Creating Learning Connections via an Online Community of Practice
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Transcript of Creating Learning Connections via an Online Community of Practice
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Creating learning connections via an online community of practice: a case study
Darcy Vo- The Mind Lab by Unitec
Presentation from National Learning and Teaching Conference 2016
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Outline
● Background of the study
● Methods
● Results
● Discussion and Conclusion
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Background of the study
Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice
Communities
of Practice
Joint enterprise
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Online Communities of Practice
deepen knowledge
creating new understanding
( Wang, 2010; Tseng & Kuo, 2014; Hou,2015; McLoughlin & Lee, 2010)
Online communities
of Practice
Joint enterprise
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Mutual Engagement
Communities
of Practice
Joint enterprise
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Research aim
To investigate learner’s perceptions of the impact of an online CoP
participant learning
Mutual engagement
Learner-learner online interactions
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Research questions
Overarching questionWhat is the impact of the online community of practice on participant learning?
Sub questions● What is the impact of the online interactions on participant
learning?● What are the barriers to the online interactions?● How likely will the participants continue the online
interaction in an online community of practice?
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
● Background context
● Participants
● Methods
Methods
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
● DCL postgraduate program dedicated to enhancing digital literacy capability and the implementation of contemporary practice in the teaching profession.
The Mind Lab Context
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Participants
● Student cohorts from 4 intakes (full time teaching, part-time study)
● All enrolled students join their relevant community (TML G+)
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Methods
An electronic survey questionnaire
Exclusion criteria● Disagreeing to proceed● No to any of the three elements
Total responses after exclusion are 103.
TML G+
Domain(s) of interest
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Results
The online community of practice
● Domain(s) of interest
● Interact online in any way
● Utilise shared resources
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Impacts on Learning
● Positive for most questions
● Responses to negative phrased question is consistent with others
● The highest positive responses related to concepts
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Impacts on Learning
Some comments
“Shares ideas of practice in different levels I don't teach”
“Being kept up to date on latest research”
“Exposed to new ideas”
“It takes me directions I wouldn't have thought of otherwise”
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Barriers to Online Interaction
● The most significant barrier was feeling uncomfortable interacting online
● G+ platform also hascreated some issues
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Barriers to Online InteractionUncomfortable to interact online
“I am worried about looking stupid in some of the things I would say because I have so little knowledge of all this”
“Feel too shy to post mostly”
“I find it hard to share as I am not use to to putting my ideas out in a forum that everyone can comment on. It has taken a bit of courage to put myself out there”
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Barriers to Online InteractionIssues with G+
“It’s not user friendly, too hard to re-locate posts on G+ too busy, too jumpy when scrolling”
“I think the quantity of posting that came through was huge and it is important to filter what would be relevant and what would not”
“Some people post so often that the comments/posts of others are easily lost or go unnoticed”
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Sustained engagement
High percentage of respondents are likely or very likely to extend their social exchanges on other online communities
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Discussion● Positive impacts on participant learning, especially in relation to
concepts
● Considerations for online course designers:
- Preparing for learners to participate online
- Address the issues of the platform
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Limitation of the study
● lack of triangulation of methods.
● based on student perceptions
● focused on only one of the three dimensions of a community of practice.
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Future directions
● Study all three elements of an online CoP on participant learning
● Collect data from different resources
● Robust tools to measure the impact
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Reference
Hou, H.(2015). What makes an online community of practice work? A situated study of Chinese student teachers’ perceptions of online professional.Teaching and Teacher Education,46, 6-16.
McLoughlin, C., & Lee, M. J. W. (2010). Developing an online community to promote engagement and professional learning for pre-service teachers using social software tools. Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 12(1), 17.
Moore, M. G. (1989). Editorial: Three types of interaction. American Journal of Distance Education,3 (2), 1–7.
The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016The Mind Lab by Unitec | 2016
Tseng, F. C., & Kuo, F. Y. (2014). A study of social participation and knowledge sharing in the teachers’ online professional community of practice. Computers and Education, 72, 37–47. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.10.005
Wang, L. (2010). Integrating communities of practice in e-portfolio assessment: Effects and experiences of mutual assessment in an online course. Internet and Higher Education, 13(4), 267–271. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.07.002
Wenger, E.(1998).Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246.