eTwinning PDWeTwinning Groups

From pilots to a big scale!

Riina VuorikariOctober 1 2009

Riina, who?

Riina Vuorikarifrom Finland, lives in Brussels since 1999

• Slides available:http://www.slideshare.net/vuorikari

• Since 2000 worked in European Schoolnet• MEd in Finland, DEA in Hypermedia, PhD

in November!!

What’s on your plate?

• Goal: What can Ambassadors do forGroups?

• Groups’ pilot:– examples of what Groups do– what have we learned

• Roll out the eTwinning Groups:– Ambassadors’ key role in Groups– Next steps - describing Groups

A buffet of Groups?

On Sunday, for each Groups, I would liketo see:

• A vision (what will this Group be about?)• A tagline (e.g “eTwinning, the community

for schools in Europe”)• Some engagement and leadership

taken (e.g. I will run this activity once amonth in Spanish)

Groups = Thematic onlinecommunities

Pilot Oct-Jan 09

Creativity

MST

School leaders

What are Groups about?

• “ a community of practice is not really a thing,but rather a process in which social learningoccurs because the people who participate inthis process have a common interest in ..”

• “The product of this process is the sharing ofideas, the finding of solutions to commonproblems and the building of a repository ofavailable and new knowledge and expertise.”

Kirschner & Lai (2007) Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 16, 2, pp.127-131

Differences

Learning Labs• Structured activities• Scheduled• Lead by a

“professional”moderator

• Determined time

Groups• Less structured

activities, up toparticipants

• Less schedule• Moderator on the

background• No clear end

Creative Classroom (1)

• Members were invited to join the Group to“foster creativity at schools and in eTwinningprojects”

• About 40 teachers + one moderator

• First: create your profile andintroduce your self

• Discussion activity:Does school kill creativity?

Creative Classroom (2)

the Groups was to define• Their way to describe “creativity in learning”• Define their goals• Discussion lead to links in “creative” mini-

projects using variety of tools• 35 bookmarks at:

http://delicious.com/tag/etwinningcreativity

Creative classroom (3)

• Scheduled events using Flashmeeting to “talkabout Your project and creativity”

• Schedulingevents isimportantas teachersare busy.

• This allowsbetter planningof their time!

Like usual... no time!

Creative classroom (4)

Different tools used:• Online community (Ning), e.g. creation of

sub-groups based on interest, profiles andwriting on walls, polls, forum, upload images

• External tools, e.g. creating bookmark lists(delicious), integrate videos from YouTube,FlashMeeting

Activities in the Groups (5)

What have we learned? (1)

• Leadership and teamwork skills areneeded

• There should be more than one “leader”in a group => Leadership team

What have we learned? (2)

• Online leadership and teamwork skills– “good leaders need good followers”

• Technical skills– use of ICTs in general and the platform in

particular• Skills in content and substance

– the stuff teachers know the best!• Different skills also needed for Ambassadors

Different roles (3)

• Leaders: can be one or distributed– take responsibility and set the goals– determine how the group will achieve these goals

• Core members:– e.g. subject matter experts, knowledge manager,

content coordinator• Support persons:

– e.g. mentors, tutors, event coordinators,technologist

• Community members

Motivation does not alwaysmean participation! (4)

Task orientation vs. process(5)

Ambassadors’ role?

Plan, build, support andmoderate Groups with other

eTwinners!

“Show leadership in buildingeTwinning Community”

Online leadership andteamwork skills

• Vision and action– Set and attain goals, take initiative, add

your energy to the group• Competences

– Assign roles and be clear when delegating• “Expedition behaviour”

– pitch in, be positive, serve group goals,respect others, work as a team

Ambassador’s roles in Groups

• Leaders: can be one or distributed– take responsibility and set the goals– determine how the group will achieve these

goals• Core members:

– e.g. subject matter experts, knowledgemanager, content coordinator

• Support persons:– e.g. mentors, tutors, event coordinators,

technologist• Community members:

– “expedition behaviour”

Timeline

1. 2. 3...

1. Pilot2. Ambassadors: Ideas and commitments for

Groups - work in Chania.3. Rolling out..

• Unified look and feel (“branding”)• More tools, e.g. wiki• No advertisements• No problems with school firewall• Log-in with the same eTwinning

username• LifeRay (open source - more control!)

Group activity: Working on theproposed themes

A buffet of Groups?

On Sunday, for each Groups, I would liketo see:

• A vision (what will this Group be about?)• A tagline (e.g “eTwinning, the community

for schools in Europe”)• Some engagement and leadership

taken (e.g. I will run this activity once amonth in Spanish)

Group activity: Working on theproposed themes

• Brainstorming in Groups for 1 h• Plan and build a foundation for your

thematic Group• Continuation in workshop “building

and sustaining online communities”• Sunday: 45 min to polish up and

present your ideas to all

Now

• Find your Group• Decide

– who holds the pen and drafts ideas on the flipchart• Use the planning tool (8 questions) to get

started• Try to answer to questions that make sense!• To be continued...

Building and sustaining onlinecommunities

Riina VuorikariCSS, European Schoolnet

Chania Oct 2, 2009

Curious life of an onlinecommunity

• Online communities form, grow, matureand terminate = lifecycle

• Each level has different issues and canbe supported

Lai et al. (2006) Literature Review and Synthesis:Online Communities of Practice

Lifecycle of an onlinecommunity

Phase 0: Planning.• Determine the scope and purpose of

the CoP• Define roles of the CoP and

assign/engage people• Make a skeleton of a plan for the CoP• Define how to evaluate whether the

Group has been successful

Lifecycle of an onlinecommunity

Phase 1: Formation of the CoP

• “CoPs should grow, not be implemented’• Build trust by mandating “good profiles”• Develop clear policies such as code of

conduct, community governance, netiquette,copyright

• Plan activities that allow active participation,but also ‘lurking’

Lifecycle of an onlinecommunity

Phase 2: Sustain and manage CoPs.• Attract a diverse membership• Mentor new members• Delegate leadership (leader of the day)• Turn lurkers into active participants• Think “Glocal”!• Evaluate purpose and direction

Lifecycle of an onlinecommunity

Phase 3: Transformation or disengaging.• Expansion or fading away?

• Evaluation of a CoP: on-going activity wherethe success is measured against its owngoals (Phase 0)

"Learning is not onlyexperience, but reflection onexperience (Dewey 1938)"

• In an online community, like that ofAmbassadors on Ning or any other,what has been/is the biggest barrier foryou to benefit from them?– write it on a post-it

• What would be your solution to fix that?– write it on a post-it

Participation inequality

J.Nilsen (2006) Participation inequality: Encouraging More Users to

contribute