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Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities -- Campus Technology
Social networking and learning communities--moving beyond just the social aspects to reflective learning in a community. My coworker, April Hayman, is cited in the article.
In the Wild « Web2.0 in High School
Observations from the beginning of a high school project with Ning, Animoto, and Flickr. Most of the insight is around how Ning facilitates conversations between students and lets the teacher join the discussion. Students are engaged with Ning; they are personalizing their spaces and giving each other constructive feedback.
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The ability for teachers to understand and add value to the comment ‘back channel’ is a key skill for the ‘connected teacher’. Anyone can swap an writing pad for a blog, there is no value in that. The back channel is the conversation, and is the heartbeat of thought.
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I can’t think of another way in which teachers can get such immediate access to the ‘thinking’ process that is playing out in front of them.
Working with online learning communities
Best practices for working with online learning communities, including how to work with lurkers who may still be learning even if they aren't actively participating.
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- online learning communities are grown, not built
- online learning communities need leaders
- personal narrative is vital to online learning communities.
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- all you need is love
- control the environment, not the group
- lead by example
- let lurkers lurk
- short leading questions get conversations going
- be personally congratulatory and inquisitive
- route information in all directions
- care about the people in the community; this cannot be faked
- understand consensus and how to build it, and sense when it's been built and just not recognised, and when you have to make a decision despite all the talking.
He gives a set of mantras for teacher/leaders in any online community:
Let Your Online Learning Community Grow (pdf)
3 Design Principles for Growing Successful Email Listservs and Online Forums in Educational Settings. Even though the technology discussed is a little dated (the paper was written in 1998), the principles for online learning communities are still relevant.
Diigo User Communities ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes
Stephen Downes linked to me twice in one post. W00t! This is a nice overview of the flurry of activity around Diigo over the weekend, with links to a number of posts from educators exploring the new version.
Learning Communities - Monograph
Overview and examples of learning communities, plus steps for getting started
Dynamic Learning Communities: An Alternative to Designed Instructional Systems
Contrasts the idea of open, dynamic learning communities with closed courses developed through traditional instructional systems design processes. Examines the pros and cons of DLCs and when they would be most effective. Also looks at how the role of instructional designers is changing, and proposes different ways we might define our role.
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Heretofore, instructional designers have thought they were in the business
of designing instructional systems to meet prespecified learning
objectives. But first the constructivist movement--and now communication
technologies themselves--seem to be thre atening this conception as the
sole way to support learning. People are learning without help from
designed instruction! In many settings, in fact, "natural" learning is
more prevalent than "designed" learning (Resnick, 1987).
We believe that
the situation requires a reexaminination of our core roles. Are we in
the business of designing instruction or are we in the business of
supporting valuable learning, wherever it may happen? The answer to this
question will result in either a narrow or broad interpretation of our
role and its relationship to non-instructional forms of learning. -
Our own belief is that dynamic learning communities are proper objects of
study. We should seek to understand how such communities function, how
they grow, how they can be nurtured, and how they can be replicated across
diverse settings. But nurturing is different than designing. We must
respect the integrity of the community. In time, we may come to think of
ourselves more as learning technologists than as instructional
technologists, and learning support specialists more than
instructional designers.
Creating Learning Communities
Resources, discussion lists, and an online book about creating learning communities, especially communities of "self-learners"
SEDL Product: Creating a Professional Learning Community: Cottonwood Creek School: Issues About Change, Volume 6, Number 2
Creating professional learning communities in K-12 schools
elearnspace: Community
Collection of resources for online learning communities and communities of practice from George Siemens
Professional Learning Communities, Leadership, and Student Learning
Research on professional learning communities in middle schools, both in urban and suburban areas. The research specifically looks at the organizational cultures of learning organizations, including team learning, trust, and shared vision.
Sending Your Courses into the Blogosphere: An Introduction for “Old People”
An instructor explains how blogs improved the student ownership and depth of discussions over what they experienced with asynchronous discussion boards. Also includes how blog posts were managed and assessed for the course.
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How might faculty members use blogs to help their students reach particular learning goals? I use blogs to accomplish two goals in my courses: to facilitate serious communication and cooperation between students on course–related topics and tasks, and to generate efficient and meaningful class discussions.
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The difference with blogs, and it is an important difference, is that students take possession of the class blog in ways they never did with these other products.
The Art of Building Virtual Communities (Techlearning blog)
Two models for understanding roles in online communities: 4L (Linking, Lurking, Learning, Leading) and 4C (Consumer, Commentor, Contributor, Commentator). Also includes some questions and ideas about what makes healthy online communities.
The Bamboo Project Blog: Six Reasons People Aren't Commenting On Your Blog
If you're not getting comments on your blog, these might be some of the reasons. If you sound like a press release, infomercial, or know-it-all, people won't join the conversation. Create the right atmosphere, show people how to comment, and make it clear you want conversation, and you might get more comments.
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