Tools and Methods for Supporting E-Learning Communities and their Evaluation

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to online learning communities, to define and categorize online communities, as well as to present the process, functionality and rules of online learning communities. It also discusses the particular characteristics of the tools and methods that are currently used for supporting online learning communities. It presents a twofold classification of these methods and tools, and discusses the usage of these tools by online learning communities. Furthermore, it proposes tools and methods that could be used in the near future. Finally, this chapter aims at presenting methods and tools used for the evaluation of online learning communities, including classification of these methods and practical examples from their use.