Building Professional Learning Communities

Personalized Learning Consortium

Laura Pasquini

University of Louisville

July 18, 2017

Agendahttp://bit.ly/aplucommunity

•Defining Community

•Identifying a Community of Practice

•Examining What Works in Communities

•Building Your Learning Community

•Next Steps

1-Minute Bio

• Detail who you are in brief!• Include 2 professional skills• Include 2 personal talents• Share your: tag line, motto,

quote, expression, or theme song.

3

about.me/laurapasquini @LauraPasquini

Defining Community

What Does

COMMUNITY Mean To You?

What COMMUNITIES or GROUPS do you currently

connect to?

Identifying a Community of Practice

Com

mun

ities

of I

nter

est

Net

wo

rked

Par

tici

pat

ory

S

cho

lars

hip

(Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2012)

https://www.youtube.com/c/ResearchShorts http://thedlrgroup.com

Com

mun

ities

of P

lace

#SaveThePond

Com

mun

ities

of A

ctio

n

St. Bernard Project in NOLA

Image c/o @nancywhite(Wenger & Wenger-Traynor, 2015)

Com

mun

ities

of P

ract

ice

Principles of Connectivism

•Being connected•Learning from others •Connecting information•Various online interaction•Diverse opinions and ideas•Capacity to know more•Nurturing connections•On-going learning•Making choices and decisions

(Siemens, 2005)

Do you have a

of practice?

Examining What Works in Communities

Jane’s Top 100 Tools

Social Learning

“a shift in organizational culture…that encourages ongoing knowledge transfer and connects people in ways that makes learning enjoyable.”

(Conner & Bingham, 2015)

http://networkedcommunity.wordpress.com

Digital Water Coolers for Community Learning!

Purpose

The State of Higher Ed: Communities

Online and Virtual Self

Background

Theory & Framework: Networked Identity, Digital Identity, and Communities

of Practice

Data

Extant Data• Facebook Groups• Twitter Chats & Hashtags• Podcast Networks• Community Blogs

Research In Progress Next Steps

Working with Professional Learning Organizations

Data Collection:• Survey (n=201)• Interviews (65+)

(Tobin, 1998; Trust et al., 2017)

On-going Training

Learning Reflection

Knowledge

Sharing Spirit

The People

Support/Care

Tools Artifacts

Technology

Research In Progress

Phase 1 Phase 2

Data Collection & Analysis

Extant data is vast and accessible, but this unstructured data set is complex and are rarely examined

• Twitter chats & hashtags

• Blog posts

• Podcasts transcripts

• Facebook group interactions/conversations

Phase 3

Domain

Community

PracticeCommunities of Practice (Wenger, 1999)

Academic Advising Chat@AcAdvChat #AcAdvTuesdays 12-1 pm CST

acadvchat.wordpress.com

Domain

Community

PracticeCommunities of Practice (Wenger, 1999)

What’s happening here?

1. What communities do you participate?

2. Why do you interact and engage with professionals online?

3. How and where do you do you contribute to the community?

4. How does your networked community impact and influence your practice?

5. What benefits and challenges are involved in being part of a distributed community?

Interviews-In-Progress

Domain

Community

PracticeCommunities of Practice (Wenger, 1999)

What’s happening here?

How do CoPs influence

Higher Ed ?

Practitioners, professional staff, and administrators in higher education are connected for:

•Networking and career development

•Affinity groups for discipline/functional working area

•Training and learning opportunities

•Access to resources and ideas for work

•Knowledge sharing and distribution

•Support from peers in the field beyond their institution

Understanding the Networked Self & Digital Community

Building Your Learning Community

Cultivating a Community of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge

http://bit.ly/aplucommunity

(Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002)

STORMING (INQUIRE): Identify the audience, purpose, goals, and

vision for the community.

(See Page 2)

(Cox, 2004)

(Cox, 2004)

GOALS: What does your group want to accomplish?

What are some achievable & measurable

objectives?

(Page 2)

VISION: What qualities or words

fit your community values and purpose?

(Page 2)

INQUIRE*• Audience: who is this community for?

• Domain: what are the key issues and the nature of the learning, knowledge, and tasks that the community will steward?

• Purpose, Goals, and Outcomes: What are the benefits to the stakeholders? What specific needs will the community be organized to meet?

*Potential: Discover and image stage

FORMING (DESIGN):Define the activities, technologies, group processes, and roles that will support the community’s goals

Forming Your Community of Practice

Emphasize the right technical features to support and facilitate your community needs (see page 8).

LEARNING:Presentations & talksExperiential practiceWorkshops/Webinars

Visits &ToursReading & Resources

DESIGN*• Activities based on goals of community

• Communication – synchronous vs. asynchronous

• Interaction F2F and distributed

• Learning – how are learning goals supported?

• Knowledge Sharing – production/products

• Collaboration – what will this look like?

• Roles and Social Structures – leadership

*Forming: Incubate and immediate value

Leadership Models in a Community of PracticeSingle Leader

Shared Leadership

Roles & Social Structure• Knowledge sharing & distribution

• Meeting facilitation

• Relationship guide

• Subject matter expertise

• Technology management

• Communication strategy

(see pages 6-7)

Put Your Community Planning Before the

Ask 5 Critical Questions

1. Who is part of your learning community?

2. What’s the purpose or goal of this learning community?

3. How can APLU support your learning community goals?

4. What characteristics of the technology vs. the community members needs?

5. What resources are available? What do you need? Adopted from Bates, 2015

A Typology of Web 2.0 (Bower, 2015)

Will Your Community Meet Synchronously?

Will Your Community Scribe Notes & Share Projects?

What to Consider for the Technology?

• Individual access at their campus

• Collective work space and repository

• Fluid platform to accept ideas, resources, etc.

• Updates and regular information sharing

• Allows for semi-regular contact & interaction

• Functionality and self-service is smooth

• Communication options: announcements, news, RSS notifications, 1:1 & group chat

• Institutional approved software

• Data, analytics & tracking use

MATURING (PROTOTYPE):

Pilot the community to gain commitment, test

assumptions, refine the strategy, and establish

a success story.

PROTOTYPE*• What are the short-term goals established by the

community?

• What is the tone of interactions and activities that facilitators want to model?

• How will community identity be formed and shared?

• What community-oriented technologies will be used to support community’s social structures and core activities?

*Maturing: Focus and expand the community

MATURING (LAUNCH):Roll out the community

to engage new members and deliver immediate benefits for learning.

Reflecting on the Launch

Brainstorm: Establishing Goals for Assessment•What do you know?•What do you want to know?•Who can help you assess?•How does this connect to your community goals and mission?

LAUNCH*• Why should someone join the community?

• What are the benefits?

• How do new members learn about the community?

• What are the community’s norms for behavior?

• How do new members become oriented to the community environment?

• How will roles and community social structures be defined and supported over time?

• How will success be measured?

*Maturing => Sustaining: Ownership and openness

(Spinal Tap, 1984)

Turn Your Learning Community Up to 11…

NORMING (GROW):Engage members in collaborative learning and knowledge sharing

activities, group projects, and networking events that meet

individual, group, and organizational goals while creating an increasing cycle of participation

and contribution.

Other Considerations for Supporting

your Community of Practice

• Meeting the community where they are

• Access to communication channels

• Serving a need/purpose with the platform

• Make the technology part of the regular workflow in the community

• Compatibility for sharing knowledge

• Training/Learning for community members

• Community Managers to request support from APLU (if needed)

SUSTAIN:Cultivate and assess the learning, knowledge, and products created by the community to inform new

strategies, goals, activities, roles, technologies, and business models

for the future.

Will your community openly share resources for adaptive learning? If so, how?

SHARING BEYOND:Show and TellsPresentations

Training CurriculumMarketing Materials

Crossover with Other CoPs

Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/OER Commons https://www.oercommons.org/

SUSTAIN* the CoP• How can existing members get the story out?

• Are there formal or informal structures you can use to reach and connect others?

• What marketing tools can you use?

• Are there other people you can have join the community?

• Can you clearly share what your CoP is working on?

• How can you grow your community reach/impact?

*Self-Sustaining: ownership and openness

Next Steps

Building Your Learning Community Resource:

http://bit.ly/aplucommunity

Community “To Do” List:

1. Complete Learning Community Chartera. Name of Community

b. Mission, Vision & Goals

c. Participation/Engagement Expectations

d. Meeting Plans

e. Questions or Needs

2. Identify Leadership: Community Manager(s)

Thank you!Laura.Pasquini@unt.edu

http://bit.ly/aplucommunity

Good luck continuing to build your learning

community!