Paul Beaufait

On the current seminar wiki that Sylvia created, and used initially for harvesting ideas and suggestions from introductory posts; Nancy shares a definition of professional development from a State of Wisconsin web page:


On first glance, that definition looks as though it embraces all that the colloboratory we're in the process of discussing does, or envisions doing.

However, closer examination of that definition in context reveals direct references to community members including only staff and students, when even local educational communities would ordinarily comprise administrators, parents, and elected political leaders, too--community members to whom "accountability measures for changing practices" may refer indirectly.

How adequate, fitting, or sufficient do you suppose a generic, public-sector, school-level definition of professional development is for purposes of envisioning and underpinning development of a collaboratory that is provincial (or larger) in scope?

It is a pleasure to see so many familiar names and faces spinning intro's, inquiries, and ideas together again at SCoPE.

I'm slowly catching up with the ongoing discussions from here in Japan, a day ahead and eight hours behind SFU (Vancouver), while my head and body are still trying to sleep on Pacific Daylight or Mountain Standard Time yesterday.

I'm an associate professor teaching English as an additional language to undergraduate administrative studies majors. Alhough you may consider me a techno-cynic, I'm also boot-strapping professional development activities using low-investment technologies with secondary school language teaching associates and university teaching colleagues.

I have never created a podcast, and wonder who has the time to plan, script, produce, contextualize, find, retrieve, listen to, (re-)view, annotate, transcribe, index, analyze, (re-)organize, synthesize, evaluate, or otherwise utilize podcasts for formative purposes. That is, I wonder, is there really such a thing as a bear in a can?

It is wonderful to wake up on a sunny morning, fire up the computers, throw open the windows, and see fresh webs spun virtually over night; Sylvia and Chris certainly have been exercising their spinnerets . Thank yous muchly!

As Chris points out, there are numerous challenges to creation of opportunities for disparate inhabitants of the Earth to learn to collaborate, for instance: "whether there are social spaces where people of all cultures can meet, how safe people feel, what emotional literacies are encouraged, how we grant people time and relationship permissions, [and] how much communal trust flows..." (Re: 10 (or more)..., 27 March 2006, 10:06 AM).

Sylvia's reprise of Derek's reference to Vygotsky and scaffolding, along with select elements of authenticity, interdependence, and purpose could indicate a path forward (Re: 10 (or more)..., 27 March 2006, 07:07 AM). Likewise, Sylvia's foundation element, communication, glistens throughout Bonnie's story of learner collaboration on media production, in OLC Stories & Reflections (24 March 2006, 03:40 PM)

Blogs, wikis, and other communication platforms all figure in scenarios close at hand (or whatever spiders call their forward appendages), on this thread and the story lines. So I cannot but wonder...

What tools do you choose, and how do you use them to construct scaffolds from the elements of collaboration?

Coffee, Paul

Narratives of online learner collaboration (OLC)

This collection of stories, reflections, ... clarifications, and elaborations starts here; just click Reply to start spinning a thread.

Cheers, Paul

Welcome to Talking the Walk: Narratives of Online Learner Collaboration - hopefully a sparkling collection of stories from educators, designers, facilitators, and online learners! The path leads on from here - step by step - in your replies, narratives, and reflections.

By narratives of online learner collaboration (OLC, if you will), I mean short stories, or vignettes - perhaps no more than a screen full, upon which we can reflect, you can clarify or elaborate, and we can reflect again; thereby defining collaborative online learning processes and practices along the way. If you'd like to share a longer tale, please spin it for us an episode at a time, and give your episodes subtitles or numbers to make them easy to spot on a thread (for example: The Mines of Bboria, part 2).

For a definition of reflection, I offer a cue from Edge not to "confuse this active role with involvement in a conversation or a discussion" (1992, Chapter 6, Reflecting, The active understander, para. 2). Reflections glisten like dewdrops, a dance of light on spider webs (StoryCatcher), but are never more than the droplets themselves. Reflections constitute understandings drawn from others' stories and bounced back to storytellers, "in order to help them develop their own opinions, interpretations and plans," in ways that do "not take up the developmental space of the Speaker," or storyteller (Edge, 1992, Chapter 6, Reflecting, The active understander, para. 5).

I sincerely hope that this collection of OLC narratives and reflections upon them will generate material for publication as part of a Collaborative Book Project on Teaching and Learning Online now underway. I ask in advance that you grant permission for representation of your narratives in that book, should the editors deem the content suitable. Moreover, I hope this collection will inform and inspire similar undertakings in months and years to come.

Dancers, storytellers, trekkers, and understanders: Please carry on. Cheers, PB