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course by 2012 will experience the situation where most of the knowledge they have gained in yr one will be completely out of date by the time they finish yr 3.”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.”
COMMONSPACE: Beyond Virtual Community:
Surman & Wershler-Henry; 2001

Can you build relationships... …online?
Can you build social capital …online?
Can community develop… …online?
YES!!
THE BIG QUESTIONS……

for more information contact Michael Coghlan
[email_address]
THANK YOU 

Reaching a Bigger Pond: Tools and Technology for Forming Community

by michaelc on Nov 05, 2007

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