Exploring Online Learning Communities What makes them tick?

Rochelle Jensen - 2009

What online learning communities are you currently involved in or have knowledge of?

What do you gain from your involvement in these communities?

IN GROUPS OF THREE DISCUSS: Would it be beneficial to set up an online learning community to

support this group?

CONSIDERWhy? What would be its purpose?

How might it look? What components?

FEEDBACKHuman Continuum

Yes, No, Maybe -Justification

A glimpse at the research ....

Heather Bell – Massey University – Conducting her thesis

on “ How can blended learning communities be facilitated

to support the professional learning of in-service teacher

educators?”

Garrison and Vaughn (2008) - Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, principles and guidelines. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Lai, K.W., Pratt,K., Anderson, M., and Stigter, J. (2006) Literature Review and Synthesis: Online Communities of Practice.

Wenger, E. 2001. Communities of Practice: a brief introduction

“Some online communities emerge out of nowhere, are totally unplanned and blossom. But these are the minority. There is a good deal of evidence to suggest that careful planning is essential to the success of an online community”

(Australian Flexible Learning Framework, What are the characteristics of effective online learning communities? pg 7, 2003)

“Online is not separate to the physical world – in teaching or in the development of Communities Of Practice – in reality hybrid models usually operate”.

(Australian Flexible Learning Framework, What are the characteristics of effective online learning communities? pg 4, 2003)

PL + ICT = EPLPoor Learning + ICT = Expensive Poor Learning

Three Elements of Communities of InquiryGarrison and Vaughn , 2008.

CONSIDERWhat benefits/ motivation is there for participants? What is the purpose of this community?What are the roles and protocols? Do members have ownership over these protocols? Who ensures that these are adhered to?Is the culture of the group such that collaboration is valued? How do you promote this collaboration online? How is trust nurtured in this environment?How is risk-taking / the sharing of half-baked ideas encouraged?Have members had previous experienced working collaboratively as a group?Are there opportunities for the group to meet face-to face?Critical mass of users to make community viable?

“Social presence the ability of participant to project themselves socially and emotionally as real people…”

(p. 28, Garrison and Vaughn)

benefits

motivation

role

protocolsownership

collaborative culture?

trust

risk-takingclimate

“Cognitive Presence is the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social

processes for the purposes of realising personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning

outcomes” (p. 29, Garrsion and Vaughn)

Underpinned by inquiry and research

Improvements in teacher practice and student outcomes

Responsive

Methods, stories, cases , tool, documents

Understandings discussed and challenged.

content

CONSIDERIs this a task that can benefit from collaboration, traditional or electronic?Is there a defined focus?Is there a common goal which is clearly articulated?

“Teaching presence is the design, facilitation and direction of cognitive and social processes for the purposes of realising personally meaningful and educationally worthwhile learning outcomes”

(p. 29, Garrison and Vaughn)

facilitation

designdirection

CONSIDERHow will the facilitator value and elicit input from others?Is the facilitator someone who knows the content, is comfy with technology and has the ability to draw and inspire participants?How savvy is the group? How can they be supported?

Bus- Stop Please share your ideas re Social Presence

What do you see as the purpose of our online community?

Is the culture of the group such that

collaboration is valued? How will we

promote this collaboration online?

Please share your ideas related to: Teaching Presence

Who should be responsible for facilitating/moderating this environment?

What is the responsibility of the other members of this online environment?

Please share your ideas re Cognitive Presence

What content would you like to see included in

our online community?

participants walk around the room adding their ideas to the three stops:

Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence

Ideas from the bus-stop activity are collated to form the foundations of the

online learning environment.

“There is no absolute formula, this is a fluid and rapidly evolving medium;you will have to experiment and improvise”. (Australian Flexible Learning Framework, What are the characteristics of effective online learning communities? pg 17, 2003)

Online learning communities have been developed for many years now but

few manage to actually provide more than just a repository for information

and ideas.

Potter, 2004