A short vignette:

In my management courses during my graduate program one of the main foci was on teamwork. Questions regarding what constituted a great team abounded. At that time I had limited experience in the professional world so I would hearken back to my time in school. One experience always came to mind - my experience of being a part of the team that put on a performance of Shakespeare's Hamlet during my 8^th grade year. Typical of many intermediate schools my school was full of various cliques; curiously this class (or team) was comprised of individuals representing many disparate cliques. However, despite these differences, we were able to pull together as a team and put on a passable performance of Shakespeare's work. While a New York playwright most likely would not have thought much of our performance, the ability of this diverse group of pseudo-thespians to come together and work toward a common purpose amazes me still. How was it that this group of addled adolescents could perform such a feat? I posit that we were able to overcome our differences, put aside any pettiness, and focus on the task at hand because of shared goals and intense connectivity.

 The implication:

 As instructors in the online milieu we face a population set that is diverse: both in terms of background and ability. One of the significant challenges we face is removing the isolation that online students often face and promoting interconnectivity between the teacher students. So how do we encourage this type of interconnectivity amongst a diverse population set? Part of the answer is encouraging both diversity and commonality. As with many issues this particular one is rife with paradox. Thus we need to balance the paradox of difference and sameness. Achieving this balance often requires the establishment common goals that extend beyond merely passing our course in order for students to develop connections with each other and the course. This could involve asking the students how they have been able to operationalize the various skills they are learning in the classroom in their personal or professional lives.

Classrooms, whether on ground or online, are intrinsically systems; myriad actors operating within the same space. When a common goal is put forth, students can synergize their varied capacities to create a setting that is conducive to both dialog and learning. In order to achieve this alchemy of various student skills, course goals should be expansive, allowing space for a diverse student set to find connections to the course. By establishing common and expansive goals within the classroom, intense learning and dialog can begin. This allows the diversity of our students' skill sets and experiences to come to the fore; thus producing an environment conducive toward critical thinking. Though promoting connectivity between students in the online setting is often difficult, due to the diversity of students, developing connectively though expansive yet common goals can produce a generation of online students that understand their connection to each other and how their diverse life experiences and capacities enhance the learning process.