Developing Online Community

Developing Online Community ESLE Conference Adelaide, Oct 8 th , 2007

Multiple Venue Presentation (MVP)

An event that blends live online and face to face audiences

Education Development Centre (venue for live event on Oct 8 th , ’07)

MULTIPLE VENUE PRESENTATIONS (MVPs) remote students guest lecturer CLASSROOM/ F2F VENUE public space

WHO’S ONLINE TODAY?

Community

What is it?

Why?

21 st century life

Internet and Community- what happens?

You connect less with some of the people around you in your daily life

You connect with people you already know via a different medium (online)

You connect with people you would otherwise have had no contact with

Online Community – what’s the appeal?

You connect less with some of the people around you in your daily life!

You connect with people you already know via a different medium (online). (You get to know people differently)

You connect with people you would otherwise have had no contact with

Online Community – what’s the appeal?

You can connect with multiple people with similar interests at the same time (many to many communication.) (Group discussion)

Maybe it’s just easier?

Backdrop: Social Networking Sites

MySpace, Facebook ( 75% of yr 11/12 students in Australia have a MySpace site)

Flickr (photo sharing)

YouTube (video sharing)

etc

Developing Online Community The Webheads Experience

Where do we fit? Face to face Community IT Community IT Individuals + WEBHEADS = + IT Community

The Palace

Webheads - origin

Vance’s class were online after mine

We decided to unite the classes

Obvious signs that the group wanted to stay together

Vance proposed that we call ourselves WEBHEADS

Who are the Webheads?

“an experiment in world friendship through online language learning”

300 + members

Where are the Webheads? in approximately 50 countries

Webheads Today

In 2007, the Webheads community is alive and well (weekly meeting, daily communication, many gather each year at the international TESOL convention in March, Elizabeth and partner visited me here last summer….)

How/why has this community survived?

Webheads Drivers

Initially, the vision and enthusiasm of one person – the leader, and no #1 cat herder (Vance Stevens)

Vision and enthusiasm of several key members

Common causes :

ESL/EFL/language teaching and learning

International friendship

Interest in exploring technology

Refocusing

Changes in membership

Webheads Drivers

Ongoing personal gain; “What I receive is worthwhile; what I give is valued”

Synchronous meetings (always 2 per wk – a ‘student meeting’, and a ‘teachers meeting)

Synchronous Meetings

Tapped In:

Weekly regular event (Tapped In)

Instant Messengers, Virtual Classrooms > voice interaction; webcams

Other Webhead Events

Dafne (Caracas)

Aiden (Taiwan)

Conferences/Workshops/ Social

Community Roles (Wenger)

The inspirational leadership provided by thought leaders and recognized experts

The day-to-day leadership provided by those who organize activities

The classificatory leadership provided by those who collect and organize information in order to document practices

The interpersonal leadership provided by those who weave the community's social fabric

Community Roles (Wenger)

The boundary leadership provided by those who connect the community to other communities

The institutional leadership provided by those who maintain links with other organizational constituencies, in particular the official hierarchy

The cutting-edge leadership provided by those who shepherd "out-of-the-box" initiatives.

Domain. Community. Practice.

Domain: This is the participants’ common ground – their understanding of the common issues and use of a common ‘language’.

Community: This is the socialising, collegiate, relationship element between the participants.

Practice: This is the processes by which participants learn by sharing skills and information, and accumulate and disseminate knowledge.

(from Marlene Manto)

The role of technology in sustaining this community

Enables communication across place and time

Affords several modes of communication (email, discussion boards, Instant Messaging, blogs, voice tools, webcams, virtual classrooms, websites)

The email listserv is the lifeblood

The role of technology in sustaining this community

Activities

Teaching and learning

Trialling tools

Co-delivery of conferences and workshops

Student activity

Sustained activity has created a reputation where we are now approached to trial tools, and present at conferences (so technology is still the mechanism and in part, the purpose)

The wow factor maintains……

WEBHEADS WEBSITE(S)

Collective and individual spaces (pages, blogs, wikis)

Photos (people, colleges, places of work, family)

Writings on individual pages

Resources found and/or created by the community

All of this can be shared via the Web

Cornerstones: Technology -

Enables regular group and one on one communications

Brings together people who otherwise would be unknown to each other

Affords multiple channels of communication

Provides for individual and collective needs

Provides shared public and permanent record for all to see

Allows everyone to contribute to this shared record

Can you build relationships... …online?

Can you build social capital …online?

Can community develop… …online?

THE BIG QUESTIONS……

Can you build relationships... …online?

Can you build social capital …online?

Can community develop… …online?

YES!!

THE BIG QUESTIONS……

Joining the Webheads

Send an email to

evonline2002_webheads-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Annual 6 wk seminar over the Australian summer (as part of annual TESOL convention)

The Internet is….

“ not about dot coms, online malls…. It’s not about routers, servers, browsers.…In fact, the Internet isn’t even about technology. It’s about us. The collective us.”