To support knowledge mobilization, communication, interaction and peer sharing of expertise and practices associated with teaching, learning and research, BCcampus has established a network of online communities. Online communities are different from standard websites in that they provide a means for grassroots communication and collaboration among peers through self-service posting of resources, requests and advice.
Its an honour to have the Learn Together Collaboratory featured as the first case study in this three week long seminar. On Monday during the live opening session I'll share some context on how BCcampus came to develop a network of communities, how we support them, and some of the challenges we face moving forward. Andrew Marchand will present more specifically on the Learn Together Collaboratory and his work developing the functionality of that community space. Feel free to check the space out in advance at http://ltcollaboratory.org. Look forward to engaging with all of you on this topic and hearing your observations, recommendations, and own personal experiences.
Paul
Thanks, Paul:
I'm a regular SCoPE participant--although "lurker" may be a more accurate term than participant. SCoPE discussions are always so interesting so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this three-week seminar.
Thanks, Chris Horgan, Curriculum Co-ordinator, SAIT Polytechnic, Calgary, Alberta.
Hi,
I'm Carolyn Campbell & I'm an instructional designer at the Nova Scotia Community College.
It's nice to be back in SCoPE after a bit of an absence, and there's nothing like a good discussion around learning communities to pull you back in! We are in the process of designing a course using a community-based approach for faculty who are facilitating online and blended courses ... and still working out the kinks before we launch later this year. :)
I look forward to learning from your experiences.
C
I'm Carolyn Campbell & I'm an instructional designer at the Nova Scotia Community College.
It's nice to be back in SCoPE after a bit of an absence, and there's nothing like a good discussion around learning communities to pull you back in! We are in the process of designing a course using a community-based approach for faculty who are facilitating online and blended courses ... and still working out the kinks before we launch later this year. :)
I look forward to learning from your experiences.
C
Hello Carolyn and all,
For City University of Seattle, I work with our Program Directors, Course Managers, and their instructional design teams first as they learn our curriculum development processes, and then as they bring courses for review. I also design training and development experiences for faculty and advise our Academic Technology committee. We are getting ready to redesign our new faculty orientation, and like you, I am also interested in "designing a course using a community-based approach for faculty who are facilitating online and blended courses."
I'm liking the Open Educational Resource work of the Center for Educational Technology at the University of Cape Town. They have a wonderful resource for download: Facilitating online: A course leader's guide.
I'd like to learn more about your approach and platforms for faculty development and what parameters and resources you have encountered.
Hello Christine, Carolyn, Sue:
Thanks for participating and sharing some of your work and ideas.
A special thanks to Sue for linking us to the Cape Town Facilitating Online resource. I downloaded the .pdf and took a look. I really like it. One of the things that often happens with online communities is that we all presume that if we put in place some kind of technological platform everyone will instantly begin to use it. This Facilitating Online resource reveals the social, communication, technical, and networking skills that participants need to fully engage and devises activities to help participants develop those skills.
Another differentiator to keep in mind from my point of view is participation in an online community that is part of an academic course or program vs participation in an online community that is supporting an informal community of practice between practitioners. These are two very different starting points and result in two different kinds of community cultures. The course-based community type is often time limited and participation is motivated by marks. The second type usually does not have a time limited life span and participation is peer-based.
From a network of communities perspective I keep wondering why institutions don't create an online community space for the entire institution with affiliated communities for each program area and the potential for each course to have its own community nested within. Now that would be a network of communities! It could handle alumni and current students and maybe even provide a forum where they could interact with one another.
Paul
Thanks for participating and sharing some of your work and ideas.
A special thanks to Sue for linking us to the Cape Town Facilitating Online resource. I downloaded the .pdf and took a look. I really like it. One of the things that often happens with online communities is that we all presume that if we put in place some kind of technological platform everyone will instantly begin to use it. This Facilitating Online resource reveals the social, communication, technical, and networking skills that participants need to fully engage and devises activities to help participants develop those skills.
Another differentiator to keep in mind from my point of view is participation in an online community that is part of an academic course or program vs participation in an online community that is supporting an informal community of practice between practitioners. These are two very different starting points and result in two different kinds of community cultures. The course-based community type is often time limited and participation is motivated by marks. The second type usually does not have a time limited life span and participation is peer-based.
From a network of communities perspective I keep wondering why institutions don't create an online community space for the entire institution with affiliated communities for each program area and the potential for each course to have its own community nested within. Now that would be a network of communities! It could handle alumni and current students and maybe even provide a forum where they could interact with one another.
Paul
Paul,
I thought the slides you used this morning were a great way of putting a lot of the issues on the table. Are you planning on sharing them with us?
I thought the slides you used this morning were a great way of putting a lot of the issues on the table. Are you planning on sharing them with us?
Thank you for posting the transcript, Sylvia. It looked like an interesting discussion.
Too bad I cannot see the slides; slideshare is blocked by my organization's Websense firewall.
Jeffrey
Jeffrey, I think it's ironic that the firewall is called "websense"! 
I'm attaching the slides to this forum post (PDF 440 KB)
I'm attaching the slides to this forum post (PDF 440 KB)
In reply to John Smith
Re: Learn Together Collaboratory recording and text chat transcript
by Sylvia Currie -
Here is the Elluminate recording of today's session (23 participants), and the text chat transcript:
====================
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Great to see you all here in this room
---------------------
John Smith: Helo from Portland, ORegon
---------------------
DeirdreB: Hello from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Hello, from Vancouver
---------------------
Sarah de Jager, VIU:TLC: Hello from Vancouver Island
---------------------
John Smith: Can someone remind me how to tell Elluminate which audio system I'm using?
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Shawn Berney: Hi All >> Toronto, ON
---------------------
Margot Croft VIU TLC: Greetings from rainy Nanaimo.
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Sylvia Currie from Lac Le Jeune, British Columbia, Canada. A little coolish and drizzly here today
---------------------
Moderator (Andrew): Hello from Nanaimo, BC
---------------------
Gary Hunt: Hello, this is Gary from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Great to see so many familiar names here!
---------------------
B.J.: B.J. Eib, Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome everyone! Will get started in just a minute
---------------------
Brent Lee (VIU) to Sarah de Jager, VIU:TLC: Hey Sarah! Whats the staff meeting about?
---------------------
DeirdreB: Wow first time I've seen Canadians in the majority.
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Thanks Sylvia for the intros and welcome all participants
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome Bee. Just getting started with background info on Learn Together Collaboratory
---------------------
John Smith: public / private sector issues. Regional boundaries. Vendors.
---------------------
Bee: Merci, Sylvia
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): And growing
---------------------
John Smith: currently: 11 online communiites
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): With some overlap in membership: ETUG , SCoPE, Expo
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): *Beam* (thx)
---------------------
John Smith: MIght be helpful to post these slides in the online space - lots of interesting points for discussion.
---------------------
Richard from Villanova University: Hi Sylvia, thanks for inviting me. Can you please tell me what that 3rd survey bullet point was?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)) to Richard from Villanova University: Hi Richard. I'll make a note to go back to see what that was!
---------------------
John Smith: Paul: how big is the private sector in higher ed and have they been involved in this process in any way?
---------------------
Richard from Villanova University: Thank you.
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome if you're just joining us now. Paul is giving a history of online communiites / professional development needs in British Columbia
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Those meetings were fantastic!
---------------------
Margot Croft VIU TLC: Nancy Randall here from VIU as well.
---------------------
Julia Poole: Will these slides be available later?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Hi Nancy. I'll add you to the head count :-)
---------------------
Cindy Xin: It's to important to know the history. I'm glad BCcampus is hosting this session. Thank you!
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): @Julia, yes slides, Elluminate recording, will all be posted to the seminar http://scope.bccampus.ca/mod/forum/view.php?id=2311
---------------------
Pierajung: Just joined in - Piera Jung, VIU
---------------------
Julia Poole: Thanks Sylvia!
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome Peira Like Deirdre mentioned earlier... so many Canadians here
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): We've had SCoPE seminars on the challenges around recognition of informal learning
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Let's hear it for people!
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): I'm happy to answer questions through chat too.
---------------------
Sue Wolff: yes, just listening and reflecting, keep going
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Good comment
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Learning paths could be considered similar to trajectories of learning??
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Trajectories...yes. The learning path aspect is so interesting.
---------------------
John Smith: how make sense of the chaos?
---------------------
John Smith: of negotiation...
---------------------
John Smith: chaos is IMPORTANT.
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Legitimate Peripheral Participation and Chaordic netowrks may provide some interesting examples...
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): you sound good
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Sounds good Andrew
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): these tags are all generated by the members. No pre-defined areas of expertise
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): This community area is all very "early stages". A great design challenge ahead of us
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): The community space is essentially discussion forum
---------------------
John Smith: so this is an alternate or super community.?
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Alternate to what?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): @John like the vocabulary :-) Essentially many of these tools will replace what we are currently using in other community spaces (calendar expecially) So maybe super?
---------------------
Shawn Berney: I recently signed up for the site, and one of the things that I really enjoyed is the ability to access an expertise inventory - including allowing me to upload my CV, and tag based on interests...
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Good to know Shawn
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): SOL*R is the BCcampus Shareable Online Learning Repository
---------------------
B.J.: Some of what you say about the "Mayors" synchs with Etienne Wenger's writing about Communities of Practice.
---------------------
B.J.: Does the tag cloud reflect number of hits? Number of posts/resources?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Difficult to review all of this in one session. Andrew is doing a great job of giving us the gist
---------------------
John Smith: how much programming are we seeing beyond "plugging in" Drupal modules?
---------------------
Sarah de Jager, VIU:TLC: To B.J.: Yes, the greater the number of hits, the larger the tag appears.
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): I'm interested in seeing the communities to be a space not for content but for interaction
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Perhaps we can work to enhance adoption by clearly defining and evolving Key Performance Indicators... It is a big challenge, but I look forward to hearing about anyones efforts in this area
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): This is a neat model, and fairly easy to do with Drupal. But not sure about how much programming (re John's question)
---------------------
John Smith: nesting / hierarchy is a simplifying model - but may not match the developmental desires of the communities themselves... (thinking aloud)
---------------------
Sue Wolff: My burning question is if there is anything similar in US, and to what extent US could participate in BCCampus funded sites.
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): 100 yard dash demo - nice work
---------------------
John Smith: good question, Sue. In effect i'ts BC-Public vs. "the rest of the world."
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Sue, I'm happy to answer your question ...
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Thanks!!
---------------------
Penny Heaslip 1 to Gary Hunt: Hi Gary Took me a while to get on from Home. Penny Heaslip
---------------------
John Smith: I'm exagerating for rhetorical flourish. In fact you are being remarkable hosts!
---------------------
Sue Wolff: Thanks! That answers my question completely! I will use this SCOPE seminar to look into what might already be here.
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): http://scope.bccampus.ca/mod/forum/view.php?id=2311
---------------------
Bee: Thank you, Sylvia, Paul and Andrew
---------------------
Cindy Xin: Thanks!
---------------------
John Smith: THANKS Paul and Andrew! Great talk, great work and great launch for the seminar!
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Thanks all!! I look forward to continuing the conversations
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Muchas gracias - buenos dias
---------------------
Margot Croft VIU TLC: Nancy Randall: Re; participation on LTC. we have also opened to all the Expertise Inventory, all of the LTC resources and the events databases.
---------------------
Julia Poole: Thanks all!
====================
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Great to see you all here in this room
---------------------
John Smith: Helo from Portland, ORegon
---------------------
DeirdreB: Hello from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Hello, from Vancouver
---------------------
Sarah de Jager, VIU:TLC: Hello from Vancouver Island
---------------------
John Smith: Can someone remind me how to tell Elluminate which audio system I'm using?
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Shawn Berney: Hi All >> Toronto, ON
---------------------
Margot Croft VIU TLC: Greetings from rainy Nanaimo.
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Sylvia Currie from Lac Le Jeune, British Columbia, Canada. A little coolish and drizzly here today
---------------------
Moderator (Andrew): Hello from Nanaimo, BC
---------------------
Gary Hunt: Hello, this is Gary from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Great to see so many familiar names here!
---------------------
B.J.: B.J. Eib, Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome everyone! Will get started in just a minute
---------------------
Brent Lee (VIU) to Sarah de Jager, VIU:TLC: Hey Sarah! Whats the staff meeting about?
---------------------
DeirdreB: Wow first time I've seen Canadians in the majority.
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Thanks Sylvia for the intros and welcome all participants
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome Bee. Just getting started with background info on Learn Together Collaboratory
---------------------
John Smith: public / private sector issues. Regional boundaries. Vendors.
---------------------
Bee: Merci, Sylvia
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): And growing
---------------------
John Smith: currently: 11 online communiites
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): With some overlap in membership: ETUG , SCoPE, Expo
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): *Beam* (thx)
---------------------
John Smith: MIght be helpful to post these slides in the online space - lots of interesting points for discussion.
---------------------
Richard from Villanova University: Hi Sylvia, thanks for inviting me. Can you please tell me what that 3rd survey bullet point was?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)) to Richard from Villanova University: Hi Richard. I'll make a note to go back to see what that was!
---------------------
John Smith: Paul: how big is the private sector in higher ed and have they been involved in this process in any way?
---------------------
Richard from Villanova University: Thank you.
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome if you're just joining us now. Paul is giving a history of online communiites / professional development needs in British Columbia
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Those meetings were fantastic!
---------------------
Margot Croft VIU TLC: Nancy Randall here from VIU as well.
---------------------
Julia Poole: Will these slides be available later?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Hi Nancy. I'll add you to the head count :-)
---------------------
Cindy Xin: It's to important to know the history. I'm glad BCcampus is hosting this session. Thank you!
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): @Julia, yes slides, Elluminate recording, will all be posted to the seminar http://scope.bccampus.ca/mod/forum/view.php?id=2311
---------------------
Pierajung: Just joined in - Piera Jung, VIU
---------------------
Julia Poole: Thanks Sylvia!
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Welcome Peira Like Deirdre mentioned earlier... so many Canadians here
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): We've had SCoPE seminars on the challenges around recognition of informal learning
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Let's hear it for people!
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): I'm happy to answer questions through chat too.
---------------------
Sue Wolff: yes, just listening and reflecting, keep going
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Good comment
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Learning paths could be considered similar to trajectories of learning??
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Trajectories...yes. The learning path aspect is so interesting.
---------------------
John Smith: how make sense of the chaos?
---------------------
John Smith: of negotiation...
---------------------
John Smith: chaos is IMPORTANT.
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Legitimate Peripheral Participation and Chaordic netowrks may provide some interesting examples...
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): you sound good
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Sounds good Andrew
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): these tags are all generated by the members. No pre-defined areas of expertise
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): This community area is all very "early stages". A great design challenge ahead of us
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): The community space is essentially discussion forum
---------------------
John Smith: so this is an alternate or super community.?
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Alternate to what?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): @John like the vocabulary :-) Essentially many of these tools will replace what we are currently using in other community spaces (calendar expecially) So maybe super?
---------------------
Shawn Berney: I recently signed up for the site, and one of the things that I really enjoyed is the ability to access an expertise inventory - including allowing me to upload my CV, and tag based on interests...
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Good to know Shawn
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): SOL*R is the BCcampus Shareable Online Learning Repository
---------------------
B.J.: Some of what you say about the "Mayors" synchs with Etienne Wenger's writing about Communities of Practice.
---------------------
B.J.: Does the tag cloud reflect number of hits? Number of posts/resources?
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): Difficult to review all of this in one session. Andrew is doing a great job of giving us the gist
---------------------
John Smith: how much programming are we seeing beyond "plugging in" Drupal modules?
---------------------
Sarah de Jager, VIU:TLC: To B.J.: Yes, the greater the number of hits, the larger the tag appears.
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): I'm interested in seeing the communities to be a space not for content but for interaction
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Perhaps we can work to enhance adoption by clearly defining and evolving Key Performance Indicators... It is a big challenge, but I look forward to hearing about anyones efforts in this area
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): This is a neat model, and fairly easy to do with Drupal. But not sure about how much programming (re John's question)
---------------------
John Smith: nesting / hierarchy is a simplifying model - but may not match the developmental desires of the communities themselves... (thinking aloud)
---------------------
Sue Wolff: My burning question is if there is anything similar in US, and to what extent US could participate in BCCampus funded sites.
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): 100 yard dash demo - nice work
---------------------
John Smith: good question, Sue. In effect i'ts BC-Public vs. "the rest of the world."
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Sue, I'm happy to answer your question ...
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Thanks!!
---------------------
Penny Heaslip 1 to Gary Hunt: Hi Gary Took me a while to get on from Home. Penny Heaslip
---------------------
John Smith: I'm exagerating for rhetorical flourish. In fact you are being remarkable hosts!
---------------------
Sue Wolff: Thanks! That answers my question completely! I will use this SCOPE seminar to look into what might already be here.
---------------------
Moderator (Sylvia Currie (British Columbia)): http://scope.bccampus.ca/mod/forum/view.php?id=2311
---------------------
Bee: Thank you, Sylvia, Paul and Andrew
---------------------
Cindy Xin: Thanks!
---------------------
John Smith: THANKS Paul and Andrew! Great talk, great work and great launch for the seminar!
---------------------
Shawn Berney: Thanks all!! I look forward to continuing the conversations
---------------------
Moderator (Paul Stacey): Muchas gracias - buenos dias
---------------------
Margot Croft VIU TLC: Nancy Randall: Re; participation on LTC. we have also opened to all the Expertise Inventory, all of the LTC resources and the events databases.
---------------------
Julia Poole: Thanks all!
In reply to Sylvia Currie
Re: Learn Together Collaboratory recording and text chat transcript
Thanks, Sylvia for posting the link to the recording and the chat dialogue. Unfortunately I missed the session; today was Day 1 of our July MEd courses... what a Monday! :)
I look forward to this discussion
Wendy
John:
Lots of issues on the table indeed.
Looks like Sylvia is providing lots of ways to review the webcast but I'll start a separate thread about some of the challenges related to creating a Network of Communities and hope to engage you and everyone else in exploring them.
Paul
Lots of issues on the table indeed.
Looks like Sylvia is providing lots of ways to review the webcast but I'll start a separate thread about some of the challenges related to creating a Network of Communities and hope to engage you and everyone else in exploring them.
Paul
OK, so I thought I'd pick up a piece from our intro webcast around the challenges associated with networks of online communities. Here are a few of what I see as the challenges.
Who is the online community for? Does the number of potential participants warrant a separate community space or can an affiliate space for the group be created within a larger existing online community?
Are the activities and objectives of the group related to an existing online community or completely separate and autonomous? If related then its worth considering creating a nested space within a larger whole as there often is an extended benefit in a sub-group seeing what activities the larger group is engaged in.
Does a group want a private or public online community? Or perhaps a blend of the two? SCOPE is an interesting blend in that anyone can see the online community activities but to post something you must join and login. I often think of online communities as having similarities to real world communities. When I look out my office window at downtown Vancouver I see public open spaces and closed private spaces within the same community. Sometimes the desire for private spaces drives the need for a separate online community. However, its worth thinking about whether a blend will suffice.
Who will be responsible for stimulating activity in an online community? Communities do not become vibrant without stimulus. An online community mayor (like Sylvia for SCOPE) is in my view an essential ingredient. To what extent can an online community mayor be mayor of multiple communities? What other roles might complement that of mayor? How can these roles be distributed across participants (which ones are paid vs. voluntary) and across a network of communities? How can the mayor work such that they are behind the scenes supporting participants and not dominating the activity?
What are the activities that bring online community to life? This is one of the major topics that needs to be addressed. I've noticed that activity within an online community can often be stimulated through a "live" event. Webcasts featuring presenters, marrying up the community to a conference, etc. We've also begun profiling community participant Flickr feeds and blog posts. Job postings are often of high interest. Calendars of events. Provocative discussion forum topics all generate activity. From a network of communities perspective the question becomes "How can we federate high interest activities across multiple online communities?" I often think of it being similar to the way TV networks distribute their popular shows through affiliate stations.
How can we manage user ID's, profiles, and login's across a network of online communities which often all use different technologies? I have so many passwords these days its crazy.
When building a network of online communities should we use the same technology platform for each (which often affords benefits from an administration point of view) or allow a diversity of technologies which allows each group to have a custom solution specific to their needs and interests (but often creates integration challenges)?
And finally what metrics of success should we report out to funders and other stakeholders to indicate whether an online community or network of online communites is succeeding?
Whew, creating networks of online communities has a lot of challenges. Take your pick, feel free to reply in response to one, or more than one, or add your own.
Paul
Who is the online community for? Does the number of potential participants warrant a separate community space or can an affiliate space for the group be created within a larger existing online community?
Are the activities and objectives of the group related to an existing online community or completely separate and autonomous? If related then its worth considering creating a nested space within a larger whole as there often is an extended benefit in a sub-group seeing what activities the larger group is engaged in.
Does a group want a private or public online community? Or perhaps a blend of the two? SCOPE is an interesting blend in that anyone can see the online community activities but to post something you must join and login. I often think of online communities as having similarities to real world communities. When I look out my office window at downtown Vancouver I see public open spaces and closed private spaces within the same community. Sometimes the desire for private spaces drives the need for a separate online community. However, its worth thinking about whether a blend will suffice.
Who will be responsible for stimulating activity in an online community? Communities do not become vibrant without stimulus. An online community mayor (like Sylvia for SCOPE) is in my view an essential ingredient. To what extent can an online community mayor be mayor of multiple communities? What other roles might complement that of mayor? How can these roles be distributed across participants (which ones are paid vs. voluntary) and across a network of communities? How can the mayor work such that they are behind the scenes supporting participants and not dominating the activity?
What are the activities that bring online community to life? This is one of the major topics that needs to be addressed. I've noticed that activity within an online community can often be stimulated through a "live" event. Webcasts featuring presenters, marrying up the community to a conference, etc. We've also begun profiling community participant Flickr feeds and blog posts. Job postings are often of high interest. Calendars of events. Provocative discussion forum topics all generate activity. From a network of communities perspective the question becomes "How can we federate high interest activities across multiple online communities?" I often think of it being similar to the way TV networks distribute their popular shows through affiliate stations.
How can we manage user ID's, profiles, and login's across a network of online communities which often all use different technologies? I have so many passwords these days its crazy.
When building a network of online communities should we use the same technology platform for each (which often affords benefits from an administration point of view) or allow a diversity of technologies which allows each group to have a custom solution specific to their needs and interests (but often creates integration challenges)?
And finally what metrics of success should we report out to funders and other stakeholders to indicate whether an online community or network of online communites is succeeding?
Whew, creating networks of online communities has a lot of challenges. Take your pick, feel free to reply in response to one, or more than one, or add your own.
Paul
Hi Paul and everyone,
I'm the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies at Royal Roads University in Victoria. I'm a frequent SCOPE lurker, but not much of a poster but... we are currently in the middle of designing what I'll just call an online "place" for faculty. I don't want to call it a "site", because that implies static content, and a "portal" seems too commercial and like just a bunch of resources (I swear I have PTSD from our last portal implementation). We've been looking at the Learn Together Collaboratory as an example of some of the things we'd like to implement.
We are struggling with the very things you mention above Paul. We want to ensure the "place" is seeded with good resources, and that it has things on it that are of value to our users, but we also want it to be a network of communities and content that they feel ownership over because those elements were largely built by them. I think we'll have to continue to contribute resources and content, but I am really hoping our example will energize the community and it will begin to grow as a result.
I'm not in favour of housing everything in one big piece of software that does it all a la LMS or CMS. What we do try to do here is connect the software we use in ways that enable single sign on at the very least, as well as similar interface themes.
The success question is too hard for this afternoon, but it's absolutely something I need to think about.
Happy Tuesday afternoon everyone!
Mary
Mary, great to hear RRU is developing a "place" for faculty. I recommend to any and all who are thinking of creating such a place to ignore the technology solution component for as long as possible. Focus instead on "What will people do at this place?" And don't just speculate about what they'll do, ask them.
Typically two broad types of activities emerge.
1. Activities that are spontaneously self generated by the end users. These activities include posting content (web sites, files, media, ...), starting discussions with each other, asking for advice or help from each other, sharing news, creating shared calendars of events, ... Participants at the "place" should have as much liberty as possible to generate these activities in whatever form they wish. The impromptu nature of the activities often means they are open ended with no specific start and end. They continue for as long as there is interest. This is the social chit chat in the halls, the networking, the informal development of relations.
2. Activities that are produced as events or intentional pre-planned things that happen in the "place" and can be anticipated. These activities typically involve advance planning, hosting, moderating, facilitating. They are scheduled, announced, promoted and planned. These activities are often bound by time with a defined start and end date. These activities are ofen a bit more formal. These are webcasts, featured speakers, live seminars, workshops, conferences, ...
Sometimes I imagine the "place" is a radio or TV station. What programming will an end user find taking place should they happen to tune in to your "place"? If you have no activity 2 types of things going on then participants may get a sense that there really isn't much happening. Type 2 activities create a motivation to go to the place, a reason to be there.
Once you have a handle on some of the activities then the next question to ask is What is the right blend of these two types of activities? 50% of type one and 50% of type 2? or 80/20 or ...?
Paul
Typically two broad types of activities emerge.
1. Activities that are spontaneously self generated by the end users. These activities include posting content (web sites, files, media, ...), starting discussions with each other, asking for advice or help from each other, sharing news, creating shared calendars of events, ... Participants at the "place" should have as much liberty as possible to generate these activities in whatever form they wish. The impromptu nature of the activities often means they are open ended with no specific start and end. They continue for as long as there is interest. This is the social chit chat in the halls, the networking, the informal development of relations.
2. Activities that are produced as events or intentional pre-planned things that happen in the "place" and can be anticipated. These activities typically involve advance planning, hosting, moderating, facilitating. They are scheduled, announced, promoted and planned. These activities are often bound by time with a defined start and end date. These activities are ofen a bit more formal. These are webcasts, featured speakers, live seminars, workshops, conferences, ...
Sometimes I imagine the "place" is a radio or TV station. What programming will an end user find taking place should they happen to tune in to your "place"? If you have no activity 2 types of things going on then participants may get a sense that there really isn't much happening. Type 2 activities create a motivation to go to the place, a reason to be there.
Once you have a handle on some of the activities then the next question to ask is What is the right blend of these two types of activities? 50% of type one and 50% of type 2? or 80/20 or ...?
Paul
Hi Paul,
I must admit that I could use a passport to help me manage all of the communities and networks I belong to or have visited (even those I haven't joined yet or may once I get some time) :-)
I wonder what we might learn if we were to represent these meta networks and communities in a visual/graphical way? What do these meta networks look like? What form do they take? Does the form follow function? Does form and function inform the mechanisms/processes for stimulating, developing, sustaining over time? Do they fall on a continuum from formal to nonformal? Does context matter?
I am now imagining the Starship Enterprise and the "federated" fleet...
cheers, Barb
I must admit that I could use a passport to help me manage all of the communities and networks I belong to or have visited (even those I haven't joined yet or may once I get some time) :-)
I wonder what we might learn if we were to represent these meta networks and communities in a visual/graphical way? What do these meta networks look like? What form do they take? Does the form follow function? Does form and function inform the mechanisms/processes for stimulating, developing, sustaining over time? Do they fall on a continuum from formal to nonformal? Does context matter?
I am now imagining the Starship Enterprise and the "federated" fleet...
cheers, Barb
Barbara:
I want a passport too!
Your suggestion of creating a visual diagram representing a network of communities is a great one. It seems to me this is something those who are interested in personal learning environments are doing too - representing the concept with a visual architecture.
Typically architecture diagrams I have seen focus on one community, rarely do they try and illustrate multiple communities and the nested or interrelationships between communities.
If you haven't looked at them yet the slides from Diego's presentation on Tuesday are interesting - see the Emergent issues: Case 2: Colombian Ministry of Education thread. Slides 21-23 show visual diagrams representing community as a system supporting collections and publication with some sort of management system coordinating and integrating it all.
A group of us recently worked on a proposal for CANARIE's Network Enabled Platforms program http://www.canarie.ca/funding/nep2/call_for_proposals.html. We ended up not applying but as part of our work I did generate a architecture diagram representing one possible way of showing networks of communities. See attachment to this post.
Paul
I want a passport too!
Your suggestion of creating a visual diagram representing a network of communities is a great one. It seems to me this is something those who are interested in personal learning environments are doing too - representing the concept with a visual architecture.
Typically architecture diagrams I have seen focus on one community, rarely do they try and illustrate multiple communities and the nested or interrelationships between communities.
If you haven't looked at them yet the slides from Diego's presentation on Tuesday are interesting - see the Emergent issues: Case 2: Colombian Ministry of Education thread. Slides 21-23 show visual diagrams representing community as a system supporting collections and publication with some sort of management system coordinating and integrating it all.
A group of us recently worked on a proposal for CANARIE's Network Enabled Platforms program http://www.canarie.ca/funding/nep2/call_for_proposals.html. We ended up not applying but as part of our work I did generate a architecture diagram representing one possible way of showing networks of communities. See attachment to this post.
Paul
Hi Paul,
This is a very cool representation of the architecture and really the system of architectures and how they potentially relate. Thanks for this example. I do think that it is useful to consider how it will work so this type of diagram can begin to make things real.
I have just looked at Diego's ppts. these representations are really interesting and offer another way for us to think about how it all might work. I like the way his diagrams compliment yours by way of showing how individuals might connect/engage in this system of networks.
I am wondering about the "activity" dimension of all of this. In other words, what is it that people/we are doing in the various nodes and networks? Would it help to consider another visual representation(s) that would describe what people are involved in on the ground and what they wish to learn, exchange, delve into etc.? I feel that we have to “situate” this work in real practice domains.
I am reading a lot these days on work, subjectivity and learning and this literature indicates that what we do at work is deeply tied to what we learn and need to learn and share. If it’s true then maybe exploring activities would be fruitful and point to the networks we are involved in or wish to engage in and ways a technology system or echosystem might support our individual travel from node to node?
Back to the idea of activity theory and whether it might help us to deepen our thinking in relation to meta networks and communities. Check out:
THE FUTURE OF ACTIVITY THEORY: A ROUGH DRAFT by Yrjö Engeström, University of Helsinki (also attached)
cheers,
Barb
This is a very cool representation of the architecture and really the system of architectures and how they potentially relate. Thanks for this example. I do think that it is useful to consider how it will work so this type of diagram can begin to make things real.
I have just looked at Diego's ppts. these representations are really interesting and offer another way for us to think about how it all might work. I like the way his diagrams compliment yours by way of showing how individuals might connect/engage in this system of networks.
I am wondering about the "activity" dimension of all of this. In other words, what is it that people/we are doing in the various nodes and networks? Would it help to consider another visual representation(s) that would describe what people are involved in on the ground and what they wish to learn, exchange, delve into etc.? I feel that we have to “situate” this work in real practice domains.
I am reading a lot these days on work, subjectivity and learning and this literature indicates that what we do at work is deeply tied to what we learn and need to learn and share. If it’s true then maybe exploring activities would be fruitful and point to the networks we are involved in or wish to engage in and ways a technology system or echosystem might support our individual travel from node to node?
Back to the idea of activity theory and whether it might help us to deepen our thinking in relation to meta networks and communities. Check out:
THE FUTURE OF ACTIVITY THEORY: A ROUGH DRAFT by Yrjö Engeström, University of Helsinki (also attached)
cheers,
Barb
Hi Barbara!
I really like the idea of meta networks/communities, because that's a way (in my view) to solve some of the linguistic mess :D that I've seen in my own exploration. I mentioned in my presentation that we're using in Spanish a word that means both 'grid' and 'network', that's why I like the idea of 'meta', because suggests something that could be on top of existing structures...
The slides that Paul mentions are part of a document describing a possible system (in our case, focused on personal content management), to integrate different computer systems, representing both communities and information sources, which I talked about in the Spanish online session.
One of the issues that appeared during the online session was if there was a need to have a centralized system to manage the different pieces of an educator's online presence, and who should be in charge of such a system (even more, if governments have any responsibility about it).
The importance of having some kind of diagram, like you say, came up during the Spanish session, too. I'm afraid there was some impression that the things I was talking about were in some way 'autonomous', but it's clear that such a system is part of a bigger context. I agree that having a graphical representation could definitely help to identify information flows, actors, and different interaction patterns that would have a huge impact in the design of an information system supporting a meta network/community.
Now, seems to me that such a representation will be very different depending on the local context. The picture for LTC will be very different for the one that I would draw for our case in Colombia, and even the purpose of the meta network/community have an important impact. For example, are we talking about a network of communities, or a network of repositories?
It's clear to me, at this point, the usefulness of Social Network Analysis techniques to model our community environments... And my feeling is that there's a lot of work to do in that area, at least here in Colombia.
All this discussion brings to my mind how these structures are needed as the complexity of our information environment grows... :) So it's an emergent issue, that will bring (as we're seeing) lots of new questions and challenges. so let´s keep discussing them! :D
By the way, thanks for that link!
Best,
Diego
I really like the idea of meta networks/communities, because that's a way (in my view) to solve some of the linguistic mess :D that I've seen in my own exploration. I mentioned in my presentation that we're using in Spanish a word that means both 'grid' and 'network', that's why I like the idea of 'meta', because suggests something that could be on top of existing structures...
The slides that Paul mentions are part of a document describing a possible system (in our case, focused on personal content management), to integrate different computer systems, representing both communities and information sources, which I talked about in the Spanish online session.
One of the issues that appeared during the online session was if there was a need to have a centralized system to manage the different pieces of an educator's online presence, and who should be in charge of such a system (even more, if governments have any responsibility about it).
The importance of having some kind of diagram, like you say, came up during the Spanish session, too. I'm afraid there was some impression that the things I was talking about were in some way 'autonomous', but it's clear that such a system is part of a bigger context. I agree that having a graphical representation could definitely help to identify information flows, actors, and different interaction patterns that would have a huge impact in the design of an information system supporting a meta network/community.
Now, seems to me that such a representation will be very different depending on the local context. The picture for LTC will be very different for the one that I would draw for our case in Colombia, and even the purpose of the meta network/community have an important impact. For example, are we talking about a network of communities, or a network of repositories?
It's clear to me, at this point, the usefulness of Social Network Analysis techniques to model our community environments... And my feeling is that there's a lot of work to do in that area, at least here in Colombia.
All this discussion brings to my mind how these structures are needed as the complexity of our information environment grows... :) So it's an emergent issue, that will bring (as we're seeing) lots of new questions and challenges. so let´s keep discussing them! :D
By the way, thanks for that link!
Best,
Diego
Paul asks, “When building a network of online communities should we use the same technology platform for each (which often affords benefits from an administration point of view) or allow a diversity of technologies which allows each group to have a custom solution specific to their needs and interests (but often creates integration challenges)?”
Just as real world community learning spaces are varied, unique and designed specifically to accommodate a need or purpose, so I think online communities should be.
It would be convenient from an administration point of view to have them integrated, but is it necessary? Is it practical? Wouldn’t it be like using one building, say the local pub, for all our learning purposes?
I enjoy my forays into Second Life but would not want all my professional learning activities focused there. I want some, but not all to be social. I want some, but not all to be collaborative. I want some, but not all to be constructivist and linear. I want diverse technologies that match my diverse learning purposes.
Just as real world community learning spaces are varied, unique and designed specifically to accommodate a need or purpose, so I think online communities should be.
It would be convenient from an administration point of view to have them integrated, but is it necessary? Is it practical? Wouldn’t it be like using one building, say the local pub, for all our learning purposes?
I enjoy my forays into Second Life but would not want all my professional learning activities focused there. I want some, but not all to be social. I want some, but not all to be collaborative. I want some, but not all to be constructivist and linear. I want diverse technologies that match my diverse learning purposes.
Dear Sandy,
I agree with you -- there needs to be more diversity of platforms -- because from my perspective -- not all platforms can meet the same needs and that "illusive perfect" platform will no doubt be improved upon or new needs will have to be met. One of the main issues is "cost effectiveness" and not just focussing on technology -- but on the serving of technology for the purpose of learning and collaborative exchanges.
I'm have been really delighted with the possibilities that already exist -- but cost for education is high and availablity and access are the two main areas of concern for more massive distribution.
Although I've explored Second Life a little and am curious where it will go. Generally our various learning needs to have many adaptable venues as not one works for everything or everybody.
I agree with you -- there needs to be more diversity of platforms -- because from my perspective -- not all platforms can meet the same needs and that "illusive perfect" platform will no doubt be improved upon or new needs will have to be met. One of the main issues is "cost effectiveness" and not just focussing on technology -- but on the serving of technology for the purpose of learning and collaborative exchanges.
I'm have been really delighted with the possibilities that already exist -- but cost for education is high and availablity and access are the two main areas of concern for more massive distribution.
Although I've explored Second Life a little and am curious where it will go. Generally our various learning needs to have many adaptable venues as not one works for everything or everybody.
I share your concern about platforms. Large educational institutes become entrapped by single tools because that is the reality of administrating IT. Costs of development, training and administration have to be spread out over the expected years of use.
Because I am a faculty developer and don't have to be concerned with fees or marks, I get to be the innovator on my campus much to the consternation and occasional delight of our IT managers. If I don't like a campus tool, I find an alternative. I can experiment and change my mind but the responsibility that goes with that freedom is the hours of personal time I spend learning new tools. Most faculty and students aren't willing or able to put in those hours.
So it's a Catch-22, by the time IT, faculty and students have learned to use Blackboard for example, it is out of date and better tools are on the market. As long as we have traditional universities this will be an issue.
Because I am a faculty developer and don't have to be concerned with fees or marks, I get to be the innovator on my campus much to the consternation and occasional delight of our IT managers. If I don't like a campus tool, I find an alternative. I can experiment and change my mind but the responsibility that goes with that freedom is the hours of personal time I spend learning new tools. Most faculty and students aren't willing or able to put in those hours.
So it's a Catch-22, by the time IT, faculty and students have learned to use Blackboard for example, it is out of date and better tools are on the market. As long as we have traditional universities this will be an issue.
Sandy/Jo Ann/Deirdre:
I agree with you all, a diversity is desired but don't forget that each additional technology that is used has a cost both in real dollars, support/maintenance, and a user overhead cost dealing with complexity. Most online community platforms these days represent an attempt to integrate together multiple tools into a common environment.
I think its fruitless to be talking about a perfect platform. Think of it like a car. There are lots of different kinds of cars from high end to old beater, but in the end the purpose is to get you from point A to point B. If you're like me you don't even have a car, instead you take the bus, the SkyTrain, the taxi, ride your bicycle, ... Which interestingly fulfills your diversity request (diverse modes of transportation in this case) and costs less than owning a car.
Paul
I agree with you all, a diversity is desired but don't forget that each additional technology that is used has a cost both in real dollars, support/maintenance, and a user overhead cost dealing with complexity. Most online community platforms these days represent an attempt to integrate together multiple tools into a common environment.
I think its fruitless to be talking about a perfect platform. Think of it like a car. There are lots of different kinds of cars from high end to old beater, but in the end the purpose is to get you from point A to point B. If you're like me you don't even have a car, instead you take the bus, the SkyTrain, the taxi, ride your bicycle, ... Which interestingly fulfills your diversity request (diverse modes of transportation in this case) and costs less than owning a car.
Paul
Deirdre, admin costs are always an important consideration. Also a faculty developer, I agree with you that
I can experiment and change my mind, but the responsibility that goes with that freedom is the hours of personal time I spend learning new tools. Most faculty and students aren't willing or able to put in those hours.Perhaps it's just me, but when I'm commissioned, encouraged, or supported by my Director to do online community work, the organization just scored a bonus into my personal time. This kind of design and facilitation work is what motivates me. Don't most people have some sweet spot where their work becomes play and spills over? My challenge is understanding the entire situation enough to present a convincing case how a networked community WILL meet strategic goals and be cost effective in order to win that support. Being rather new (6 mo) to an institution that tried build everything in SharePoint right before I came, is part of my challenge.
Hi Everyone,
I'm also a frequent viewer and sometimes participant on Scope. I'm interested in connections -- both weak links and continuous. I like learning through the sharing on scope. Thanks Sylvia for posting the slides and the commentary from the Elluminate Session, which I enjoyed reading. I am currently a Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice, a recent graduate of AU's GDDET, and teach on/offline. I'm involved in dance/movement therapy and art therapy, health psychology and developing Educational Blogs. I'm interested in lifelong learning and dialogues. Jo Ann
I'm also a frequent viewer and sometimes participant on Scope. I'm interested in connections -- both weak links and continuous. I like learning through the sharing on scope. Thanks Sylvia for posting the slides and the commentary from the Elluminate Session, which I enjoyed reading. I am currently a Clinical Psychologist in Private Practice, a recent graduate of AU's GDDET, and teach on/offline. I'm involved in dance/movement therapy and art therapy, health psychology and developing Educational Blogs. I'm interested in lifelong learning and dialogues. Jo Ann
I am also a great lurker, and infrequent contributor to these forums!
The question about how you measure success is one that I have wrestled with for a long time, and more so now with the RON! Online Network, at http://rplnetworkonline.wikispaces.com. You can read the Progress report or final evaluations and see that numbers are quoted about membership, hits on the Wiki, participation, etc, but does this mean much. Anecdotal evidence on the other hand, especially in terms of the emails behind the Google Group, Wiki and Adobe Connect sessions, seem to indicate deeper learning.
Jenni