I am hoping to attend the Networked Learning 2010 conference in Denmark in May of 2010 (as long as my paper gets accepted, of course!!), and this conference is doing something different from most other conferences — it is actively engaging potential participants, presenters, and those who are just interested in pre-conference conversations about networked learning.
Very smart.
These Hot Seats are described here, and are free and open to the public. What better way to prepare for a conference on networked learning, than by engaging in this learning medium itself? Right now I find myself engaged in a great conversation with George Siemens ( this week’s facilitator, Athabasca University member, and Connectivism advocate) and the other distant colleagues about how technology changes the possibilities and dynamics in teaching online.
A few months ago I blogged about Johnny Saldana’s new text, The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, and I just read a great review of it by Robin Cooper at The Weekly Qualitative Report. It may be worth a look if you face an upcoming coding project and may need an overview of Saldana’s excellent primer.
A colleague on Twitter Tweeted about this, and I thought it was just wonderful! As I love things Medieval, I wanted to share this animated version of the Bayeux Tapestry. This is quite a clever and engaging way to show something so richly historical.
I created a simple blog rubric for my online class, and am interested in some feedback on it.
The assignment, as stated in my syllabus:
Reflective Practice is a critical aspect of teaching and learning, and a fundamental element of teaching online involves acquiring a comfort with technology to communicate and collaborate.
Online learning is a more networked experience than traditional face-to-face (F2F) learning. Thus, students are required to use a blog for this course. Students may use their own blog (if they have one) or create a new one (WordPress.com, Blogger, Epsilen, or elsewhere). Blog posts should be done at least once a week discussing some learning or a reaction to anything in the course.
Making at least two comments every week on other course attendee blogs is required.
As I am intending the student (all of whom are adults) blogs to consider any issue in class and then relate it to their practice, this is the rubric I created:
For your own weekly blog post(s), be sure to:
Post your blog entry before the due date ~ 0.5
Post a link to your Blog posting in the Forum ~ 0.5
Discuss and develop some aspect of online learning / education ~ 1.0
Demonstrate that you are able to apply what you are learning to your professional practice ~ 1.0
Total = 3 points
I will ask them how this feels and if it works after we do our first assignment of this, so until then, I am open to other considerations for verbiage or total point (3 points / week) re-distribution. Thoughts?
As I am asking my students to blog over our 8 weeks together, I thought I should continue to do the same (and as I have been so busy at work and with food poisoning and a paper to complete as well), I am far-enough behind in my sharing here that I have a lot to say!
I have been away for a few days due to a recurring food poisoning episode, a demanding work week, a much slower Windows Vista now with Norton 2010, and the reminder that I am teaching a new online course that begins on Tuesday. I am planning to catch up a bit with my online life today, and realize that after several days of little online work and communication, it is unworkable to address everything.
Creating synergy between research and practice is viewed asthe basis for creating successful and meaningful HRD outcomesand is fundamental to the maturation of the profession. Giventhis, there is naturally an interest in the strength of therelationship between research, theory, and practice, and thishas been reflected in the journals of the Academy of Human ResourceDevelopment from their inception. In this article, the authorssummarize some of the key points from the last 10 years of thosejournals and put them in the context of research-to-practiceexperiences in other professions. We conclude that HRD practitioners,practice, and professionals are hampered by the lack of connectionbetween practice and research in the field.
I appreciate the work and support of my co-authors, Darren and Sophia!
One of the articles I wrote was just published in the current issue of the journal Advances in Developing Human Resources — Practitioner Perspectives on the Gap Between Research and Practice: What Gap? This article was several years in the making, and I am thrilled all our efforts have finally come to fruition.
I will repeat the abstract:
The research-to-practice gap withinHRD is an increasingly important focus of research.This studyempirically investigates this issue from the perspective ofpractitioners, who are directly asked about their use of research.Results suggest that practitioners use "research," though theterm is not used in the same way that those who engage in academicand scholarly research use it. This peer-reviewed research isperceived to not be reaching practitioners, who instead turnto their own communities of practice to meet their researchneeds.
The biggest surprise with our findings is how the term “research,” as in “we are doing research,” means so many different things to different people. I hope this work helps move the discussion within the area of scholar-practitioners along.
In the Foundations of Communities of Practice (#FCoP09) workshop I am attending, I am learning a lot more about communities of practice than I expected. I was not really sure what to expect in this workshop, though I did anticipate (correctly, it seems) that I would meet a lot of interesting people, some of whom I hope become lasting colleagues.
I had a revelation over the weekend, partly due to a number of questions I asked about communities of practice (CoP) that were answered by Etienne Wenger, the CoP guru (and the one who, along with Jean Lave, coined the term). One of the things I learned in the last week is something I have heard more times than I can count about communities of practice (CoP), though it never sunk in until now.
A community of practice is primarily about learning.
This is a social learning framework, and with the 3 domains necessary for a community of practice (domain, community, practice), it seems they all contribute to the learning, whether the learning is the intentional goal or not.
I never really considered learning to be the focus of a community of practice, and this insight is now worth the price of admission for me. I finally get it . . . I now see how to accurately use this as a research framework, as well as how others have been doing this incorrectly . . .
Doctoral student at Lancaster University (UK) in E-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning / Qualitative Research Methods Aficionado / (Educational) Project Manager in New York City. Interests include adult education, critical theory, constructivism, Communities of Practice (CoP), networked learning, Transformative Learning, online identity development, narrative inquiry, postmodernity, and autoethnography.
