CHAPTER 16: BUILDING COMMUNITY

Best Practice: Successful distance education programs are characterized by a strong sense of community.

Community

Increased persistenc

e in courses

Availability of support

Greater sense of

well being

Flow of information among learners

Sharing informatio

n and knowledge

Interaction with

colleaguesImportance of

Building a

Community online

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Persistent, sustaining social network of people who share and develop an overlapping knowledge base, set of beliefs, values, history and experiences focused on a common practice or multiple enterprises.

Wenger & Lave(1998) define communities of practice as organized into three dimensions:

Shared RepertoireMutual EngagementJoint Enterprise

an agreed-upon, negotiated

purpose or goal with

mutual accountability

distinctive discourse framing a shared understanding of concepts, tools, resources of practice

common activity of participants playing distinctive roles in this joint work

define a community of practice as a “persistent, sustaining social network of people who share and develop an overlapping knowledge base, set of beliefs, values, history, and experiences focused on a common practice or multiple enterprises.”

TANGIBLE ATTRIBUTES THAT HAVE DIRECT IMPACT ON TEACHER FROM A DISTANCE LEARNING AND FACE-TO-FACE BY BURNS AND DIMOCK (2007)

reinforce many of the skills, concepts, and strategies

adapt new skills and concepts to their particular setting

may function better because of collective ties

Creating supportive environments for teacher collaboration

Isolation is replaced by an ethos of collegiality, sharing, and collaboration

DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

1. Understand the distinctions among communities and help learners through the stages of community formation.

Communities with shared interest

Communities of learning

Community of practice

2. ORGANIZE LEARNERS INTO COHORTS, AND WHERE POSSIBLE BUILD IN OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS.

According to Dhanarajan (2005) and Leung (2007) note that teachers report that peer-based online learning is “deeper and more meaningful” than non-peer-based online learning experiences.

DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

3. PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE COMPOSITION OF THESE COHORTS.

It is important to have a strategy for grouping a certain cohort of teachers.

Homogeneously particular set of

characteristics or abilities

Heterogeneouslyrepresenting diversity in

characteristics

DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

4. FOCUS ON COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION, COLLABORATION, AND COMMUNITY AS PART OF COURSE DESIGN

•Making collective learning and the attainment of common, versus individual, goals a central feature of their teacher education and upgrading program

•Soliciting learner input in the design of distance education courses and programs (Haavind, 2006)

•Allowing groups to develop their own guidelines for group interaction (Commonwealth of Learning, 2008)

•Ensuring that instruction is learner-centered (Commonwealth of Learning, 2008)

DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

5. CHOOSE TECHNOLOGY THAT FOSTERS COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION.

The technology tools provided to learners must support a range of communication types and styles.

a. Two-way audio and interactive video

DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

b. non-interactive forms of distance education

C. PERSONALIZED INTERACTION AND CREATIVE COLLABORATION

Advantages: Flexible Cost effectiveEverybody is the author and editorUser-friendlyPeople all over the world can work on same document

Disadvantages:Open to spam and vandalismSome articles are not that accurate

Community formation can be further enhanced and expanded through participation in Web-based experiences such as tele collaborative projects, ongoing webinars, WebQuests, and online or virtual teaching and learning conferences

d. participation in Web-based experiences

CONCLUSIONCommunities of practice offer several benefits to distance learning programs in

general and to teachers in particular. First, they furnish the emotional, logistical, and procedural supports for their

members in the pursuit of common interests and goals, transforming an undertaking from the individual to the shared realm.

Second, they can result in a purposeful educational network of professionals formed around a “joint enterprise” (Wenger, 1998) that serves a larger public good.

Third, they make possible goal-oriented knowledge generation and shared learning lubricated by the trust, mutual support, and open communication that form the basis of a community.

These essential ingredients of community can be facilitated by technology-based opportunities to talk, write, videoconference and co-create knowledge and ideas.

Finally, communities of practice make public the private, embedded, and tacit professional knowledge of individuals within a group, so that knowledge generation is transformed into informed practice that can result in improved instructional change among teachers and within classrooms.