Teacher Professional Learning and Development is changing and we need a new model that fosters collaboration and ownership of the learning. Communities of Practice, and especially Online Communities of Practice offer that solution - as long as they're well-designed and focused on engagement, motivation, collaboration and sustainability.
2. ● Teacher
● Education Consultant
● Masters’ – 2015
● PhD Candidate
● Global Education Conference -
International Advisory Board member
● Social Media Manager
● Online Community Builder and
Facilitator
3. How Did I Become Intrigued...
● Previous professional learning
experiences
● Looking for ways to sustain learning,
continue to create learning
● Have applied this to several age groups
now - from younger students through to
adults
4. What are Communities of Practice?
"A group of people who share a passion for
what they do, something they know how to
do and who interact regularly to learn how to
do it better."
Etienne Wenger
6. “Members of a community are informally bound by what
they do together…”
Defined by 3 dimensions:
“What it is about…”
“How it functions…”
“What capability it has produced…”
“...learning partnerships…”
Wenger 1998
7. How do they differ from a traditional Professional
Learning Community? (PLC or PLN)
● Can be solely online or a blend of online and face-to-face in real
time
● Not reliant on a specific meeting time
● Anytime, anywhere learning, communication and support
● No one is an expert - everyone has expertise
● No definitive completion date – ongoing
● Ownership of learning
● Sustainability is built into the structure
● True collaboration and the creation of new learning and
understandings
8. Online Communities of Practice
● A blend of online and face-to-face
communication works best
● Designed to evolve
● All perspectives and experience valued
● Public and private discussion spaces
● Trust is key
9. ● Focused on value for learning and
ownership of learning
● Familiarity and excitement of new and
potential learning
● Rhythm for the community - activities,
meetings, virtual conferences and
discussion, Internet activity - a mixture of
formal and informal activity
10. The Vital Role of Social Media
● Keep it simple and easy to access
● Decide on your platforms
11. Benefits
● Motivation
● Connection
● Engagement
● Support and encouragement
● Collaboration
● Shared learning
● Co-construction of knowledge
● Ownership of learning
12. The Te@chThought Journey
● February 2014: 13k members on the FB page
● Goals: Create an online community of practice using
Etienne Wenger’s model
: Increase the community to 15k by the end of
2014 (Currently standing at 19.5k)
: Create a community where members are
comfortable asking questions and sharing
ideas
and collaborate to share and create knowledge
13. Challenges
● Taking a FB page and attempting to
create a community
● Global challenges - language, time
zones, areas of interest / need
14. Initiatives to Date...
● Twitter Chat #ttchat
● Facebook - changing focus
● Te@chThought Online Community Wiki -
includes a discussion forum
● Blogging Challenge
15. Coming up / Next phase..
● October - Connected Educator Month
● Google Hangouts
● Skype
● Online Workshops built into the
community and designed to kickstart
thinking
16. Getting Started
● Know your target group and their common needs
● Be clear regarding your purpose
● Identify someone who is keen to be involved in running
the community - preferably a student
● Allow for, and encourage, legitimate peripheral
participation
● Create a safe, trusting learning environment to
encourage participation
● ‘Any and all ideas count’
17. ● Focus on the learning
● Build collaboration - look for your participants with
expertise, passion and get them involved
● Create leadership opportunities within the community
● Developing ownership of the community by its members
is key to its success
● Identity development is vital
18. Maintaining Momentum
● Find ways to encourage participation
without being overly prescriptive
● Relevancy is important
● Informal rather than formal
● Opportunities for face-to-face meetings
where possible
Talk about cluster, LPDP, School experience with disengaged students, adults - talk about the big initiative at TeachThought shortly
Learning focus but an important social aspect
Wenger
Old format of teacher and student being separate with one holding the knowledge is changing.
Discuss previous learning communities / professional development Tutorials, etc. Now no one needs to miss discussions. Time to think, ponder. Sustainability of learning and creation of new learning together. Student engagement in the learning is higher because they are part of the process - it doesn’t work without them.
Evolution - changes according to needs and new learning. Key is learning from each other no matter what level of experience
Talk about example in a minute
Challenges to date. Needed to find something to spark interest..
FB page changes from solely sharing posts from the TT website
Importance of trust. Boundaries and guidelines. Lurkers are fine. Assumption we made that not many were involved in the #ttchat
Beth’s involvement here
My experience with online learning and the requirements for posting, contributing
Be careful of our assumptions. Need to build confidence and knowledge that everyone has something to share.