This document discusses networking and online communities for professional development. It notes that technological change is fast, so teachers need ways to keep skills up to date. Online communities provide an alternative to face-to-face training and allow networking. Communities provide a domain for cooperation and sharing of resources, while networks enable spontaneous exploration and access to diverse information without long-term commitments. Both networks and communities can enhance social learning, and different social media platforms can support professional development when used strategically.

1. Networking and Online Communities
Ali Bostancioglu
Learning2gether with Multi MOOC EVO sessions
02 Feb,2014

2. 




Orient
Declare
Network
Cluster
Focus

3. 

Network
Cluster

4.  Continuous
Technology
Professional
Development, but Why?
 Networks and
Communities of Practice
in the service of
Professional Development

5. Pervasiveness of Technology
 Technological change is
fast
 Teachers need to keep up with and develop
new ways of integrating technology.
 Online possibilities as an alternative to f2f
training (time and cost effective)
 Your presence here is a sign that you are
already aware of those topics so I will move
on quickly.


6. 
Network: ““refers to the set
of relationships, personal
interactions, and
connections among
participants who have
personal reasons to connect”
(Wenger et al., 2011, p. 9)

7. 
Community “the development of a shared
identity around a topic or set of challenges”
and “represents a collective intention to
steward a domain of knowledge and to
sustain learning about it” (Wenger et
al., 2011).

9. 



Community
Provides a domain where members could
cooperate
Resources which members could benefit from
Teaching
techniques, tools, suggestions, perspectives,
and so on
History

10. 




However,
A certain amount of interaction and
engagement is necessary.
Not everyone is required to commit to the
community at the same level
A Community could dissolve if members feel
that they have achieved their shared goal.
Not the case for technology though.

11. 





Nodes as ties for learning
Learning partnership does not have to be
sustained
No commitment to a domain is required
Enables access to rich data
Spontaneous and unpredictable
Collective exploration is possible

12. However,
 Noise and
diffusion,
 Maintaining
connections
 Self-direction


13. 



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While they are two distinct terms, they are not
at opposite ends.
In fact, they are interrelated.
Big community can involve multiple networks
A network could essentially develop into a
community
“The social learning process is enhanced by
dynamic interplay of both community and
network processes” (Wenger et
al, 2011, p.13)

14. Community;





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Open vs Closed communities
Look for group description
Look at the date and frequency of posts
Orientate yourself
Look for explicit/ implicit rules
Keep up with the community

15. Check profiles of
potential nodes
 Use Twitter and
LinkedIn


16. 
More on the use of Twitter
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/f
iles/2011/11/PublishedTwitter_Guide_Sept_2011.pdf

Wikis and Blogs

17. 
How different Social Media Platforms could be
used in the service of Professional
development?
Review of Social Media Platforms;
http://social-networking-websitesreview.toptenreviews.com/


Twitter

LinkedIn

18. 
Facebook

Google +

Hootsuite

Integrating Twitter with Facebook

19. 
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated
learning: Legitimate peripheral participation.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wenger, E., Trayner, B., & De Laat, M.F.
(2011). Promoting and assessing value
creation in communities and networks: A
conceptual framework. Heerlen: Ruud de
Moor Centrum, OU

21. 

Where does one’s social identity end and
professional identity begin?
Is it possible/ useful to mix both identities?
Could we separate them? (i.e. creating
accounts for professional use and other
accounts for personal use)