Workshop materials for SchoolNet Conference, South Africa, July 2011

1. Building an Online Learning CommunityJane HartSchoolNet ConferenceSouth AfricaJuly 2011

2. Agenda What is an Online Learning Community? What happens in an Online Learning Community? What tools can be used to build an Online Learning Community? How do you maintain and sustain an Online Learning Community?

3. What is an Online Learning Community? “An online learning community is a public or private destination on the Internet that addresses the learning needs of its members by facilitating peer-to-peer learning. … people work as a community to achieve a shared learning objective.” Wikipedia

4. If your classroom is a Learning Communitywhy have anOnline Learning Community?

5. Borderless education

6. Distance learning

7. To support in-class learning

8. To support learning outside the classroom

9. to enhance thesocial and collaborativelearning experience

10. To build a Professional Learning Community A professional learning community (PLC) is an extended learning opportunity to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field A Community of Practice

11. What happens in an Online Learning Community? Communication Conversations

12. What happens in an Online Learning Community? Collaboration

13. What happens in an Online Learning Community? Collaborative discovery

14. What happens in an Online Learning Community? Content / KnowledgeCo-creation

15. What happens in an Online Learning Community? Sharing

16. What happens in an Online Learning Community? All within a comfortable, safe easy-to-use environment

17. What tools can be used to build an Online Learning Community? Many different tools Most appropriate will depend on functionalityintegration of content and communitymanagement and controlsecurity and privacy

18. Top 100Tools for Learning 2010 List compiled from the Top 10 Tools contributions of 545learning professionals worldwide

19. What tools can be used to build an Online Learning Community? Individual tools Blogs Collaboration tools (eg wikis) Public & private social networking sites Social learning platforms Organisational tools Course management tools Social and collaboration platforms EXAMPLES FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

20. http://grade1cr.global2.vic.edu.au 1 Blogs FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

22. 2 Collaboration tools (eg Wikis) FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

24. 3 Public and private social networking tools FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

26. FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

27. Profile pageincludes blog, file sharing Sub-groups Members list Chat Discussion

28. 4 Formal Social Learning Platforms FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

29. 5 Course Management Systems FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

30. 6 Social and collaboration platforms FunctionalityEase of use Target audience Privacy Management Control

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32. How do you maintain and sustain an Online Learning Community? “Communities don’t want to be managed – they want to be nurtured.” “Seed, feed and weed”

33. Jane’s 10 tips for setting up an Online Learning Community? Provide a personal rather than a generic welcome Identify the value an individual will bring to the community – particularly from “outsiders”. Provide tips and guidelines for the community – keep “rules” to a minimum – consider community-generated rules. Be clear about its purpose. Allow self-moderation of community – don’t always be the one to express concern – but “respect” views. In the early days, provide regular postings: questions rather than statements work best. Demonstrate good practice. Encourage sharing of links, resources, ideas, experiences etc. As the community becomes self-sustaining, reduce your presence Remember the 90-9-1 rule ; encourage participation but don’t under-estimate the value of “lurking” Don’t try and force “social” Don’t use social activity metrics as a measure of learning.

34. bit.ly/buildingacommunity