One of the criticisms that I have heard about online learning is that it is impersonal and does not provide a community in which one can learn through interactions with others. Perhaps that is true in some models, but it has not been my experience.
There is a robust sense of community that continues to develop as we approach the midway point of the online study group I am facilitating. These are all busy people, juggling a full-time teaching job and managing the courseload in addition to whatever home commitments they have. Yet, through a discussion board, they interact regularly.
I have never met these folks face-to-face (at least that I am aware of), yet I am getting a sense of their personalities, their humor, and their challenges. It is different than the communication you find in traditional professional development settings, but it is still a vibrant learning community.
I suspect that the criticism of online learning is little different from that levied by those who believed that texting, cell phones, e-mail, mp3 players, and even the telephone were going to cripple personal communication as we knew it. Communication methods evolve, but it is hard to imagine a world where communication is not still vital - we might as well embrace the possibilities as new trends emerge.
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