I agree with Irma Mänty and others that virtual communities and collaboration is very important for education. At the same time I think that there is a impending risk that we will soon have a situation where people are getting fed-up with communities. Partly for the same reasons that LMSs doesn’t work (they are to isolated), but also for integrity reasons. One get quite terrified when reading the agreements that users (unknowingly?) signs to get access to some communities. These agreements would not even be legal in some countries!
I think that we have an ethical dilema when we expect students to become members in those communities (a practise that is geting increasingly common) in order to participate in our courses. Especially since neither students nor the teachers are usually aware of the contents of those agreements – and even less about potential consequences.
