Topic 3 - Learning Communities

This week I was one of the co-facilitators for the topic of learning communities. I had an idea in mind of how the week would go (or some big questions I was focused on related to communities of practice). After the webinar and the focus on personal learning networks, I also thought perhaps we would move in that direction, but our discussion focused on collaboration and how we as educators can use scaffolding for online learning design and facilitation (and how that fosters collaboration). While we used the word collaboration, as I reflect back on our work I think of an article that I proposed to the group which references Siemens (2014) and his proposed continuum of e-learning learner-learner interactions. The 4 stages are presented as follows: 1. Communication: General talking, discussion 2. Collaboration: Working together and sharing ideas in a flexible environment 3. Cooperation: Working together but each with his own purpose 4. Community: Working together for a common purpose After thinking more about this, I challenge our group in the fact that while we used the word collaboration, I think we were really moving into how can we help our learners think of online learning as more of a community opposed to just a one-time collaborative effort. If we help create this atmosphere, then we are having our learners begin to develop their personal learning network (PLN). Palloff and Pratt (2010) said that in order for there to be collaboration, there needs to be a sense of community. So how we build an online environment that fosters a sense of community? Our discussion focused on cognitive scaffolding (instructional design) and socio-emotional scaffolding (motivating learners to engage). Personally I find the socio-emotional side more difficult as often each learner has his/her own motivations for learning, which often can be quite different than his/her colleagues. Here is where our creative sides can come out! I have created an avatar that I use in my online courses. The avatar presents the "desired behaviors" and norms for the learning environment. Then she appears in different areas of the course to cue the learners to think back to those desired behaviors during specific learning activities. The avatar is more of a proactive figure in the online environment. I still need to gently push or remind individuals if they are not participating. I also need to provide ongoing feedback when things are going well! This can be customized for individual students or presented as general feedback to the overall community. As we move into the next topic, I have enjoyed these few weeks and I look forward to seeing how other groups tackled the topic! Click here to see our final work for the week. References: Brindley, J., Blaschke, L. M., & Walti, C. (2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 10(3). Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2010). Collaborating online: Learning together in community (Vol. 32). John Wiley & Sons. Siemens, G. (2014). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age.