Assignment 2.2
In Assignment 2.1 I participated in an online community to design an online learning community - the Mending JuJu project. This project provided an opportunity to apply some of the theories of e-learning and e-learning technologies that I have been studying and to reflect on my learnings.
Social Constructivist theory holds that knowledge is constructed by the individual through his or her interactions with the environment. The Mending JuJu project provided the opportunity to see social constructivist theory in action. Through the interaction and collaboration among the team members my theoretical appreciation of designing an online community was enhanced - we all sourced very different resources and developed different ideas. My practical application of these ideas also grew - we were able to combine the majority of our ideas and design a community that covered all the major theoretical design features and appeared to provide a practical and relevant solution that could be applied in a number of real world situations.
Jonassen (1994 in Rovai, 2004) suggested that online learning environments need to include the following features to enable participants to construct meaning:
- A focus on knowledge construction, not reproduction
- Authentic tasks, with real world case studies
- Reflective practise fostered
- Support collaborative construction of knowledge through social negotiation between learners, not competition
Through meeting all of these criteria the Mending JuJu project provided an effective learning environment which provided the opportunity for me to construct my knowledge, rather than just acquire it.
The Mending JuJu project, became, to a large extent, a community of practice (CoP). People with a common focus and purpose coming together to collaborate, discuss ideas, share expertise, build competence and promote better practice. There was a sense of commitment towards the communities’ goals and the collaborative knowledge of the community became greater than that of the individual members. Thus, it could be said that the project team had developed into an effective and functioning CoP (Downes, 2004; Gannon-Leary & Fontainha, 2007; Wenger, 2001; Wikipedia, 2008).
The CoP provided the opportunity to harness the tacit and explicit knowledge of the community’s members. Research has shown that up to 90% of new learning for professionals is acquired informally in the workplace, through networking and sharing information with colleagues and researching alternative information (Lohman, 2000). The issue for organisations has been how to gather, capture and deliver this knowledge. Online learning communities provide some of the answers for this through their ability to create and structure opportunities for people to “network, communicate, mentor and learn from each other” (Kaplan, 2002). For the Mending JuJu project, the use of a wiki and social networking software as the basis for producing the community design provided the members with the opportunity to collaborate, discuss ideas, develop a shared understanding and a final product.
Various studies have looked at the steps required in developing successful online communities. Palloff and Pratt (1999, in Brook & Oliver, 2002) identified seven basic steps required in the development of an online community:
- a clearly defined purpose
- a distinctive gathering place for the group (the Mending JuJu site)
- effective leadership provided by moderators within the group
- defined norms and a code of conduct
- a range of member roles - from moderator, to active contributor, to occasional contributor, to lurker
- the formation of sub-groups supported in the site
- allowing members to resolve their own conflict
My experience with the Mending JuJu project reflects the importance of these steps and suggests that there must be measures taken to establish the role of a leader, who will then ensure that all the remaining steps occur. A number of initial leadership actions were taken by the course lecturer (eg providing access to and training in the software; helping establish trust between participants; and giving direction for the task). Members of Mending JuJu took these, worked with and developed them, with one group member taking initial leadership to commence activities on the project. The work progressed with input from all members and varying levels of leadership being taken by different members. While the community functioned well it was only after a face to face meeting where the purpose of the project and roles were clarified that the project team began to truly perform.
For me this was another learning point, particularly relevant when working with people who do not have the same theoretical grounding in e-learning strategies or education principles that the community began with. I would ensure a face to face meeting (or some other synchronous communication) occurred very early in the life of the community, where the purpose, structure and functions of the community are discussed and a plan is established on the way forward. This would provide the basis for the online community to function effectively. My learnings here are supported by research. Hegngi (1998, in Sheard, Ramakrishnan & Miller, 2003) found that while synchronous discussion encouraged more participation in e-learning communities, asynchronous discussion generated more participant initiated discussion topics and a larger number of ideas. The blending of these approaches in community helps to increase its effectiveness.
For the development of an online learning community in a real world setting I believe I would follow many of the same stages and approaches as in this assignment. Thompson (2004) outlined some of the challenges of undertaking e-learning in the workplace. These all revolve around the need for support from the organisation and include:
- Developing skills in collaborating online
- Developing competency with the learning technology utilised
- Ensuring an environment conducive to learning, free of distractions (phone calls, emails, people dropping by the workstation)
- Recognition that the practise of belonging to a community improves e-learning events and outcomes, via dialogue and shared construction of meaning
- Organisations legitimising engaging in online learning activities, including participating in communities of practice, during the workday
In implementing an online learning community it is important that these issues are addressed. While some can be resolved by initial training, technical support and coaching, others will require the commitment of management to providing appropriate learning environments and sanctioning work practices that value participation in the community. This may involve changes to work practices and management approaches and so will involve the project managers and community leaders liaising with management at all levels to ensure that staff are supported in their online learning endeavours and given the time and recognition for this. These challenges must be addressed from the introduction of e-learning communities for them to be successful in an organisation.
Learning is not defined by the type of activity we undertake, rather it is its’ outcomes. Wenger (1999, p 226) claimed that we have learnt when “we change who we are by changing our ability to participate, to belong, to negotiate meaning”. I believe that my participation in the Mending JuJu project, and my involvement in this subject as a whole, has assisted me to learn - I have negotiated new meanings, created new structures, engaged with others, reflected on my practices and aligned my practices to frameworks through my involvement in this CoP. My studies have provided me with an opportunity to gain both a theoretical and practical understanding of e-learning and its technologies and building online communities. I have constructed my knowledge and, to some extent, reified it. My next challenge is to take these learnings and apply them in the “real world” with all its challenges.
REFERENCES
Brook, C. & Oliver, R. 2002, Supporting the Development of Learning Communities In Online Settings. Paper presented at the Ed-Media, Denver, Colorado, viewed 24 April 2008, <http://elrond.scam.ecu.edu.au/oliver/2002/edmedia2.pdf>
Downes, S. 2004, Learning in Communities, viewed 25 March 2008, <http://community.flexiblelearning.net.au/GlobalPerspectives/content/article_5249.htm.>
Gannon-Leary, p. & Fontainha, E. 2007, Communities of practice and virtual learning communities: benefits, barriers and success factors, eLearning Papers, No. 5, viewed 24 April 2008, <http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&doc_id=10219&doclng=6>
Kaplan, S. 2002, Building communities - strategies for collaborative learning, viewed 23 April 2008, <http://www.earningcircuits.org/2002/aug2002/kaplan.html>
Lohman, M.C. 2000, Environmental Inhibitors to informal learning in the workplace: a case study of public school teachers. Adult Education Quarterly, 50(2), 83-101.
Rovai, A.P. 2004, A constructivist approach to online college learning. Internet and Higher Education, 72(7), 79-97.
Sheard, J.; Ramakrishnan, S. & Miller, J. 2003, ‘Modelling learner and educator interactions in an electronic learning community’, Australian Journal of Educational Technology, vol.19, no.2, viewed 17 April 2008, <http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/sheard.html>
Thompson, T. 2004, The Virtual Classroom at Work: How Teaching Shapes Workplace Learning. In G. Richards (Ed.), Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare & Higher Education (ELEARN) 2004, AACE, Chesapeake, UA, pp 2166-2171.
Wenger, E. 1999, Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Wenger, E. 2001, Supporting Communities of Practices - a survey of community oriented technologies, viewed 20 May 2008, <http://www.ewenger.com/tech/>
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008b, Community of Practice, viewed 25 March 2008, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/community_of_practice>
