Communities in e-learning

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Talk for Learning Pool at the Open University about developing communities around e-learning to improve engagement.

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How online communities can improve e-learning

Who am I?

@davebriggs

dave@learningpool.com

www.davepress.net

Who am I?

Various roles in local and central government

Community Evangelist for Learning Pool

Focus now on digital engagement

Learning Pool

“The public sector learning community”

Learning Pool

• Originally started by IDeA (2002)• Service to help public sector improvement• Sharing to save time and money• Membership community• E-learning in a box• Content that’s relevant to you• Platforms, including hosting and support• Services for customers who want it• Affordable with a clear return on investment

Importance of online communities

Importance of online communities

Communities

The human bit of learning (and indeed other) technologies

The role of community

1. The Learning Pool community of learning and development professionals

2. Communities of learners in all our customer organisations

3. The wider community of those in and around the public sector

Building the LP community online

Catalogue

Forums

Webinars

Other content

Building the LP community offline

Steering group

Conferences and workshops

Networking events

Learning hack days

Communities of learners

Blended learning

Social learning tools (forums, chats, blogs, wikis etc)

Informal learning events

Wider public sector community

Twitter!

Blogging

GovCamp

Go where people are

Even if you have your own community space – don’t be afraid to use others too.

What makes a great community?

It depends!

Plenty of activity, but not for the sake of it

Owned by members, not the organisation

Taken seriously

Tech• Email• Usenet• Forums• Blogs• Social networks• Status updates

Role of the community evangelist

• NOT a technology evangelist• Encourage participation• Promotion of the community and its activity• Interpreting community needs• Being helpful• Create spaces, on and offline, for others to

make use of

Key skills• Networking• Online footprint• Tone and style• Collaborative• Openness• Passion

Summing up

Fostering community leads to greater engagement

Requires time, effort and a willingness to give up control

Have the right responsible person

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