Collaborative Learning and Communities

Collaborative Learning and Communities

Sue Beckingham MA FSEDA FHEA

@suebecks

Flexible Distance and Online Learning #FDOL131

• MUMChief Cook and Bottle washer

• STUDENTSecond Masters : MSc Technology Enhanced Learning Innovation and Change

• EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPERFellow of SEDA Staff and Educational Development Association

• LECTURERProfessional Communication and Digital Skills; Social Media Use in Organisations. Fellow of HEA.

Wears multiple hats

CollaborativePLNs

Learning PLEs

Co-operativeVLEs

Communities

of Practice

Collaborative Co-operative

Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle

whereas

Co-operation is a structure of interaction designed to facilitate the accomplishment of an end

product or goal.

Panitz 1996

Jarche 2012

“Collaborative means working together on projects; cooperative

means taking responsibility for each others learning”

Howard Rheingold 2013

Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion

for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

Wenger

(via Jarche 2012)

Problem solving “Can we work on this design and brainstorm some ideas; I’m stuck.”

Requests for information “Where can I find the code to connect to the server?”

Seeking experience “Has anyone dealt with a customer in this situation?”

Reusing assets“I have a proposal for a local area network I wrote for a client last year. I can send it to you and you can easily tweak it for this new client.”

Coordination and synergy “Can we combine our purchases of solvent to achieve bulk discounts?”

Discussing developments “What do you think of the new CAD system? Does it really help?”

Documentation projects “We have faced this problem five times now. Let us write it down once and for all.”

Visits “Can we come and see your after-school program? We need to establish one in our city.”

Mapping knowledge and identifying gaps

“Who knows what, and what are we missing? What other groups should we connect with?”

Communities develop their practice through a variety of activities (Wenger and Trayner).

Learning Experiences

Formal

Non-formalInformal

Eaton 2010 http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED508254.pdf

formal

• credit bearing courses

non-form

al

• community based programmes, non-credit adult education courses, CPD, sports and fitness programmes, cMOOCs

informal

• coaching, mentoring, social networks, personal learning networks

organised, learning

outcomes

unorganised, spontaneous or simply just

harder to quantify?

formal

• credit bearing courses

non-form

al

• community based programmes, non-credit adult education courses, CPD, sports and fitness programmes, cMOOCs

informal

• coaching, mentoring, social networks, personal learning networks

What would you add?

Is it so easy to label?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apenguincalledelvis/5378437490/

Fun self-directed and self-organised ‘informal’ experiential learning

‘Formal’ Tutor-Led Experiential Learning

Warren. (1989). Cartoon. Phi Delta Kappan, 71(1), 38. Cited in Lasley The Phi Delta Kappan

"I expect you all to be independent innovative

critical thinkers who will do exactly as I say"

cooperationmake learning communities creative and fun

Haiku 俳句

5-7-5

Just in case

learning

Just in time

learning

Thinking about your own learning experiences what are the pros and

cons of each?

Tutor as Facilitator

Vygotsky

It can happen out in public placesalleyways and funny spacesunderneath and in betweenlocations where you’ve never beenbefore..It can happen on an airplaneat 30,000 feet above the groundyou’ve found the person sittingnext to you has lived the life youmight have..It can happen walking down the streetyou meet someone you haven’t seenin ages who tells youeverythingbefore the light changes..

It can happen in mid sentence whenyou interrupt the program fora messagefrom one sponsoror another.

It can happen at a partyonce I met a guy who told me howsub atomic particles romancewith partners rooms awaythat made my day..It can happen in a puban angel at the bar sharing whiskywhile a stranger tellsa history of the worldin six glasses..It can happen when you go to bedand in your head you findan alleyway at 30,000 feetwhere faster than light neutrinos aredancing the night away..And it all makes sense.

Where Learning Happenshttp://m

arkmcguire.net/2012/08/18/w

here-learning-happens/Mark McQuire 2012

 In relation to telecommunications

"online" indicates a state of connectivity, while "offline" indicates a

disconnected state.

Connectedness

Dennis McGrath http://technogogical.wordpress.com/

But new technology has changed this...

Connectedness

mentionmap

Technology removes boundaries such as language, time and geographical distance

However my first experience....

The principal goal of education is to create men [and women] who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done - men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers.

The second goal of education is to form minds which can be critical, can verify, and not accept, everything they

are offered.Piaget 1970

We need to learn to take risks, to challenge and above all find fun in

learning

Collaborative Learning and Communities

Exploring aspects of collaborative, cooperative and community learning in relation to networked online spaces with consideration of the benefits of

formal, informal and non-formal learning.

Sue Beckingham | @suebecks