For the culminating project in my Master's of Education program, I am researching the concept of communal constructivism. It's the idea that students should be able to leave their mark on the classroom for future learners. It's the idea that students are a part of a community of learners and they will be able to impact the classroom, future learners, and maybe even the discipline.

It's an "everlasting" classroom -- "perpetual" classroom -- ever evolving based upon on our shared experiences, skills, and knowledge.

When founders Mathew Pittinsky and Michael Chasen started Blackboard LLC in 1997 they were innovators. They were pioneers tackling the brand new problem of online education.

Blackboard's contribution to online education can't be questioned. They packaged the necessary set of tools for creating and managing an online classroom and marketed it well. But it never was very good.

As an online educator and instructional technology grad student, I have a great interest in distance education.

From my experience, good online classes have three characteristics:

1. Clarity
2. Community
3. Organization

I have been a student in classes where the expectations were unclear. I've had classes that seemed like independent study with little to no interaction with the instructor or peers. And I've taken an online class that was so poorly organized that it was nothing more than a random pile of poorly named PDF files.