On Groups and Learning Labs:
Sustaining and maintaining Online communities
eTwinning Ambassadors
Varna
September 5 2009
Riina Vuorikari

Today’s presentation
• Learning Labs and Group pilots
• Future plans:
– Back to school-campaign. What can I as an
Ambassador do?
– New platform
• Online leadership and team skills
• Announce the New LLP project

Motivation for Groups and
Labs
• Diversify the offer in eTwinning: new
types of interactivity
• Test new models of activities
• Find ways to know what works and
how?

Advancing step-by-step
Project
participation
and sharing
experiences
Signing up to
the online
community

Differences
Groups Learning Labs
• Less structured • Structured activities
activities, up to
participants • Scheduled
• Little schedule • Lead by a
• Moderator on the “professional”
background moderator
• No certifications, no • Certificate when it’s
clear end over

Groups = Thematic online
communities
Pilot Oct-Jan 09

Pilot participants
Countries

Previous experience with
online communities
1/3 “little experience!” Language issues expected?

MST formed sub-groups

Creative Classroom
24 Forum topics and more than140 replies
– Does school kill creativity?
– ICT role in fostering creativity
Sub-Group on Web2.0
Links to “creative” mini-projects
using different tools
(technology is discussed a lot)
– 35 bookmarks at:
http://delicious.com/tag/etwinningcreativity

Creative classroom
Flashmeetings to “talk about Your project and
creativity”
• idea to introduce
FM came from
the Group
• 7 meetings
(11 and 7 partic.)
• new meetings
planned
-> a good interest

School leaders
• From 66 to 103 members
– The growth shows that there is an interest
and a need.
– A lot of “broadcasting” of messages by the
moderator
– However, activities are scarce, which
reflects a different nature of this Group

End evaluation: Recruitment
for Groups

Pilot end-evaluation
• 77% found Groups relevant from a
professional point of view.
• 75% said they enjoyed Groups.

Like usual... no time!

Activities in the Groups

Motivation does not always
mean participation!

Experiences in Group

Task orientation vs. process

Different roles
• Leaders: can be one or distributed
– take responsibility and set the goals
– determine how the group will achieve these
goals
• Core members:
– e.g. subject matter experts, knowledge
manager, content coordinator
• Support persons:
– e.g. mentors, tutors, event coordinators,
technologist
• Community members

Roles that were needed

Groups had different needs

What did we find out about
Groups?
• Leadership and teamwork skills are important
• There should be more than one “leader” in a
group => Leadership team
• Roles should be planned and allocated
clearly. This needs a push.
• Planning tool to help - topic of the
workshop!

Learning Lab

Podcasting – working language
English

Creative use of media-
English

Exploring Creativity - German

Mindmapping - French

Integrated Tools
• Blog
• Wiki
• Document library
• Photo gallery
• Embedded video player
• Messaging
• Calendar

Other Tools used
• The main LL Platform
• Chat tool
• Elluminate synchronous discussion
platform
• External – you tube, flicker, loudblog
etc.

Participants in Learning Labs

Origin of the participants

Expectations for Learning Lab

% of initial applicants in final
takeup
• Podcasting 76%
• Creative use of media 60%
• Exploring Creativity 58%
• MindMapping 51%

Evaluation
• Results based on exit polls for each
event.
• Globally
– 256 responses = 80% participants

How did you like it?

Certified?

What did we find out about
Learning Labs?
• Formula is flexible
• Teacher comments very positive
• Maybe extend the duration
• Seems to provide a focus to teachers to
engage with each other in a shared
activity

http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/news/news/etwinning_weeks_2009.htm

A whole new platform!
• Platform called LifeRay
• Log-in with the same eTwinning username (to
come)
• Everything in the same place
• Unified look and feel for branding
• More tools, e.g. wiki
• No advertisements
• Not blocked by school firewalls

A whole new platform!
http://groups.etwinning.net/
Peak in?
Choose: Using Media
Username:
webmaster@etwinning.net
pw: demo

thanks! for your attention
comments?
questions?
Check the slides avain?
http://www.slideshare.net/vuorikari

Building and sustaining online
communities
Riina Vuorikari
CSS, European Schoolnet
Varna Sept 5, 2009

What are online communities
of practice?
• “ a community of practice is not really a thing, but
rather a process in which social learning occurs
because the people who participate in this process
have a common interest in ..”
• “The product of this process is the sharing of ideas,
the finding of solutions to common problems and the
building of a repository of available and new
knowledge and expertise.”
Kirschner & Lai (2007) Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 16, 2, pp. 127-131

Different sets of skills
• Online leadership and teamwork skills
– “good leaders need good followers”
• Technical skills
– use of ICTs in general and the platform in
particular
• Skills in content and substance
– the stuff teachers know the best!
• Different skills also needed for Ambassadors

Online leadership and
teamwork skills
• Vision and action:
– set and attain goals, take initiative, add your energy to the
groups, solve problems
• Competences
– assign roles and be clear when delegating
• “Expedition behaviour”:
– pitch in, be positive, serve group goals, respect others, work
as a team
• Building trust in an online community

Curious life of an online
community
• Online communities form, grow, mature
and terminate = lifecycle
• Each level has different issues and can
be supported
Lai et al. (2006) Literature Review and Synthesis:
Online Communities of Practice

Lifecycle of an online
community
Phase 0: Planning.
• Determine the scope and purpose of
the CoP
• Define roles of the CoP and
assign/engage people
• Make a skeleton of a plan for the CoP
• Define how to evaluate whether the
Group has been successful

Lifecycle of an online
community
Phase 1: Formation of the CoP
• “CoPs should grow, not be implemented’
• Build trust by mandating “good profiles”
• Develop clear policies such as code of
conduct, community governance, netiquette,
copyright
• Plan activities that allow active participation,
but also ‘lurking’

Lifecycle of an online
community
Phase 2: Sustain and manage CoPs.
• Attract a diverse membership
• Mentor new members
• Delegate leadership (leader of the day)
• Turn lurkers into active participants
• Think “Glocal”!
• Evaluate purpose and direction

Lifecycle of an online
community
Phase 3: Transformation or disengaging.
• Expansion or fading away?
• Evaluation of a CoP: on-going activity where
the success is measured against its own
goals (Phase 0)

Ambassadors’ wish list
- Facilitate eT exchange
- Professional development
- Identify problems
- Discuss transferability

"Learning is not only
experience, but reflection on
experience (Dewey 1938)"
• In an online community, like that of
Ambassadors on Ning or any other,
what has been/is the biggest barrier for
you to benefit from them?
– write it on a post-it
• What would be your solution to fix that?
– write it on a post-it

“Back to school” campaign
• CSS issued a "Call for proposals" to NSS
– Topic of the Group
– Volunteers for possible moderators
• Ambassadors: ideas and commitments for Groups?
• An “online poll” where eTwinners can vote for the
suggestions, but also comment them.
• Series of Learning Labs repeated in Autumn

“Growing” new Groups
• A “tool” available to help and support
the start of new Groups
• Based on the lifecycle and focus on
different phases
• Before any Groups are formed, a plan
has to be there!
• Will be made available to Varna group
and others!

To study eT network more in
details..
“aims to understand drivers and enabling
factors for creating suitable conditions for
teachers' professional development and
spreading of innovations in a networked
environment.”
• A new LLP project from December ‘09-’12
• Teachers' Lifelong Learning Networks
(TeLLNet)
• Ambassadors’ network will be crucial!

eTwinning as a learning
network
• Consists of participants (e.g. people,
organizations),
• Learning actions (projects, courses, blogs)
• Brought together by technology
• Multiple (often) overlapping communities and
is specifically useful for non-formal learning,
e.g. teachers’ professional development, like
eTwinning

nodes

ties

They will never get the virus!!

thanks! for your attention
comments?
questions?
Want to check the slides again?
http://www.slideshare.net/vuorikari