The Art
of Learning
Building
The Art of Building
Virtual
Communities
Virtual Communities of Change
Photo credit: “Crab2” Vinnie Vrotny
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
College of William and Mary
http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
Email:
[email protected]
Web:
http://www.21stcenturycollaborative.com
Blog:
http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com
Wiki
http://21stcenturylearning.wikispaces.com
A Definition of Community
Communities are quite simply, collections of individuals who are
bound together by natural will and a set of shared ideas and
ideals.
“A system in which people can enter into relations that are
determined by problems or shared ambitions rather than by
rules or structure.” (Heckscher, 1994, p. 24).
The process of social learning that occurs
when people who have a common interest
in some subject or problem collaborate
over an extended period to share ideas,
find solutions, and build innovations.
(Wikipedia)
Community and the
Changing Learning Landscape
Trend 1 – Social and intellectual capital are the new
economic values in the world economy.
This new economy will be held together and advanced
through the building of relationships. Unleashing and
connecting the collective knowledge, ideas, and experiences
of people creates and heightens value.
Educators will need to stay abreast of the developments in
society so they will know what knowledge and skills their
students will need to be prepared for the future.
Source:
Journal of School Improvement, Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring 2002
http://www.ncacasi.org/jsi/2002v3i1/ten_trends
Community and the Changing Learning Landscape
Trend 7 – Technology will increase
the speed of communication and the
pace of advancement or decline.
Using participatory media educators
will help today’s students shape
tomorrow’s world.
Teachers will become partners with
students- using learning communities
to open the classroom to the world.
They will deal with real world
problems and opportunities while
gaining a global perspective.
Looking Closely at Learning Community Design
4L Model (Linking, Lurking, Learning, and Leading)
inspired by John Seeley Brown
http://learningcircuits.blogspot.com/2006/06/roles-in-cops.html
This model is
developed around the
roles and interactions
members of a
community have as
participants in that
community.
Linking These are visitors who find a community by one means or another. They may
have bookmarked the site or added it to their RSS reader. They are in a “testing” mode
to determine if this community if of interest to them and worth giving more of the time
and attention.
Lurking Often the largest segment of a community, these individuals pay attention to the
activity of the group and occasionally participate in various activities. Wenger calls this
group Legitimate Peripheral Participants (LPP). They may be interested in greater
involvement, but either don’t feel worthy or don’t know how. For others the content may
only be peripheral to their work.
Learning These are regular visitors who contribute to the community regularly. They are
considered “members” of the community. Occasionally , they may take on a project or
event leadership role as either an “audition” for a more core role or as a way to lead
despite overall time unavailability.
Leading At the core of a community are the Leaders of that community. Leadership is a matter of
commitment and willingness to contribute on a consistent basis. Leaders may or may not be
designated via title. Roles, other than community coordinator, may evolve as needed. Wenger says
it is the responsibility of leadership to “build a fire” of activity that is strong enough to draw people to
the community and encourage greater participation.
consumer - The first phase is where participants (often referred to as lurkers)
simply read and explore the posts of others. Far from being passive as the
word lurker suggests, consumers can be very active participants in an online
community - just not yet visible to others.
commentor - as this label suggests, these people make comments on others
posts (either on blogs, or in discussion forums), often seeking clarification,
agreeing with a statement, or offering a suggestion or link to something
similar.
contributor - as this label suggests, contributors are those who have started
their own blogs or who initiate new threads on discussion forums. They are
confident about putting forth their own ideas etc.
commentator - a commentator is someone who frequently takes a 'meta'
view of what is going on, providing a level of leadership within the community.
Their contributions will often draw attention to the 'bigger picture', making
links with other work - analyzing and synthesizing the contributions of others.
Virtual Learning Communities of Relationship
A community built on relationships promotes special kinds of connections among
people. These connections might be based on a shared concern, issue or learning
problem, but in each instance, the emphasis is on the relationships built among
participants. Issues of commitment, trust and values are inherent in any relationships
which emerge in the community. (Teacher Leaders Network)
Virtual Learning Communities of Place
Individuals in this type of community enjoy a common habitat or locale. (My Space,
Second Life, World of Warcraft)
Virtual Learning Communities of Passion
Communities of passion reinforce people's commitment to other people, to common
goals, shared values and shared conceptions of being and doing. This can be as
trivial as a shared interest in wine making, or as profound as a shared search for truth.
Virtual Learning Communities of Memory
A virtual learning community of memory is based on a shared past or a common
sense of history. (Holocaust Survivors Network)
FORMAL
You go where the bus goes
INFORMAL
You go where you choose
Jay Cross – Internet Time
MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACH
webcam
SYNCHRONOUS
Community platforms
VoIP
Conference rooms
Instant messenger
Worldbridges
PEER TO PEER
WEBCAST
folksonomies
Mailing lists
PLE
vlogs
f2f
CMS
forums
photoblogs
blogs
email
podcasts
ASYNCHRONOUS
wikis
Blogs and RSS
My Blog
http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com
RSS
http://www.bloglines.com/public/snbeach
Blogging Community
http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School
+Bloggers
Tech Enhanced Learning
http://techenhancedlearning.wikispaces.com/
21st Century Teaching and Learning
http://abpc.wikispaces.com/
21st Century Wiki
http://del.icio.us/abpcjohn
Del.icio.us
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/google_whitepaper.pdf
Virtual Communities
Ning
Tapped In
Tapped In Homepage
What Makes a Healthy Community?
Really active and consistent participation
within the community. Community
members really start to moderate
themselves. It isn't just the moderator that
handles issues. And members greet
someone when they are new and answer
questions and do not just point newbies to
a FAQ doc. Members have a sense of
ownership.
Size of the community isn't as important
as results. Participants ask themselves
what is the benefit of membership? What
is the value added?
Don't freak out when you
have a problem in the
community. Communities,
like families, have
problems. You can work
through them.
What Makes a Healthy Community?
Community organizers should view their role as part of the
community, not feel they own it.
Ranking should be made on the value of the contribution, not the
number of times you post. If it is just the number of times you post,
then a person who is a drag on the community might be considered
high status because of frequency of posting.
Better title for the organizer is community instigator. Have the
philosophy that everyone is a leader. Ask what do you bring? Where
are your talents? There is a place for everyone and everyone in their
place.
Is there such a thing as a community that is too large? If it is too big,
you have to think through how to break down areas and build
community for the new subset communities.
What Makes a Healthy Community?
Community organizers should view their role as part of the community, not
feel they own it.
Ranking should be made on the value of the contribution, not the number of
times you post. If it is just the number of times you post, then a person who
is a drag on the community might be considered high status because of
frequency of posting.
Better title for the organizer is community instigator. Have the philosophy
that everyone is a leader. Ask what do you bring? Where are your talents?
There is a place for everyone and everyone in their place.
Is there such a thing as a community that is too large? If it is too big, you
have to think through how to break down areas and build community for the
new subset communities.
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to
embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer
meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for
in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
Quality teaching requires strong professional learning communities.
Collegial interchange, not isolation, must become the norm for teachers.
Communities of learning can no longer be considered utopian; they
must become the building blocks that establish a new foundation for
schools.
- National Commission on Teaching, 2003, p.17
Questions…Comments… Discussion