EdTech 521: Online Community Experience

Retrieving information, tips, and resources from online communities has been a valuable practice for me throughout my entire career.  Having working overseas with few professional development opportunities and even fewer colleagues with whom to collaborate, I have often turned to the Internet for help.  Most often I have found ideas from teaching community websites who aim to bounce ideas around, swap anecdotes, and exchange resources with one another. I guess you could say I was typically a passive participant in these forums.  More often than not, I would just dip and dive in as a Google search retrieved something of value from one of their blog posts or website sections.

I have been a member of personal online communities since we first got the Internet at age 11.  I loved taking part in chat groups, and eagerly embraced social media options when they came to light.  It was natural to exchange funny stories, recipes, book suggestions, favorite songs, memorable photos, etc. through these kinds of informal communities.

It wasn't until recently that I decided to be more active in my participation in online communities from an academic and professional perspective.  Instead of just relying on Google searches to thrown me into the midst of educator group discussion boards, I would be more selective (and regularly involved) in the communities I was a part of.  My entrance into the MET program was a great place to get started, as I sought involvement in my course's Google+ group.  I was active in my comments and tried to post relevant articles or videos as a stumbled upon them.  The group died down, however, after the course wrapped up.  I then became a regular follower of the blogs and websites I'd been sharing and viewing most regularly through their RSS feeds.  I would digest the new information as often as I could remember to log in.  It was productive and extremely beneficial to my professional development to consume and apply all these new tips and techniques, but I was losing sight of the "active" role I desired.  Adding to a community is equally as important as taking from it.

For this week's assignment I joined Classroom 2.0 and Curricki.com -- two global learning communities for professional educators.  I took the time to look around and get a feel for their mission and value.  Unfortunately, I did not see a lot of value and relevance to my new professional role (Technology Integration Coordinator) in these communities. I also did not instantly get a sense of "welcome" into these vast, faceless groups.  As Dr. Kerry Rice mentions in her book Making the Move to K-12 Online Teaching, "community does not happen on its own" (p. 103).  It's hard to just "enter" a group out of the blue. To feel motivated to wade through discussion chains, research posted resources, and tap into suggested websites I needed some validation that this was going to be worth my while.  I guess you could say I did not invest enough time into their surroundings to feel comfortable diving right in.  Either that, or I felt that searching for topics as they came to mind (e.g. passively consuming Google search results) would be more efficient and effective. There was no emotional connection to these groups, so I decided to put them on the back burner for now.

I then reflected on my involvement on a very LARGE online community that I have begun to value most recently, Twitter.  I was motivated by my new school's administration to get more involved in Twitter through our school's social media platform.  It is a district goal that all teachers have an account and aim to be active as contributors and collaborators through that platform.  I began to take my participation in Twitter more seriously.  I realize it's not a "cozy" and audience-specific community, but I still find it worthwhile -- perhaps because of that.

For example, I went to a very large university for my undergraduate degree (UW-Madison).  With 40,000 students roaming around campus, I thrived in the variety of purposes and motivations that kept everyone going.  Many of my most important connections were outside the School of Education, for instance.  Having diverse viewpoints and talents all around me kept me open-minded and resourceful, I believe.  This is similar to my feelings about Twitter.  Yes, I know it's not quite the ideal online community for educators, but its tremendous variety of information makes it a community I feel natural being a part of.  It's not intimidating, cliquey, or close-minded.  It can be designed to be as big or small as I'd like it to be too.  Colleagues and other followers are quick to "favorite" or share my suggested links and posts.  There is that instant gratification and ease of participation that not all "supplemental" professional online communities feature.  (I say "supplemental" for now because I believe my primary professional groups (my school/place of employment and my online Moodle groups through the MET program) are vibrant and ample enough to keep me busy!) At any rate, please click here to find me, @EdTechErica, on Twitter.

At the beginning of the school year I led an introductory session for the staff of my new school district on the basics of Twitter.  (Please see my Prezi below):

It is rewarding to see many colleagues join me in this learning community.  We know how to find each other and regularly value each others' contributions.  It's easy to "touch base" and share ideas without feeling like we are imposing on or overwhelming one other.  I believe that Twitter will be an increasingly helpful tool for me going forward.  I will aim to tweet more original posts and artifacts as I get more accustomed to this tool.  For now, my exchanges are appropriate for my desired time investment, complexity, and professional needs.

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This week we also were asked to generate a list of community-building strategies that could be utilized in the classes we teach.  Creating connections to other participants is an important part of an Internet-based learning experience if collaboration and shared understanding is the goal.  Please consider the following suggestions for improving social interaction and community-mindedness in an online or blended learning environment:

The below embedded document can also be found by clicking here.