do such characteristics as trust, support, openness, knowledge sharing, negotiation of meaning, and influence emerge and evolve?
9. How do permanent learning communities differ from temporary classroom-based learning communities?
10. Why do people use a site? Why do new people join the asynchronous learning network? What motivates their participation? What are their expectations?

In addition to the questions above, it is important to understand the tools that positively impact the sharing of information and mutual understanding of participants. How do online tools provide a shared social space for instructor and student interaction? Just how do participants share knowledge and experience? What must be present in the learning community for significant knowledge negotiation?

Gill commented on this: Just an idea that bounced off my head as I read this – one of the aspects of mobile learning that I was quite keen to pursue was collaborative learning. However at the moment, I’m not so sure. The little pilot study I did for U800 into how experienced PDA and Smartphone users use their mobile devices to support their informal learning projects assumed that because of the high levels of connectivity that people would engage in some forms of collaborative learning.

At first glance, this did not seem to be the case. Learners (such as students) who were all engaged in the same subject and in the same physical location did collaborate, sharing information by beaming. Other learners only collaborated via web forums – posting problems and helping each other out.

For the most part, the informal learning projects supported by mobile devices seemed fairly solitary unless people were also co-located physically.

Maybe you need a framework in place to promote and support collaborative learning.

Gill
Comment from euphloozie – 18/11/05 09:41

OK, here is the first ever formulation of my PhD research question (after I ditched the original idea about international communities in primary schools).

How do people successfully become members of an online learning community?

And the sub-quesion: ‘What problems and limitations stand in the way of successful membership?

Dave Wield suggested formulating the question in different ways, so here goes:
Why… do people have problems when forming online learning communities?
Where… are the most successful online learning communites found?
When… does a successful online learning community form?
How… do people become successful members of online learning communities?
What if… I had to design an ideal online learning community?