Functional design of the virtual learning community based on the connectivism learning theory

With the development of network technology and put forward the concept of lifelong learning, especially the rise of virtual learning communities, researchers combined the social collaborative learning with the network learning, in order to make learners be able to study independently online or carry out collaborative learning any place at any time. This paper firstly classifies the virtual learning communities which are widely used, and makes some comparisons. According to the eight principles on learning in connectivism, we have designed a new virtual learning community model, which is highly connected, has diversiform activities, plenty of learning resources, and human pushing services. In the new virtual learning community, learners will have much more freedom to develop learning activities, then their various potentials can be well reached. We hope that the community becomes not only learners' platform for immediate problem solving, but also more hope to become the useful lifelong learning companion.