Reaching a Bigger Pond: Tools and Technology for Forming Community

Reaching a Bigger Pond: tools and technologies for forming community Community Engagement Showcase Cairns, Nov 6 th , 2007

Community in the 21 st Century http://flickr.com/photos/7447470@N06/1345266896/

INTERNET = COMMUNITY The task is to carve out your own bit of it for your community.

Learning in the 21 st Century

“ I have seen predictions that a student doing a 3 yr course by 2012 will experience the situation where most of the knowledge they have gained in yr one will be completely out of date by the time they finish yr 3.”

“… the only sustainable approach by VET will be to find the learning and teaching strategies which will ensure that people embrace attitudes and behaviours anchored in lifelong learning.”

“ It is becoming …an imperative for industry to have staff who are lifelong learners and highly ICT literate.”

Greg Black, CEO, education.au (Campus Review 16/10/07)

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)

Some simply prefer communicating online

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

Today:

The Webhead Community

Voice on the web

What tools do you need?

Image courtesy of mosmanlibrary http://www.stevespianoservice.com/hammer%20tools.jpg

Types of Community

Face to face group starts to communicate online (eg AFS)

Group meets online and decides to meet f2f (Twitter in WA)

Group meets online and longs for f2f contact!

Developing Online Community The Webheads Experience

Where do Webheads 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)

Later, the 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

The wow factor

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

Drivers: Regular Events

Dafne (Caracas)

Aiden (Taiwan)

Conferences/Workshops/ Social

WEBHEADS WEBSITE(S) – the Artefacts

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

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, wikis, voice tools, webcams, virtual classrooms, websites, parallel universes, micro-blogging)

The email listserv is the lifeblood

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

The Role of Voice

Immediacy

More personal contact

TOOLS:

Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Virtual Classrooms

NEW PRACTICES PROJECTS

Beyond Text (2005)

http:// btresource.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.html

Media on the Move (2006)

http:// mediaonthemove.flexiblelearning.net.au /

http://btresource.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.html

http://mediaonthemove.flexiblelearning.net.au/

TARGET GROUPS

English as Second or Other Language Learners (ESOL)

Low level literacy

Those with little recent formal learning experience

Those with poor keyboard skills

Those who prefer an auditory style of learning

Global Conclusions

Saves times for students, but NOT for teachers

For types of learners targeted it definitely results in greater participation, and increased levels of satisfaction

Allows teachers and students to know each other differently (changes the dynamic between teachers and learners)

Allows for individual monitoring/feedback/encouragement in ways not hitherto possible

ISSUES:

Public v Private Space

many feel strange posting audio (‘talking to a computer’) in public spaces

Many do not have private access to computers

Record Keeping

ISSUES:

Voice allows for complex tone (compared to uniform tone of written text)

Complex v Uniform Tone

Using voice in online and elearning environments has been slowly but surely creeping into the educational landscape for several years now. Pioneers of online voice technologies were using them as early as 1997, but the proliferation of the range of available tools and the increase in the speed of Internet connections has made it possible for any teacher with a simple microphone to easily augment their teaching methodologies with online voice tools.

Asynch Synch Oral Written Dialogic Minimalistic Reflective; combination of dialogic and monologic Most structured form of communication COMMUNICATION AXIS

New Practices Voice Tools Workshop Resources

Try the links and resources at http:// npworkshops.wikispaces.com /

Free Tools for Spoken Conversations

Chinswing

example (advanced EFL listening)

Vaestro

VoiceThread

Voice Thread example

another example

Virtual Classrooms (Web Conferencing)

Big Bucks

Elluminate (free 3 person vroom @ http://elluminate.com/vroom/ )

(Or free inside EdNA Groups)

Very affordable:

iVocalize ( http://ivocalize.com/ )

Discover-e (Australian) http://www.compued.com.au/discovere/

Free

Wiziq – new, but seems good http://www.wiziq.com/

Vet Virtual – Framework initiative; still unstable; worth watching http://vetvirtual.external.utas.edu.au/default.aspx?page=32

Which tools for your community?

Very difficult to get

consensus

Try one for each

purpose (eg Flickr for

photos)

Potential to splinter

the community

http://flickr.com/photos/chrisjohnbeckett/212777879 /

Which tools?

Home Base (portal)

Communication Channels

Collaborative Workspaces

Artefact Storage

Resources

Promoting Events

What would my community look like?

Other possible complementary tools:

Frappr Maps

Twitter

Google Earth

Mobile Phones (audio/moblogging)

Net to SMS ( SMSpup (free), Telstra

Survey Tools (Zoomerang, Survey Monkey)

Google Alerts

Netvibes

Google Earth

Survey Tools Eg Zoomerang Survey Monkey More at http:// users.chariot.net.au/~michaelc/mfo/zoom/results.htm

Community Home(s)

EdNA Groups (Moodle)

Own Moodle ($1000/yr approx)

Google or Yahoo Groups

Facebook; MySpace

Protopage (eg http://www.protopage.com/elearning07 )

Netvibes

(Second Life?)

Second Life

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)

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.”