Re-Visiting Democratic Pedagogy in the Context of Virtual Learning Communities

Abstract

The purpose of this research is two-fold. First, it provides an overview of the debates over whether technology facilitates democratic education. Second, from this emergent body of discussions in the literature, it critically examines the potential of a virtual learning community to materialise democratic education, both through its underpinning of ideal values such as autonomy, participation and mutuality and through the technological spaces which learners inhabit. Virtual learning communities (VLCs) are increasingly appearing in the field of open education and in that sense, these emerging virtual communities demand a new understanding of democratic pedagogy. With regard to this, drawing on the theoretical debates, it aims to discuss how technology can take place in re-exploring the democratic pedagogy under the scope of VLCs. In doing this, a critical in-depth literature review was undertaken in an emergent area of virtual communities by aiming to contribute to the discussions over conceptualizing the democratic VLCs.