Online Communities of Practice for ELT

Gladys Baya 03 Oct, 2008 Online communities for ELT and professional development “ Learning of the people, by the people and for the people”

RU the community type?

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People learn better when carefully led by “experts”.

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Interaction is an essential element of the learning process.

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People actually learn by doing, not but “being told about” something.

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Diversity and heterogeneity make learning more difficult.

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0 coincidences : You feel really at ease in traditional classrooms. Sure all your students share your preferences?

1 coincidence : Perhaps there’s some contradiction between what you think you believe and what you actually believe… Stay with us for the next hour, and then make up your mind!

2 coincidences : Have you already tried learning with a community of practice? Make sure to choose a supportive one!

3 coincidences : You certainly have a lot to gain by trying learning with a community of practice. If you’ve not done so yet, do not miss our tips to choose the one that suits your needs best.

4 coincidences : A community of practice is the perfect learning environment or you. Probably you’ve already joined several – both local and online!

“ A community of practice is not just a Web site, a database, or a collection of best practices. It is a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships, and in the process develop a sense of belonging and mutual commitment . Having others who share an overall view of the domain and yet bring their individual perspectives on any given problem creates a social learning system that goes beyond the sum of its parts.” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002:34)

What is a community of practice (CoP)?

Elements of a community of practice (CoP) Hi Everyone! My name’s Sebastian . I’m from Catamarca, and joined this group about 6 months ago, encouraged by Ana Maria ###. . We work at the same school, and she told me about the great work you’ve been doing on ICT for English teaching. This is my first message, but I’ve been lurking since then! I wanted to tell you I’ve found the collection of links for teaching listening you created during last September at the group wiki most useful (my students have already tried several of the activities you recommended!). Perhaps we can try something similar for teaching other skills in the coming months? I think that’d help many of us keep enhancing our lessons ! Cheers Sebastian VOLUNTARY MEMBERSHIP NEGOTIATED GOALS A CORE MEMBER A CoP-GENERATED RESOURCE A BOUNDARY MEMBER REFLECTION ON PRACTICE

Are online CoPs the same as co-located CoPs? top-down open recruited computer-mediated longer essential Technological support is e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Technological support is an option. They take l _ _ _ _ _ to develop. They can develop in a short time. Communication is primarily c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - m _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Communication is mainly f2f Leaders are frequently r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Leaders may emerge from the community Membership is usually o _ _ _. Membership is usually restricted Usually designed t _ _ - d _ _ _. Usually emerge from existing groups

“ What all collaborative tasks have in common is that one of the participants has a goal that he or she would like to achieve and the other participant engages in talk that helps the first to achieve that goal.” Wells and Chang-Wells; 1992 (quoted by Beatty:113 )

http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/learningwithcomputers /

http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/

http:// edubloggerargento.ning.com /

http:// eflclassroom.ning.com

http:// tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/academic_writing /

http:// esleflsisterclasses.ning.com /

http:// efluniversity.ning.com /

Writingmatrix

… originally four teachers who engaged their students in writing using blogs …

… each had their students tag their posts for this project with the term writingmatrix ...

… still ongoing as long as there are students who wish to try it out and respond to one another's postings… http:// writingmatrix.wikispaces.com

The Gettysburg Speech A speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Lincoln was speaking at the dedication of a soldiers’ cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. The opening and closing lines are particularly memorable: “ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…. [We must] be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.” The Wise Speech A speech delivered by an enthusiastic teacher during the Wise First Internet Conference for ELT (Buenos Aires, Argentina – 2004), who humbly hopes some of her words will be memorable to some of the attendees: “ Several decades ago our fathers brought forth on this land a new learning arena, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all – teachers and learners - are created equal…. [We must] be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored educational leaders we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these educators shall not have struggled in vain; that this century, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that learning of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth. Long live to communities of practice for ELT and professional development !”

http:// uk.youtube.com/watch?v =_2ytL-GlzMA

Thanks for having joined me today! Gladys [email_address]