ELearning Experience assignment 1- Select a Learning Community

Your view on the nature of a learning community.
I think the best way to describe the nature of a learning community is a community of practice. A group of people come together with a shared background and have a common purpose and in this case to learn and share ideas. A learning community can as diverse as a group of activists sharing ideas on global warming , a knitting group devising patterns in my case a group of teachers coming together to collaborate and experiment using Second life in a teaching /education setting.

Describe the nature and focus of the selected community
The NMC (New Media Consortium) is a group of 250 learning organisations who are dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. In early 2006 NMC decided to create a space for experimentation in a virtual 3 D World. This 3D world would provide space where higher education and museum professionals can interact, experiment with different concepts and collaborate on various projects. The NMC stipulated that this environment must be easy to use but also allows the participants and organisers to “simultaneously exploring the boundaries of what is possible”. (http://sl.nmc.org/about/). What was created was the NMC Virtual Campus in Second Life.

There are many groups that make up NMC virtual campus in second life the group I have chosen to study is Teachers Buzz. This group meets on Tuesday (Pacific Time) to discuss how Second life can be used in an educational setting. This could include conducting courses/classes in second life, developing tools and practices which can be both used in the Second life environment as well in RL (Real Life). (http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Teachers_Buzz_Session)

Explain how you recognised the e-community as a learning community

Unlike many groups that could have been examined for this assignment Teachers Buzz is easily recognised as a learning community for the following reasons:

  1. The purpose of the group clearly identifies Teachers Buzz as a learning community. They share a common background (practicing teachers) and they have a common purpose (to explore how they can Second Life as a tool or venue for learning)

“The NMC is offering a regularly scheduled, informal discussion session for practicing teachers using Second Life, or those just plain interested in the idea or process of using SL for a class. Not a series of lectures or presentations, we envision more of a relaxed coffee hour to share the “buzz”.

Purpose: Open discussions about the practice, process, and development, support of conducting courses or classes in Second Life.Focus is on pedagogy, practicalities, best practices, and assessment. “(http://sl.nmc.org/wiki/Teachers_Buzz_Session)

  1. Teacher Buzz is one of the groups that make up the larger learning community of the NMC. Originally I had thought about studying NMC but as it is such a diverse learning community I think it would have been difficult to study for one assignment

Why might it be of value to your experience in this subject

I believe that Second Life is the next or some say current frontier for learning. This 3D environment gives participants/learners a space which is more dynamic than blogs or wikies. The learner can discuss in real time, ideas in a simulated environment and feel more a part of a learning community. Second Life offers a space for innovation and engagement and a futile ground for social learning. This is why my experiences in Second life will be of value for this subject.

Describe your expectations as a learner/participant in this community

My expectations as a learner/participant in the Teachers Buzz group, NMC and Second Life in general are as follows

  1. Learn how to navigate around Second life successfully as a relatively new user of this multi player environment I want to “explore the boundaries of what is possible”. (http://sl.nmc.org/about/)
  2. Be a part of and create a network of users/practitioners who are interested in technology and Social learning.
  3. Use the knowledge and skills acquired from interacting/ participating in these groups to create a Second Life space for the Masters of Arts E-learning students
  4. Learn how to use the technology/space in the context of teaching and training. Basically this why I chose Teachers Buzz and NMC as it appears that this dialogue and exchange is already occurring. NMC offers forums/discussion groups and informal groups which you can attend. Recently I participated in a forum discussing how Second Life and similar environments could be used to teach languages. This involved not only engaging in the discussion using text chat but also listening to the presenter and responding verbally. A truly multi-media experience http://professormerryman.com/