ABSTRACT
As technology advances and our conception of formal learning evolves, increasing emphasis is placed on new and relevant resources for the emergent world of hybrid, online, and virtual instruction. With the transition to these partially, if not wholly, Web-based learning environments comes a need to reconstruct opportunities for interaction. Early attempts at Web-based learning were often highly instructor-focused and could easily leave individuals feeling isolated in their learning. Humans are social beings, however, and the Web, as a reflection of this, has become a vastly social phenomenon. Now virtually any action executed online can become a social opportunity. Shopping, watching TV, reading the news—all of these tasks—have morphed into social experiences when carried out in an online environment. More specificially, and arguably more important, is the social phenomenon of personal participation.
