Online Learning Communities:

1
Online Learning Communities

• What goes on inside?
• Sofia Pardo PhD
• Lead Researcher
• ideasLAB

2
Teachers Online Learning Community

• Why and when was the community formed?
• Four month professional development program in
  2009
• Who was part of the community?
• 100 teachers from Victorian government schools
• Team leaders
• Community leaders
• Fellows
• Experienced voices
• Where was the community and how did it work?
• Ning (Discussion forum, wall and team blogs)
• Face2Face Webinars

3
Research Questions

• Flow What is the flow (i.e., direction) and
  frequency of the posts among differing roles
  within the learning community?
• Function What is the function (i.e., purpose)
  and frequency of the posts amongst differing
  roles within the learning community?
• Content What is the content (i.e., topics) and
  frequency of the posts amongst different roles
  within the learning community?

4
Diagnostic Tools
5
Methodology

• Sample size ? 76 of comments (1225)
• Analysis Categories
• Flow (e.g. Fellow, community leader, member,
  broadcast)
• Content (e.g. Resources, ICT ethic, teaching and
  learning, classroom management, leadership,
  assessment)
• Function (e.g. Seeking info, sharing info,
  contrasting, guided advice, negotiating meaning)

6
Pulse Tool
7
Pulse Tool
8
Pulse Tool
9
Flow who is talking to who?

• Majority of comments were broadcasted with
  slightly higher numbers in public (384) than
  group spaces (358).
• Members posted mostly in group spaces yet they
  were addressed more often in public spaces.
• Fellows addressed team leaders three times more
  than team leaders did to fellows.
• Out of 130 community members, 20 chose not to
  post and just observe (lurk).

10
Content what are the conversations about?

• While it was expected to have a high
  concentration of comments in Teaching Learning
  and Professional Development areas, the number of
  comments around resources was not anticipated.
• The topic of Learning Teaching was discussed
  more in public areas of the community, while
  Professional Learning was talked about more often
  in the smaller, intimate setting of the groups.
• Members talked about resources everywhere (both
  public and private) however, Fellows discussed
  resources more in groups.

11
Function what was the purpose of the
conversations?

• The three most utilized functions were sharing
  info, sharing/contrasting exp, and sharing point
  of view.
• The content they were sharing, contrasting, or
  giving a point of view on aligned nicely with the
  top content areas as well.
• Least used functions were the highest order
  skills of negotiation of meaning and professional
  growth.
• Most mentoring took place in the Community Leader
  role.

12
Lessons Learned

• Experienced voices (international visitors) were
  a underutilized resource, hence further study
  needs to occur as to make the most of the
  opportunity for diverse conversations at the
  community level.
• More focus to the development of a shared vision
  for community outcomes needs to happen at the
  start of the professional learning program.
• Capturing evidence around the quality of the
  conversations is key for the management,
  promotion and sustainability of online learning
  communities.