Building Online Communities

Dr Nick Kelly

Only Connect

• Why?– Latent capacity (economic)– Human (innate needs)

• Set, social, epistemic design• Knowing your users– Question what you know– Create characters

• Network everywhere

An online community to

support pre-service

teachers in the transition through

practicum and into

early career.

What isTeachConnect?

• Teaching is often a very isolated career

• Collaboration can lead to better outcomes

• Beginning teachers feelunsupported

• There are gaps in support

• Online support can be improved

Why

?Te

achC

onne

ct?

A space for deep reflection upon teaching practice.

Pre-service and Early-career teachers are mentored by

experienced teachers.

Mentorship Circles

Small

Private

Trusted

Stable

Community Q&A

Growing Knowledge database

Answering questions

Sharing resources

Giving adviceKnowledge

never lost

Helping one

another

A space for Community Knowledge Sharing where teachers help one

another

Shared knowledge is easily accessible to the rest of the wider community.

Activity: Building an online app for a community1) Identify an existing community you are a part of2) Take five minutes:• You have an unlimited budget• Think of an idea for an online service for that

community3) Some ideas to inspire:• Strong needs (e.g. gumtree.com.au)• Latent capacity (e.g. airbnb.com)• Integration (e.g. lettuceshare.org)

Clay Shirky’s Advice (Cognitive Surplus)• Start small with a small community• Understand and provide for what motivates• Use the default options in the platform wisely to promote social

connectivity• Cater for all types of engagement • Have as low a threshold as possible • Tweak as you grow • Be responsive!

One of the things I've found is that if any one of a group

of people with similar problems asks a question

there's a good chance that the question will reflect some of the thinking of their peers.

- Myles Horton