Social software as a tool to sustain learning comunities

Sometimes we all get stuck in our comfort zones. We feel comfortable with what we know and what fits our socio-cultural interaction and learning styles. Stepping outside these bounds feels overwhelming and challenging.

Online instructors may also get stuck in this rut. Specifically in terms of how they use social software tools as a means to build and sustain their learning communities. This may stem from a generational disconnect. The net generation is here, online, and ready to learn. They have used these tools as part of their daily lives, and will feel comfortable with using them to learn. However, the way they experience and use social software tools can be greatly different from the way an instructor from a different generation conceptualizes how they can be used.

In attempt to catch up, some instructors branch out and use a few new tools. Using Wikis, blogs, and forum discussions in their online courses is usually the first step. Ironically, many of these same instructors do not utilize these tools for their own personal and professional development. I must admit, this has been my first experience actually creating my own blog. Without this experience, I didn’t realize its power to create social capital and form community. Even though I visit and read blogs all the time, I still envisioned a blog just being a personal journal. It just didn’t click.

So it is not surprising that when instructors get comfortable with using these limited set of tools in their online classrooms, they end up getting stuck again. Wikis, blogs, forum discussions, are just the tip of the ice burg of the Web 2.0 tools available, including the vast ways that the net generation are already use these tools as part of their own personal networking and learning spaces. Instead of being separated by the walls of a physical or online classrooms, the net generation are developing social capital, as well as creating and sharing their own learning objects as part of their daily lives.

It can also be overwhelming due to the speed at which Web 2.0 tools change. Brighter, shinier, and more powerful tools arrive everyday. Keeping ups is a struggle. As they newer ones emerge the resistance for their reappears. It doesn’t click in terms of how they can be used in an online classroom.

A few of the newer Web 2.0 tools that get some resistance or looks include Twitter, Virtual Life, and Mind Maps. Isn’t Twitter just a thing that teens use to have banal conversation or uninteresting aspects of their daily lives with their friends? Isn’t Virtual Life just for unsocial gamers? Aren’t Mind Maps used by yourself to get organized on your own personal computer? How in the world can they be used in an online classroom? Can they really be used to create and sustain an online learning community?

The goal of my team's final paper is to leaving readers with an general understanding of how to use these new tools, get themselves unstuck, and help students to leverage these tools to form learning communities.

Strengthening the bonds

This week, our team worked to put together our Group Contract. In doing so, I got to learn more about each person's style of working, and how we are going to work together. Some strengths and roles are starting to emerge. Each of us put up a few ideas about what we would include. My other team mates had specific ideas that they wanted to include. My contribution was a lot more theoretical at the beginning, wanting to make a structure of everything that we should address in the contract. Then, to move forward with getting the details together for each idea. After the first draft was put up, we then had a web conference that included a white space area that also allowed the group to view web pages, for which we could all manipulate. It was my first experience with this technology. While we came up with some great ideas towards moving forward with the contract and the project, the real benefit was getting to learn more about each other. Even though much of the conversation was regarding the tool and the work, I learned so much about them that I wouldn't be able to get from a message board or picture. Just putting a "voice" to a name was helpful in learning more about their personality, learning style, and collaboration style. There was a small technical difficulty, that we quickly resolved. However, I could see that this may be one thing that could interfere with the learning process for our students. Someone on either end could get frustrated and decided not to participate. Also, being exposed to this tool was an eye-opening experience. Just like doing this blog for the first time, the way that you think of a social software tool pre-and post- using is so different. Even if it is an exact match with your understanding of the concept, the tool involved. Using it, and especially in a collaborative context, makes all the difference. Every time I mention any of the tools I will use in my course, not having used it myself seems so disingenuous. I really don't have an understanding of the power that it has, and how to ultilize it appropriately. I am going to have to dig in more and more and take every opportunity that I can get inside and outside this course to use them. At the end of this week, I feel like it has been productive and feel much more of a bond with my teammates.

Progression of the group process

Our group is still in the early stages of the planning. We are beginning to learn each other's negotiating and participation styles. So far, we have been very effective about communicating expectations, each taking different roles at different times. We all have shown active contribution, notified one another of our schedules, and negotiation of topics and writing tool. We have also shown great trust in each other to edit and work with the ideas. It has went pretty smooth so far.

We are also just beginning to learn about our socio-cultural constructs that we bring when forming a community. I think that it will come out more and more as time goes on. Right now, I think that we have very similar socio-cultural constructs in terms of gender, leadership, time, assertiveness, and recognition (Khalasa 2007). This may be why it has been going well. I think that this will be enhanced with the next steps of our group work.

Once we set up guidelines, this will be come more appearant as we see what one another thinks are important. We were also bouncing around the idea of using other tech tools to experience them ourselves, as this is part of our research topic. It will be interesting to see how we negotiate which tools and time to work together, especially since sychronous conversation can be the most difficult part. As we continue to work together the formation of social capital will gain its momentum, as these venues will help us to "develop the capacity to work together to better understand and to take action on issues that are important" to us (Imel & Stein 2003).


Imel, S. and Stein, D. (2003). Creating Self-Awareness of Learning that Occurs in Community. Retrieved on 1/12/2009 from http://www.alumni-osu.org/midwest/midwest%20papers/Imel%20&%20Stein--Done.pdf


Khalasa, D. (2007). Multicultural E-learning teamwork: Social and cultural characteristics and influence. As found in A. Edmundson (editor), Globalized e-learning cultural challenges. (p 307 - 325).

Best Practices for Increasing and Maintaining Group Particiation

For our group project, I am interested in exploring the best curriculum and design strategies that increase student motivation and participate in social networking with E-learning 2.0 tools. Also, how to create group participation that is stemming from the students desire to participate, not because they are being graded, but because they want to and find it a valuable experience. One is example is providing tools and activities that correlate with various social Web 2.0 learning styles. Another could be Web 2.0 notification tools that help with creating and maintaining group cohesion, such as Twitter, etc. Of course that there are so many other more aspects that we could explore. The focus could be very specific to very general. I am open.

Since I am creating a self-paced course, students may be a different places in curriculum. Thus participating and sustaining collaborative learning can be a challenge. Finding a way to leveraging every opportunity to increase motivation and participation is imperative. I think that this challenge would be a subject that would also be pertinent to all types of courses, whether cohort or self-paced.

Sustaining a Vibrant and Innovative Online Community of Learning

I feel that the ways that you keep a community vibrant an innovative is to continue to network and not only share ideas, but continue to build relationships and trust. Additionally, creating a group identity. Part of this is to find commonalities, defining joint projects, continuing to stay connected, doing more activities, asking for advice, and collecting artifacts. These are just a few ideas that I came across Wenger (1998).

Wegner, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System. Systems Thinker. June. Access on 1/18/2009 from http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml.

Excitement and Concerns in Initial Group Formation

So far, the team involvement is just in its initial stages. Everyone seems motivated and exciting. Once again, I feel like I am the slacker, since I am the last one to get my posting up. However, I at least told everyone upfront. This is not usually how I operate in the course. I am usually a little bossy and wanting to be the first one to post, trying to put my ideas out first. My other commitments are preventing the initiation stages. Also, I am practicing trying to be a better community member by just relaxing and not worrying so much about if it will get done. If it will all come together and meet my expectations on how the final product to look.

In prior group experiences, when I saw the final product I was seriously concerned about how it turned out and what was going to be turned in. I stepped on some toes by making changes that were not really "bought into" by the other group members. I didn't hear any negative responses and they all agreed that the changes improved the paper. However, I felt like they maybe were put off. So, by taking a back seat I am hoping to make more friends. It also feels so much better not being a control freak.

So this time, I am really pretty relaxed, impressed with my team. I would like to know my other team members a little better. The blogs are helping. So, I'm just along for the ride trying to learn as much as I can, wanting to make more relationships, and wanting to learn how to best form the relationships and put together a successful project.

I can't wait to learn more about my team members and watching our team grow. I know that this will be a great experience.

Creating Partnerships and Trust

When forming a partnership for the interview I felt apprehensive about even asking for a partner. I was afraid that I would be the one at the end waiting for someone to join, or get rejected. It is funny because this was part of the assignment, so someone was going to have to accept. However, I think that in real online experience, it may be more likely to happen. I think that initiating it in the "real" online world may be a bit more difficult because others may be more picky with who they invest their "social capital".

Once Nancy and I had formally made our choice, picking and utilizing one way of communicating was difficult. I already had my own forum, so I tried using that. It was helpful in some ways, but a lot of the central communication was through email. Also, coordinating our schedules and pace of participation was a challenge. I felt like I was slowing down the process because of my other commitments. I hoped that Nancy didn't get frustrated in case she was more of a type A personality.

Once we got going, and Nancy provided as a good model of how to do the questions and answer. I felt like she shared a lot of herself, this allowed me to open up also. I think that there was an equal balance of bonding and openness, while at the same time some closed distance. I felt at times there were some personal boundaries that we didn't cross, details we didn't go into. Like we weren't trying to really put everything all out there like a BFF. However, I wished we had shared pictures, or webcast, or even voice. We can always do that as we work together.

Despite this, I feel like we started the process of bonding and getting to know one another that may be able to extend and grow in the future. A first step. I also appreciated Nancy opening up about her some difficult life challenges, as well as the role religion plays in her life. She took a big risk since you never know how the other person will react. I too took a risk in letting her know that I didn't really have the same beliefs, but wanted to know that I can see the beauty in her relationship with God and that it wasn't going to be a problem for me. I was still afraid that she would feel like she couldn't fully be herself. However, I still know that if we did have the same beliefs our bond may actually be a bit stronger, since there is such a strong bond within a religious community by its very nature.

I felt like after getting to know her more, writing the piece to share was easier than I thought. It was interesting how when I created a narrative through writing, it all came together and I was weirdly able to connect more. I think that it is interesting how there is a disconnect between what I would have written about myself, and what she wrote about me. I realized that the information that I provided to her was just a small tid-bit and maybe I wasn't effective in sharing who I am. But it was also interesting to see how she viewed me. I then understood what she saw, heard, and understood.