Description/Overview: Building and establishing learning communities in the academic online setting is essential to the establishment of student trust, learning and engagement. Faculty need to recognize the value of building a connection through a community of practice. Sustaining this sense of community has an impact on student learning. This symposium will present an understanding of the utility of a community of practice in online learning. Furthermore, virtual meeting technologies and face to face strategies to foster a learning community will be discussed. Finally, the impact of establishing learning communities of practice will be demonstrated through student’s discussions about how they share their experiences, their practice, and their desire to succeed as evidence-based clinicians.

Learner Objective #1: Describe the strategies for developing learning communities and the role they play in online learning.

Learner Objective #2: Discuss the strategies to enhance connections in the virtual learning environment.