Learning Communities

1
Learning Communities
2
Definition

• A community is a dynamic whole that emerges when
  a group of people share common practices, are
  interdependent, make decisions jointly, identify
  themselves with something larger than the sum of
  their individual relationships, and make a
  long-term commitment to well-being (their own,
  one another's, and the group's).

3
Learning Communities

• Conscious communities
• Group interaction
• Teacher needs to direct discussions
• Open forum

4
Process

• Specific task
• Clearly defined meeting place
• Leadership is promoted from within
• Allowance for a range of roles
• Disputes need to be settled from within

5
Skills

• Interpersonal skills (extrovert vs. introvert)
• Web skills
• Language skills

6
Tasks

• Any group activities
• Good for long-range projects
• Teacher needs to be an active but not dominant
  role

7
Assessment

• Participation on the part of the individual
• Project as a whole
• Community is a learning atmosphere, not just
  social

8
Cooperative Learning
9
Cooperative Learning

• Uses heterogeneous groups to create or satisfy
  the requirements of a teacher assigned task
• Evaluates group rather than individual
  performance
• Encourages positive social and academic
  contributions
• Is reviewed and reflected on post-activity as one
  of the learning goals

10
Keys to Successful Cooperative Learning Using
the Web

• Students need to have positive social and
  emotional skills to navigate a cooperative
  learning environment.
• Students need to be able to ask questions of
  themselves and their peers.
• Students must know how to share information using
  Web-based tools such as email
• Students must be able to assess validity of
  information gained and shared via the Web

11
Example of Web-Based Cooperative Lesson

• http//www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet20/neo.html
• In this example, students were allowed to pursue
  their own interest first and then grouped with
  others who shared their interest

Cooperative learning helps build
a more democratic society!
and maintain
12
Assessment in Cooperative Learning

• Group reflection/assessment
• Students themselves reflect on successfulness of
  group dynamic
• Students comment on disagreements that may have
  occurred and how conflicts were resolved
• Students rate each others contributions to final
  product

• Product is assessed by teacher as a whole, not
  individual contributions