If They Build It They Will Come

If They Build It, They Will Come: Creating Opportunities for E-learning Communities of Practice Keith Kirkwood The University of Melbourne Australia Language and Learning Skills Unit http://slideshare.net/sitkasitchensis/if-they-build-it-they-will-come

Outline of Talk

Web 2.0

Communities of Practice (CoPs)

E-learning Communities of Practice (ElCoPs)

Platforms for ElCoPs to emerge

Web 2.0 – creative control

Blogs Technorati

Wikis Wikipedia

RSS feeds Feedster

Tagging/bookmarking del.icio.us , Stumbleupon

Social networking Facebook , Studentface

Semantic Web Eurekster Swiki , Me. dium

“ Continual beta, engaging users as co-developers, and principles of harnessing collective intelligence.” -- Mazurek (in O'Reilly, 2006b, n.p.)

Communities of Practice - CoPs

Informal, bottom-up, fluid groupings of people who share a common practice.

Self-organizing and self-regulating

Knowledge sharing

Neither a team nor a network

“ A community of practice exists because it produces a shared practice as members engage in a collective process of learning”. --Etienne Wenger (1998, n.p.)

Supporting Pedagogies

Constructivism and Constructionism :

Learner agency

Learners construct artefacts

Learners construct knowledge

Social interaction

Connectivism (Siemens 2006):

Knowledge rests in the network

Learning fluid and multi-focused

traditional lecture not current enough

Changing nature of knowledge-making

Recognize patterns, make connections, contextualization

Web 2.0 + CoPs + Connectivism

Informal communities

Network-generated information

User-created content

Knowledge-making and knowledge-sharing

Openness:

BlackBoard vs. Desire2Learn

copyright control vs. Creative Commons

journal database access fees vs. MIT OCW Project, MERLOT, PLoS

E-learning CoPs: Networked self-managing Learning Communities

Broader Implications

Communities of enquiry

Communities of research

Interdisciplinary connections

Knowledge transfer to society

If they build it…reinvigorate a desire 2 learn

References Jafari, A., McGee, P., & Carmean, C. (2006). Managing Courses, Defining Learning: What Faculty, Students, and Administrators Want [Electronic Version]. Educause Review , 41, 50-71. Retrieved 4 November 2006 from http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0643.asp . O'Reilly, T. (2006b). Web 2.0 Principles and Best Practices [Weblog Entry]. O'Reilly® Radar. 07 November 2006. Retrieved 7 November 2006 from http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/11/web_20_principl_1.html . Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age [Electronic Version]. elearnspace . Retrieved 2 November 2006 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm . http://www. elearnspace . org/media/Connectivism_IOC/player .html Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System [Electronic Version], no pagination. Retrieved 5 November 2006 from http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml Wenger, E., White, N., Smith, J. D., & Rowe, K. (2005). Technology for communities [Electronic Version] from http: //technologyforcommunities .com/ .