reflective summary

I work in a Technology Center, that is, a school for technical based education that is related, in my case, to ten partner high schools. We provide secondary education and post secondary education in a rural area of south central Oklahoma. I see a lot of professional development, which in the past may have been done by attending seminars, be cut due to statewide budget reductions. In reading our texts I have envisioned a virtual professional development community that serves rural secondary schools, based in our technology center. In joining Tapped In, in response to the first assignment in this class, I enthusiastically envisioned how a community similar to this would benefit the schools my technology center serves. At first I thought it was possible to all join Tapped In and use rooms for the service I imagined. But I think the constraints of utilizing a structured existing community would hinder the outcome as opposed to using a tailor made community that would benefit the schools in rural Oklahoma. Hence I began dreaming of an ideal virtual learning community.
The virtual community would address issues that are important to rural Oklahoma schools. These topics might include:
Community sharing on how to improve instruction in the three main areas of English, Math, Science. The move to require Oklahoma high school students to pass End of Instruction (EOI) tests in these areas to graduate is ongoing. This initiative is also going to include mandatory remediation for students who do not meet the expected level of achievement. From this you might develop remediation programs that students could access.
Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) initiatives for the High Schools That Work (HSTW) ten key practices.
North Central Association, (NCA) school improvement processes.
Required in service activities such as safety, blood borne pathogens, multi-cultural sensitivity, bullying and material safety data sheets (MSDS). These requirements are annual or semi-annual for any school employee. To provide this information in a shared environment would be a service that schools could employ.
The target audience would be secondary instructors from our ten partner schools, although many topics could relate to middle or elementary instructors. In addition, specific in service topics may be of interest to health care facilities or other industry that is required to provide annual training on specific topics. Providing information that matters and utilizing collaborative learning are two indices that makes virtual learning communities effective (Renninger and Shumar, 2002).
To build a virtual learning community you must take into consideration four design details: support the actual practices and daily tasks of the participants; collect experiences and represent them in an accessible and equitable manner; provide a framework to guide the learning process; represent the identities of the community members (Renninger and Shumar, 2002). This relates to the questions in section (b) of this reflective summary. The virtual community I have proposed must meet the needs of the community participants. To do this a needs assessment should be performed. From this needs assessment goals can be developed which would define the purpose of the learning community. Although a needs assessment could prove to change the original goal, I see the purpose would be to improve professional development, assist our partner schools in meeting state mandated requirements and provide a collaborative environment to improve instruction overall. Leadership would be provided through the technology center with structure provided from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and partnering institutions such as SREB and NCA. Throughout our discussions, this class has cemented the idea that a virtual community must provide interesting, timely, accurate information actively led by someone with sound technological ability and the freedom to commit time to the community.
The readings and discussions this class has offered has helped me conceptualize this idea. Entering this class I could visualize classes, such as the ones I have taking with my masters program, existing on-line, but that was the extent of the concept of on line learning. Beginning with MediaMOO, moving through the study of social and professional development communities, use of virtual space opened up new possibilities. The contrast to the physical world, the lack of context in the virtual world enables imagination, identity and the kind of valuing that deepens interest and enables knowledge building (Renninger and Shumar, 2002). The readings defined success as in the discussion of communities of practice like Tapped In and discussed failures. Success and failure was very succinctly compared by discussion of the Huron Public School system in CSCL 2 by Koschmann, Hall and Miyake. In addition the classes’ summarization solidified the ideas that success is build upon interest, knowledge and time. I look forward to continuing this conversation and my efforts expanding the idea of virtual community for rural Oklahoma schools.

case study #1

Part A

This case study represents a compare and contrast view of two virtual communities, one with predominately social aspects and one with educational intent. I choose to research the virtual community known as “Second Life”. I wanted to look at a social network that was completely new to me and in reviewing the home page of the suggested sites I found Second Life intriguing. I did recreate myself as an avatar and join the community. I found maneuvering in the virtual world difficult, it would be a very timely endeavor to understand the entire process as in Second Life you can own property, build houses or businesses and make real and virtual money. While most of the time I did observe, I did chat with several of the other avatars in the couldn’t visualize and have a perception of their true self.
Second Life is a virtual world where people can interact. This interaction can be in the form of entertainment, exploration, and education. Although Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life recently hosted an Educational Support Faire, education didn’t seem to be a primary focus. My avatar was placed in a bar after completing her origination. The opening page states “(Second Life) is a global community where creativity, collaboration, commerce, and entertainment exist”. It appears that entertainment is the main purpose of the site. The goals of the participants were not easily identified but the stated goals of the creators are to bridge cultures, welcome diversity through free expression, compassion and tolerance. Imagination, opportunities and possibilities are innumerous. The characteristics I observed were dominated by the avatar’s actions acting outside of real world land boundaries and social boundaries.
The virtual community of Second Life appears to have no formal structure although in the marketplace you can sell and buy merchandise. This would lead you to believe there is some hierarchical structure similar to the real world, perhaps based upon the amount of land or businesses you own. Second Life operates on virtual dollars, the Linden dollar, and United States dollars (in the form of a credit card). USD is necessary for real estate purchase as well as purchases from people who have written technology programs to enhance your avatar. Communication within the Second Life community is accomplished through chatting, i.e. dialog boxes, as well as audio dialog. Interaction is possible through an amazing number of events and sites. I observed chatting occurring in different languages which surprised me. In checking the details I noted that 74,935 people were logged on at that time.
In reading the blogs regarding the community, it is supported and organized by a technologically capable staff. There was discussion regarding “grid stability”, particularly during high usage periods. It appeared that continual attempts at developing a large variety of interactions including educational activities.
Overall the experience I had entering the world of Second Life was unusual. I can see where it could become time consuming and possibly addicting to reside in a place where real world boundaries did not exist. The implications of this type of community are complicated. I can see where it would have an isolation factor in that you are not actually with other people, but also it could expand knowledge and experiences you are able to experience. The effect this type of game playing has on society will be interesting.
Part B
The second type of virtual community I chose to review was Tapped In. In reading the text Building Virtual Communities by Renninger and Shumar, I had an immediate interest in a community of educators whose mission was professional development. I did register and attempted to sit in on several meetings. The attendance was low and I did not find any conversations or interactions in these “classes”. I was immediately greeted in the reception room and found maneuvering within the site easy. This first impression of this community was that it was professional and goal oriented. Tapped In is defined as a Community of Practice as it is composed of people who are engaged in education and have a desire for professional development above what is required by their institution.
Tapped In is a practice based community that has been in existence for over a decade. Its purpose or goal is to “engage in professional development programs and informal collaborative activities with colleagues.” Tapped In accomplishes these tasks by employing the assistance of professional organizations such as Pepperdine and by organizing educators within the organization to build programs and presentations that have value and meaning to other educators. Any member of Tapped In can form a group which can perform tasks, communicate ideas or have dialog for the purpose of sharing information. This makes the opportunities and possibilities endless within the realm of the mission of Tapped In.
The structure of Tapped In includes a hierarchy of administrator and staff members that can alter the platform. The members can form groups that meet their particular needs which provides for growth and reinvention of the community. The activities of the site define what the community looks like and is constantly changing. I viewed the calendar one week and it predominantly had topics related to K-12, while the next time I viewed it had administrative topics such as “teach the teacher” and technology center topics as well.
A technological feature of the site from the user standpoint was that it was an easy platform to move about in. I did not try to create a group, but was impressed with the help feature which assisted me greatly in determining how to utilize the site. Farooq et. al state that the four main features that help sustain Tapped In are:. Build flexible, extensible gathering places, create and maintain feedback loops, facilitate member-run subgroups, develop a strong leadership program and design for a range of roles within the community.
Community developers work with on line leaders to support and improve their interactions and collaborative learning efforts. Tapped In has a wide range of services to both the group leaders and members all which help support the community and fulfill its mission.
Tapped In is a community of practice with researched, proven tactics. Its usability and flexibility are features that should ensure the life of the virtual community. The only suggestion I can provide is that the group leaders could be identified by either institution or area of expertise. This would better enable users to choose activities that best suit their needs. Overall Tapped In is a wealth of information and collaborative sites for educators.




Farooq, U., Schank, P., Harris, A., Fusco, J. & Schlager, M. (2007). Sustaining a community computing infrastructure for online teacher professional development: A case study of designing Tapped In. Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 16(4-5), 397-429. Norwell, MA: Klewer Academic Publishers. Retrieved February 5, 2009

Discussion questions week 3

I have found the chapters and research done for module three very interesting. After wandering around in the social sites, such as Second Life, I think the statement from the text that virtual interactions can be interpreted as social transformations is true. The rapid transformation in economic, family, technology and culture have evidently has been a field day for social and political theorists. How do virtual communities impact individuals in information seeking and knowledge construction? I think both positively and negatively. Depending on what techniques or avenues the individual uses to gather knowledge, the result can be the difference of sound knowledge or junk. I feel that virtual communities can lead to social isolation due to the stimulation the community provides replaces interaction with actual people.
In looking at building a virtual learning community I have considered a professional development community between my technology center and the 9 partner high school. What are the specific implications that you have drawn that can be applied to your project of building a virtual learning community? Chapter 10 offered a framework to work with, which started with assessment, which could be the beginning or the end. I have also considered whether a virtual community would be a better communication process for a group of like instructors ( PN Directors?), would this be better than face to face meetings or even distance supported meetings? Just some thoughts......

Cognitive Apprenticeship OMG!!!

The article Cognitive Apprenticeship Making Thinking Visable caught my eye because in scanning it seemed to address how to better instruct reading, writing and math. My technology center participates in Technology Centers That Work a initiative that supports high schools in instructing these three key elements. But this article offered so much more. A must read for all of the nursing education majors in this class, this article detailed how to help students critically think, an issue all nursing programs struggle with. Using the framework of apprenticeship i.e. modeling, scaffolding, fading and coaching, the authors translate this model to cognitive applications. The suggestions for teaching reading were especially important to me as many of our students come in reading at less than the 12 grade level. Although this article stimulated alot of ideas that I will use in my current position, I wondered throughout the reading, how it fit in the course we are taking. The conclusion cleared up any doubt of that association by reviewing the four dimensions that constitute any learning environment, listing the set of characteristics that should be considered in constructing or evaluating learning environments. It answered several of the questions my group had posed in determining characteristics of virtual communities. A good read, definitely recommended by me!!