Communities of Practice Online (CoPo): 09/01/2004

Cop it Sweet - Flexible Learning Leader 2004 Special Interest Group

I have been participating in an online discussion forum with current Flexible Learning Leaders who have an interest in CoPo's aptly titled 'Cop it Sweet' and hosted by Robyn Jay.

The following are rescources Robyn posted to the online forum.

Seven Steps to Building Electronic Communitiesby Philippa Gamse and Terry Grunwald
http://www.cyberspeaker.com/sevensteps.html

Design Principles for Online Communitiesby Peter Kollock
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/design.htm

How Online Social Networks Benefit OrganizationsBy Lisa Kimball and Howard Rheingold
http://www.rheingold.com/Associates/onlinenetworks.html

Building Online Communities: Transforming Assumptions Into Success by Victoria Bernal
http://www.benton.org/publibrary/practice/community/goals

Preliminary Heuristics for the Design and Evaluation of Online Communities of Practice Systems By Mark Notess and Josh Plaskoff
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage/sub_page.cfm?section=4&list_item=8&page=1

Practice Guide: Techniques for Engaging with Membersby Tim Pickles
http://www.sift.co.uk/practice/guides/participation.doc

Best Practices in E-Learning Online Conference (University of Calgary)

I enjoyed the format of this online conference. Delegates had the ability to 'sample' each of the presentations. Delegates also had access to all discussion forums.

I found the following presentation particularly useful to the topic of CoPos.

'Community Building and Octive' by Karen Riedel and Margaret Halliday from e-Learning (23 August 2004)

Karen and Margaret discussed online collaboration tools in a virtual environment (OCTIVE).
The following is a list they compiled of the different types of tools available today:

- two way radio

- instructional television (ITV)

- video conferencing (VC)

- email

- chat
- computer conferencing
- desktop videa-conferencing
- msn messaging
- microsoft office suite
- moos
- muds
- breeze live
- blog

Halliday and Riedel praised the use of blogs as a tool that is becoming more and more popular.

'Blogs are an excellent way to track emerging trends and Blogs also introduce students to many different reliable resources that they can use at their jobs or while attending courses'.

They also discussed the importance of choosing the appropriate tool for a discussion. They listed the following as questions to be considered as part of an implementation plan. This would also apply to anyone interested in setting up a CoP.

1. Access - How accessible is a particular technology for learners? How flexible is it for a particular group?

2. Cost - What is the cost structure of each technology? What is the unit cost per learner/participant?

3. Teaching and Learning - What kinds of learning are needed?

4. Interactivity and user friendliness - what kind of interaction does the technology enable. Is it easy to use?

5. Organizational issues - What are the organizational requirements and barriers to be removed? What changes in the organization need to be made?

6. Novelty - How new is this technology?

They also sress the importance of keeping it simple and user-friendly and that training must be a priority. 'Too often lack of training and the low level of familarity with the online collaborative tools amongst students and faculty casue high frustration level with the tools in the platform and this in turn translates into frustration with the proram as well.'

Quotes from Marlene Manto - Flexible Learning Leader 2000

Torrens Valley Institute - Adelaide

Marlene has a great website on Communities of Practice titled 'On the Road to Community. The url is
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~marleman/index.html
In her website Marlene lists six important factors -
- indentity
- ownership
- need
- whole person
- sense of belonging
- value

During our meeting Marlene discussed the following -

- you cannot make a CoP. It has life of its own
- start as a network and it MIGHT turn into a CoP
- start small 6 - 12 people. If too many participants split into two groups
- true CoPs do NOT need a mentor, rather volunteers
- important to look at the positives that using the network would enable people to meet/network who otherwise would not have had the opportunity
- creating trust is important.
- people will make time for a CoP if they think it deserves priority
- most CoPs have a lifespan of approximately 2 years then they require revamping
- personal gain important, the participants must know whats in it for them
- good idea to include games to make it fun
- personalise the site include local icons, logos, pictures etc
- include personal stories
- host an online event
- make it a 'SAFE and COMFORTABLE' place

Marlene has an interesting anology for CoPo's of 'think of creating a CoPo as trying to encourage a romance'.
You may want to encourage a relationship between a work colleague and a neighbour. You may think they will be perfect for each other but you cannot make them fall in love.
You can 'create a situation where if is is likely to happen it will'. You can do this by inviting them over, having nice music playing, candles, good conversation etc.

Quotes from Mark Hunwicks - Flexible Learning Leader 2000

Mark Hunwicks - Regency Institute - Adelaide
- ensure a network site is easy to navigate
- add in RSS feeds to make it interesting and relevant
- be flexible
- think about sustainability, how to make participants return
- make sure it is relevant

- a CoPo (using a discussion forum) is a good idea for Industry Reference Groups

- create safety and trust by using logins (Jenny Hondow)