Online Communities Of Practice

ONLINE COMMUNITIES FOR ELT AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT “Learning of the people, by the people and for the people!” Gladys Baya ([email protected]; http://www.pageflakes.com/gladysbaya)

“A community of practice is not just a Web site, a database, or a collection of best practices. It is a group of people who interact, learn together, build relationships, and in the process develop a sense of belonging and mutual commitment. Having others who share an overall view of the domain and yet bring their individual perspectives on any given problem creates a social learning system that goes beyond the sum of its parts.” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002:34)

Is a community the right learning environment for you? Tick the right column I AGREE

I QUITE AGREE

I DISAGREE

People learn better when carefully led by “experts”. Interaction is an essential element of the learning process. People actually learn by doing, not but “being told about” something. Diversity and heterogeneity make learning more difficult.

What is a “community of practice” (CoP)? Look at the message on the following page, posted by a teacher to a CoP he belongs to. Which of the elements of a CoP can you identify? Match the underlined phrases in the message with the labels in the boxes (adapted from Dudeney and Hockly; 2007:173)

Are online CoPs the same as co-located CoPs? Co-located CoPs

Online CoPs

Usually emerge from existing groups Membership is usually restricted Leaders may emerge from the community Communication is mainly f2f

Usually designed t _ _ - d _ _ _. Membership is usually o _ _ _. Leaders are frequently r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Communication is primarily c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ m _ _ _ _ _ _ _. They take l _ _ _ _ _ to develop. Technological support is e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

They can develop in a short time. Technological support is an option.

VOLUNTARY MEMBERSHIP

Hi Everyone! My name’s Sebastian. I’m from Catamarca, and joined this group about 6 months ago, encouraged by Ana Maria ###.. We work at the same school, and she told me about the great work you’ve been doing on ICT for English teaching. This is my first message, but I’ve been lurking since then! I wanted to tell you I’ve found the collection of links for teaching listening you created during last September at the group wiki most useful (my students have already tried several of the activities you recommended!). Perhaps we can try something similar for teaching other skills in the coming months? I think that’d help many of us keep enhancing our lessons! Cheers Sebastian

NEGOTIATED GOALS A CORE MEMBER

A CoPGENERATED RESOURCE

A BOUNDARY MEMBER

REFLECTION ON PRACTICE

Elements of a CoP adapted from Dudeney and Hockly (2007:173)

In pairs, think of a pro and con for three of the characteristics of online CoPs just discussed: ……………………………….: PRO: __________________________________________________________ CON: _________________________________________________________ ……………………………….: PRO: __________________________________________________________ CON: _________________________________________________________ ……………………………….: PRO: __________________________________________________________ CON: _________________________________________________________

What CoPs can I join in for professional development? •

Learning with Computershttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningwithcomputers/ About 400 teachers (many of which are Latin American) share their first steps in technology integration into their EFL-ESL lessons. Volunteers take turns to lead monthly sessions devoted to the exploration of new tools and reflection upon their potential for teaching and learning. • Webheads in Action (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evonline2002_webheads/) Over 700 teachers from all over the world share their experiments in technology integration into their EFL-ESL lessons, communicating synchronously and asynchronously. Members regularly post about their classes’ products and invite other members to comment on the students’ work. • Edublogger argento (http://edubloggerargento.ning.com/) Nearly 600 Argentinean educators share their passion for blogging and support one another in the blogosphere. • EFL Classroom 2.0 (http://eflclassroom.ning.com) Over 3,200 EFL teachers and students share resources and discussions to foster everyone’s learning.

What about CoPs for my own students? •

• •

Academic Writing (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/academic_writing/) Materials for academic writing in pre-freshman English EFL/ESL composition courses. The focus is on composing--constructing paragraphs and essays that meet academic expectations in English-medium college and university settings. ESL / EFL Sister Classes (http://esleflsisterclasses.ning.com/) ESL/EFL classes around the world can communicate and collaborate. EFL University (http://efluniversity.ning.com/) Teachers and students have FUN (= Frivolous Unanticipated Nonsense) to learn together in English and Spanish.

You can also, look for messages like the following in the CoPs for professional development suggested before: I´m Ana Maria Menezes, an efl teacher in a language institute in Brazil and I´m looking for a partner to work with me on a Pownce Project. -Are any of you teaching teenagers (14-17 year old) in 2008? - Do you have a computer lab at school or do your students have computers at home? My objective is to get my groups in contact with students (who are also learning English) from another country and have them do some joint tasks using Pownce (a microblogging tool).

If any of you is interested, please send me an e-mail and I´ll send you the draft of the project I ´ve imagined. my e-mail: [email protected] my blog: http://lifefeast.blogspot.com my pownce username: teacherana Message posted to Learning with Computers on Sept 17, 2008

Or …. start your own CoP for learners in your classes / at your school! (check my tutorial in the References if you’d like to use a Yahoo! Group for communication).

References: Baya, G. (2006): “Teaching your classes to learn with computers” – Slideshow available at: http://www.slideshare.net/gladysbaya/teaching-with-discussion-groups/ Dudeney, G. and Hockly, N. (2007); How to… teach english with technology; London, England; Pearson Education Ltd. Lai K. W., Pratt, K., Anderson M. & Stigter, J. (2006); Literature Review and Synthesis: Online Communities of Practice;.Ministry of Education, New Zealand; Research Division – Wahanga Mahi Rangahau; retrievable online from: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/curriculum/5795 Wenger, E., McDermott R. A. & Snyder W. (2002); Cultivating communities of practice; Boston; Harvard Business School Press. All links last retrieved on Sept 10, 2008 You can make comments and watch the slide show for this presentation at: http://www.freewebs.com/gladysbaya

Thanks for having joined me today! Eager to keep in touch? Join us at http://uk.360.yahoo.com/learningwithcomputers