Just to remind me what my thinking was at this point:

·         Learning is a social activity and therefore it is always situated culturally, historically and socially.
·         Learning communities provide good conditions for learning, because they come together with that purpose in mind and can mobilize aspects of community such as shared purpose, shared history and shared language to support learning.
·         Community is possible online if you view community in terms of purpose, history, language etc rather than in terms of geography
·         Online learning communities have the potential to support collaborative learning
·         However, despite being set up for this purpose and despite the potential benefits of online communication, the learning in these communities may be limited and may not be collaborative
·         I therefore want to know which skills, resources and types of learning support the type of learning which an online community of learners is trying to achieve.