Fostering Participation in an Online Intellectual Community in a Graduate Educational Setting: A Case Study

This study describes the design and implementation of an online intellectual community that targeted only the School of Information Systems and Technology (SISAT) at CGU, and the steps taken to foster active participation amongst community members. The artifact developed was an online community for the purpose of improving the sense of community amongst students, faculty, and alumni of SISAT by allowing community members to exchange ideas and experience. We found that in order to motivate active participation in a system such as ours, we required a strong administrative presence to provide content and implementing effective interventions on a regular basis to sustain user interest and generate motivation to engage in active participation.