Virtual Learning Communities

1. Virtual Learning Communities New means for collaboration and for generating innovative pedagogical approaches as part of e-learning and online learning service provision. Kennet Lindquist, CEO Swedish TelePedagogic Knowledge Centre Minerva Virtual Community Development Coordinator

2. Abstract Two unique virtual learning communities have recently been established within Socrates, one for Minerva focusing mainly on e-learning and one for Grundtvig program focusing mainly on Lifelong learning. These two virtual communities are engaging more than three thousand learning professionals already after less than six months of operation, and the membership volume is rapidly growing. Besides its prime focus and the attractive constellation of professionals, which includes basically every partner organisation within the two EU programmes, the service environment used by these communities contain some very unique and powerful 'service engines‘ worth studying closer.

3. Abstract, cont. With the VCP 'service engines' it is possible to move learning networks, community initiatives and other forms of collaborative e-learning beyond the traditional characteristics pedagogically senile e-learning and conferencing platforms used in the past for online learning services towards a new and more vivid learning services. Through the unique sets of VCP 'service engines' it is possible to build participative pedagogical scenarios into the learning events, and to design collaborative activities that has an in-built pedagogic strategy and deliberate pedagogical designs – a pedagogy that is determined by the service provider and not tacitly being imposed by the particular platform or portal used for the learning services.

4. The presentation ambition This presentation will highlight the structures and facilities of the Virtual Community Platform (VCP) used by the Minerva and Grundtvig virtual communities, illustrate how collaborative initiatives are be handled within this service environment (Part I) … and how the pedagogical VCP tools can be utilized to generate true learning environments and take on online interactions beyond traditional static and passive web pages, unintelligent file transfers and plain message transactions (Part II). VCP is able to establish pedagogically oriented partnerships, both between learning service providers as well as between the users.

5. PART I VCP as a Collaboration Tool

6. The Minerva Virtual Community

7. The Minerva project actor community

8. Minerva community services

9. An example of a MVC community application

10. Examples of other VCP-driven communities

11. VCP-engines available to the communities

12. PART II VCP as a Pedagogic Tool

13. Examples of pedagogical re-orientation of e-learning and learning service provision • Community of practice learningMcDermott, Wenger and Gongla/Rizzuto • Knowledge creation perspective on learningNonaka/Tagushi, Engeström, Bereiter (KM) • Adaptive conversational learningBailsford/Moore/Stewart/Zakaria (WHURLE) • Collaborative discovery / progressive inquiryLiinonen/Virtanen/Hakkarainen/Lipponen (FLE/CSILE) • Personalized, socially aware, active learningAngehrn/Nabeth/Roda (K-InCA) • Building social/personal knowledge artifactsStal, Herrman, Koshmann (KBE, Web Guide)

14. FLE4ALL – Community-based lifelong learning accommodating the new pedagogical demands • Member engine (enabler) • Interact engine (enabler) • Inquiry engine (enabler) • Engage engine (the core) • Composer engine (enabler) • Assign engine (enabler) • Monitor engine (enabler) The pedagogical Rubik Enablers = color pages/elements Core = Interconnects the elements

15. Conditional Online Survey Inquiry Response Definition Survey introduction Survey conclusion Profile Ref # Reply Ref # Dev: Inquiry Response Inquiry Start Inquiry Start Addition Inquiry Start Addition # Block title # Block title Dev: Inquiry Block Inquiry Block # Block conclusion Block conclusion Block introduction Block introduction Block Start Dev: Inquiry Item Block Start Addition Block Start Addition Imp: Item conseq. Inquiry Item # Item Start Dev: Inquiry Item Item Addition # Item title # Item title # Item title # Item title Item Addition Item End Imp: Item conseq. Item variable Item variable Item variable Item variable Inquiry Item # Item Start Imp: Block conseq. Block variable Block variable Item Addition Item Addition Item End Dev: Inquiry Block Block End Addition Block End Addition Dev: Inquiry Item Block End Inquiry Block # Imp: Item conseq. Consequence Title Consequence calculations Dev: Inquiry Item Conditional start Inquiry Response elements: Unconditional start Conditional response Imp: Item conseq. Conditional response Unconditional end Imp: Block conseq. Conditional end Block End Inquiry End Addition Imp: Consequence Rpt Inquiry End Addition Inquiry End Main structure of the dynamic inquiry service

16. ’Barometer’ (assets) Parameter-driven Inclusion ’Context’ Externalconditions Internalconditions Assetconditions Actorvariables Range of Inquiry elements Organisation variables Interative presentations (web pages, multimedia, uploads) Inquiry intervention (choices, selections, contributions) Relevance indications (hiding, limited visibility, inactivity) Situationvariables State Timing Relevance Comparison Participant”profile” Prior encounter with another inquiry Illustration of the assessment service components of the inquiry engine

17. ’Barometer’ (assets) Parameter-driven Inclusion ’Context’ Externalconditions Internalconditions Assetconditions Actorvariables Range of Inquiry elements Organisation variables Interative presentations (web pages, multimedia, uploads) Inquiry intervention (choices, selections, contributions) Relevance handling (hiding, limited visibility, inactivity) Situationvariables State Timing Relevance Comparison Participant”profile” Prior encounter with another inquiry Illustration of the assessment service components of the inquiry engine

18. ’Barometer’ (assets) Parameter-driven Inclusion ’Context’ Externalconditions Internalconditions Assetconditions Actorvariables Range of Inquiry elements Organisation variables Interative presentations (web pages, multimedia, uploads) Inquiry intervention (choices, selections, contributions) Relevance handling (hiding, limited visibility, inactivity) Situationvariables State Timing Relevance Comparison Participant”profile” Prior encounter with another inquiry Illustration of the assessment service components of the inquiry engine

19. ’Barometer’ (assets) Parameter-driven Inclusion ’Context’ Externalconditions Internalconditions Assetconditions Actorvariables Range of Inquiry elements Organisation variables Interative presentations (web pages, multimedia, uploads) Inquiry intervention (choices, selections, contributions) Relevance handling (hiding, limited visibility, inactivity) Situationvariables State Timing Relevance Comparison Participant”profile” Prior encounter with another inquiry Illustration of the assessment service components of the inquiry engine

20. ’Barometer’ (assets) Parameter-driven Inclusion ’Context’ Externalconditions Internalconditions Assetconditions Actorvariables Range of Inquiry elements Organisation variables Interative presentations (web pages, multimedia, uploads) Inquiry intervention (choices, selections, contributions) Relevance handling (hiding, limited visibility, inactivity) Situationvariables State Timing Relevance Comparison Participant”profile” + Prior encounter with another inquiry Illustration of the assessment service components of the inquiry engine

21. Actor variables Org. variables Context variables Essential conditions for ……. (in dimensions) C-#1 C-#2 C-#3 Indicator: xxxxx x xxx xxxx xxx Xxxx xxx xx x x xx xxx xx xxx xx xx xx xxx xxx xx x x x x x xx xxx x x x xxx xxx xx x x xx x x xx xxx x x x xxx xxx xx x x xx x x xx xxx x x x xxx xxx xxx xx x x xx xxx xx xxx xx xx xx xxx xxx xx x x x x x xx xxx x x x I-1a I-2a Role &Responibilities Practices & Examples I-1b I-2b Links to info resources Reference documents Continuum I-1c I-2c I-1d I-2d Benchmarking I-1e I-2e I-1f I-2f I-1g I-2g I-3g I-4g I-5g I-6g An example on VCP usage for audits/assessments

22. Conditional Online Survey Inquiry Response Definition Inquiry Start Survey introduction Inquiry Start Addition Inquiry Start Addition # Block title Inquiry Block # Block conclusion Block conclusion Block introduction Block introduction Block Start Actor var. Org. var. Context var. Block Start Addition # Item title Block Start Addition Inquiry Item # Item Start Item Addition # Item title Dimension E: Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Item Addition Item End Inquiry Item # Essential Condition #1 Indicator Range Indicato Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Indicator Item Start Item Addition Essential Condition #2 Item Addition Dimension C: Dimension D: Dimension B: Indicator Range Item End # Block title Essential Condition #3 Block End Addition Indicator Range Block End Addition Essential Condition #1 Essential Condition #1 Essential Condition #1 Indicator Range Indicator Indicator Range Range Block End Essential Condition #4 # Item title Indicator Range Inquiry Block # Dimension A: Essential Condition #2 Essential Condition #2 Essential Condition #2 Consequence Title Indicator Range Range Indicator Indicator Range Consequence calculations Condition #1 Inquiry Response elements: # Item title Essential Condition #3 Essential Condition #3 Essential Condition #3 Indicator Indicator Indicator Range Range Range Condition #2 Essential Condition #4 Essential Condition #4 Essential Condition #4 Condition #3 Indicator Indicator Indicator Range Range Block End Condition #4 Inquiry End Addition Inquiry End Addition Survey conclusion Inquiry End A contextualised and scenario-based inquiry

23. An expanded application of the inquiry service

24. Conditional Online Survey Inquiry Response Definition Inquiry Start Survey introduction Inquiry Start Addition Inquiry Start Addition # Block title Inquiry Block # Block conclusion Block conclusion Block introduction Block introduction Block Start Inquiry by collaborative groups Block Start Addition # Item title Block Start Addition (Joint walk-through, Comparive benchmarking) Inquiry Item # Item Start ENGAGE ENGINE COMPOSER ENGINE Item Addition # Item title Item Addition Item End Inquiry Item # Item Start Item Addition Item Addition Item End # Block title Block End Addition Block End Addition Block End # Item title Inquiry Block # Consequence Title Consequence calculations Inquiry Response elements: # Item title Block End Collaborative and conversational knowledge production Inquiry End Addition Inquiry End Addition Survey conclusion Inquiry End Example of interconnectivity between engines in a virtual learning community

25. Summary features of the ‘Engage engine’ • Collaboration based on content contributions made by one or many • Involved users reflect, reply, comment and interact with the content • The ‘engagement coordinator’ defines the interaction context and the contributive roles. • The coordinator function can be shared, and both contributions and comments can be made multi-lingual. • ‘content contributors’ define interaction capabilities per item • Involved members can besides commenting, reply, characterize comments, state preferences or vote, create associations or converge contributions, analyze patterns and interact with others • Content owner can conclude, close and interlink sessions, share ownership and generate associations across contributions

26. Summary features of the‘Compose engine’ • An interactive outliner and distributive content generator handling text, multimedia presentations, linked and uploaded external content • The ‘composer coordinator’ defines modality of the collaborative composing process, contributor access and usage rights and sets conditions and visibility levels for different levels or user categories. • A coordinator can assign content responsibilities to any combination of users or groups, item-by-item, and stipulate timing and other conditions for the content generation process. • The coordinative functions can be shared, and contributions can be multi-lingual and with automatic language preference recognition. • ‘Content contributors’ owns their contributions and can define interaction capabilities for users, review usage levels, get progress report on items assigned to them, and even delegate it to others. • Invited users can interact with the content in ways composed by content providers and use similar services as in the engage engine.

27. Community of actors use the Engage Engine Community of actors use the Compose Engine Illustration of a collaborative inquiry within a ‘virtual learning community’ Joint production

28. PART IIIVCP as YOUR Tool To be covered by questions and further discussions after the presentation / during the conference

29. End of presentation My contact data: Kennet.Lindquist@pedagogic.com Swedish TelePedagogic KnowledgeCentre Tel: +46-155-214222 Fax: +46-155-287872