EDUCAUSE Virtual Communities of Practice

1
EDUCAUSE Virtual Communities of Practice

• 2003 NLII National Meeting
• New Orleans, LA

2
Virtual Communities of Practice

• Communities of practice are groups of people who
  share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion
  for a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and
  expertise in this area by interacting on an
  ongoing basis. (Wenger 2002)

3
Creating Collaborations

• Discuss common problems and issues
• Share documents, solutions or best practices
• Collaborate on projects
• Plan for face-to-face meetings continue
  relationships beyond face-to-face events

4
The Virtual Environment

• Worktools
• Email integration
• Resources exchange
• Asynchronous discussion

5
Synchronous Events

• Multiple media
• Chats
• Video conferences
• Conference calls
• Web tours

6
Join One or More!

• Sign up sheets
• http//www.educause.edu/vcop/
• Lunch discussions today and tomorrow

7
TEACHING AND LEARNINGVIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF
PRACTICE
8

• What constitutes deep learning? How is it
  achieved?
• What are the characteristics of effective
  teaching? How do we assess it?
• What difference can instructional technology
  make? How can technology enhance teaching and
  learning?

9
Conduct and present a collaborative,
inter-institutional project(s).
10
Identify project(s) or subproject(s) possible

• What kinds of project(s) can we accomplish
  considering the capabilities of community
  members?
• What questions would this community be uniquely
  qualified to ask and answer?
• What kinds of methodology would bridge the
  disciplinary diversity of members and answer the
  research question posed?

11

• What project(s) can be completed by December 31,
  2003?

12
Establish common understanding and language

• What common readings will help us communicate
  with one another and other interested parties?
• What experts might broaden our understanding of
  the pedagogical principles underlying technology,
  teaching and learning?
• Should we focus on establishing common readings
  and understanding we could share more broadly
  than the community?

13
Identify available resources on technology,
teaching and learning.

• What areas of technology, teaching and learning
  have been researched?
• What area(s) are of interest to the Teaching and
  Learning Virtual Community of Practice?
• Should we consider a clearinghouse model?

14
Identify a variety of assessment efforts.

• What is available?
• What counts as evidence for what stakeholders?
• What standards are being used to evaluate
  resources?

15
Identify current inter-institutional projects in
process.

• What kinds of projects are being undertaken?
• What projects have been completed in what time
  frame?
• What do these efforts tell the Teaching and
  Learning Virtual Community of Practice Core
  Members?

16
Build a community focusing on the intersections
between teaching and learning and Technology.
17
Create a community that has broad-based
participants.

• Who should we target for membership?
• What can we do to facilitate satisfying
  member-to-member communication?
• How can we make novices and late arrivals feel
  part of the community?
• What kinds of technological tools do we need?

18
Create space to share challenges and successes.

• Consult VCOP Core Membership and T and L
  Constituencies Group to select threaded
  discussion topics.
• Announce discussions simultaneously to T and L
  Constituents and VCOP members.
• Set time frame on discussions and product
  generation.

19

• Issue weekly digest of activities.
• Post final products

20
Create space to exchange project documents and
resources.

• What will we need to effectively and easily share
  documents and resources?
• Will we share works-in-progress more broadly then
  the community?
• How will we handle issues of intellectual
  property rights?

21
Facilitate interactions important to project
development/implementation.

• Would/could various core members serve as
  visiting scholars for a limited period of time?
• Should we host synchronous or asynchronous events
  with experts in specified areas?

22
Learning Objects Virtual Community of Practice

23
EPAC The Electronic Portfolios Community of
Practice
24
Electronic Portfolios

• Electronic portfolios are collections of
  digitally represented artifacts that
• document practice
• include reflection
• integrate experience
• map to goals and/or standards
• Student, faculty, and institutional
• Generic and customized systems

25
(No Transcript)
26
Sustaining Engagement

• 2002 EPAC
• Ready2Net broadcast on e-portfolio
• NLII Fall Focus Session
• AAHE National Electronic Portfolio Leaders Meeting

27
Lots of Interest

• Over 150 members
• Four countries
• All subcommunities represented

28
Current Activities

• Defining common terms
• Collecting and sharing resources
• Discussing common issues
• Open source e-portfolio software Common
  standards, diverse purposes
• Reflection Why is it important? What makes it
  good?
• January 13th video/audio/web conference

29
The Challenge of Multiple Practices

• Fostering engagement between established
  community of tool builders and users
• Faculty
• Academic administrators and staff
• Learning Researchers
• Novices and Experts

30
What is the New Academy?

• We will examine
• Commissioned Reports
• Institute on the Future of Higher Education
• Greater Expectations ProjectAACU
• Beyond Dead ReckoningDept of Education, NCPI
• UNESCO
• HEKATE the 2020 Vision Project
• Technology Source
• Dinosaurs or Prometheans
• The Fast Food Future of Higher Education

31
Articles Last Week

• The Chronicle Review, January 17th, 2003
• What Teaching Literature Should Really Mean,
  Elaine Showalter says
• We all know that the humanities are in trouble
  everywhere in terms of enrollments and declining
  undergraduate majors (p. 8).
• We should make our teaching as intellectually
  challenging and as much a topic of professional
  critique and review as our research (p. 8).
• Pushing the Boundaries Why We Need Independent
  Centers for Advanced Study, Robert Connor says
  we have moved beyond
• Knowledge transmission to creation and now to
  questions that do not fit neatly into existing
  specialties.
• A need for fresh insights.

32
Articles This Week

• The Chronicle Review, January 24th, 2003
• Read One, Write One, Teach One Are Graduate
  Programs in Creative Writing a Pyramid Scheme?
  Fern Kupfer says
• Better get yourself a good day job. Because Im
  not ready to give up mine.
• A Structural Logjam (p 12), Rosalind Williams
  laments the obsolescence of Engineering
  curricula.
• a design problem and points to the need for the
  humanities
• 3 Rs and One D James Conner
• Stresses the need for reform in schools of
  Education
• Map to what we know about child development
• Call for better community outreach
• Notes the grass is greener in English, Science,
  Art, Music, Theater, PE

33
Why Now?

• Changing Demographics
• Disruptive technologies
• Incredibly shrinking budgets
• Competition

34
THE NEW ACADEMY VIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

• Goals
• Promote development of new leadership
• Publish a prominent editorial
• Stimulate discussion and surface issues for
  Educause meetings
• Generate new partnerships

35

• Student Learning Objectives
• NLII Framework for Action
• Channeling Forces

36
Why Transform Really?

• According to a study just released by scientists
  at Duke University, (2002, in Frazier, I. New
  Yorker, December 9).
• Life is too hard.

37
Years of studies suggest that life is

• a vale of sorrows
• a woeful trial
• a kick in the teeth
• not worth living
• Before the study was undertaken, researchers had
  assumed, by positive logic, that
• Life could not be that bad.

38

• From the St. Johnsbury (Vt) Caledonian Record
• EDUCATION TESTS WHO MORE EFFORT NEEDED IN
  READING COMPREHENSION

39
Educating our Constituencies
40
Improving Learning Outcomes
41
Responding to Consumer Forces
Responsibly!
42
Sustaining Innovation, Sustaining Ourselves!
The Okavango Phenomenon