Soren Kaplan, Ph.D. (soren@icohere)

1. June 2004 Learning Communities & Social Computing: Tools & Techniques for Fostering Collaborative Learning NMC Summer Conference, Vancouver Soren Kaplan, Ph.D. (soren@icohere.com)

2. Learning Objectives • Identify and describe different types of collaborative learning groups and communities • Apply the principles of learning communities and collaborative learning to your institution • Obtain practical models, tools and approaches for designing learning communities

3. A Little Survey • How many of you can’t compose documents anymore using long-hand? • How many of you don’t go to meetings any more without your laptop/PDA? • How many of you have turned your “remembering” over to a technology object (phone numbers, meetings, etc.) From Vicki Suter, NLII

4. A Little Survey, cont. • How many of you are “constantly connected” (the Internet is always on, whether you are at home or at work; your cell phone is always with you)? • What are the most IM/chat windows have you had open at any one time? From Vicki Suter, NLII

5. A Little Survey, cont. • How many of you actively participate in an online community? • How many of you are a member of an online community but don’t participate? • How many of you facilitate “online communities” – via instruction or technology support?

6. Learning and Knowledge Tacit Knowledge 30% 70% Explicit Knowledge • How things really get done • Difficult to capture, codify and deliver through discrete learning objects and traditional training • Can be captured and formalized via Learning Communities • Books & tutorials • Facts, procedures, processes, guidelines • Formal instruction and training Source: Peter Henschel, “Understanding and Winning the Never-Ending Search for Talent,” 2001

7. Context Group WBTs CBTs Content LCMS LMS Learning Objects Individual A Skewed Emphasis

8. NLII’s Deeper Learning Principles • Requires ownership • Encourages engagement • Is a social process • Is contextual or situated • Is an active process From Deeper Learning Principles, developed by NLII 2002 Fellows Carmean/Haefner http://www.educause.edu/nlii/keythemes/lcp/learning.asp

9. Learning Communities & Collaborative Learning • Learning communities bridge content and context by encouraging focused social interactions that elicit new knowledge and that connect learning to practical experience and action.

10. Potential Applications??? • Instruction (a course) • Faculty Development (training & support, professional development, etc.) • Centers of Excellence • Organizational change processes • Cross-Institution learning/research

11. Pair Team Exercise • Share a story about a time when you experienced or you saw others experience true “collaborative learning” – an interaction that elevated the learning process to new levels through insightful collaboration and knowledge sharing. • What enabled this to occur? • Each pair team member shares for 3 minutes. Identify enablers across both stories.

12. Rider UniversityScience and Technology Center Science Education & Learning Center

13. Science Education & Literacy Center • The goals of the community are to: • Reduced turnover in the field • Create greater satisfaction with the Center’s programs • Establish stronger and more productive relationships between teachers and across the stakeholder community

14. Continuum of Life-long Teacher Learning Preservice Novice/Induction Experienced Expert

15. Rider’s Community Model • Rider SELECT-VLC’s model for Online Professional Community involves three components: • Shared virtual space • Professional Interactions • Sense of Belonging

16. Community Participants • K-8 teachers • Pre-service teachers • Education Faculty (Rider, Princeton) • Science Faculty • School Administrators • Parents, community members

20. Case Western Reserve University Global Research Project – Business as an Agent of World Benefit

21. BAWB Research Focus • Business has become… the most powerful institution on the planet. The dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole. Every decision that is made, every action taken has to be viewed in the light of, in the context of, that kind of responsibility… Business is the only mechanism on the planet today powerful enough to produce the changes necessary to reverse global environmental and social degradation. Willis Harmon Futurist Former President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences

22. soren ******

31. Collaborative Learning Architecture Technical Architecture “Social Architecture” Group Processes Synchronous & Asynchronous

33. Technical Architecture • NLII and iCohere have developed “functional requirements” for virtual communities that include:

34. Social Architecture • Establish and facilitate collaborative environments that: • Build on formal knowledge • Connect content to “context” • Enable dialogue • Foster mentoring • Surface “best practices” • Move tacit knowledge to formal learning

35. 10 Steps to Community 1. Articulate a cohesive purpose 2. Define compelling benefits at the individual, group, and organizational levels 3. Identify technical constraints and enablers 4. Create a technology roadmap that links short-term objectives to long term goals 5. Define a roll-out strategy that starts with the core and expands outward

36. 10 Steps to Community 6. Establish roles and processes that support both structured and organic collaboration 7. Use events to drive participation 8. Keep content fresh 9. Recognize exemplary members and encourage those who are less active 10. Build feedback loops for continuous learning and adaptation