Plenary session presented at the "Creating Communities of Learning" Australasian Professional Legal Education Conference, 14-15 November 2014 at AUT, Auckland

1. Learning community: If I build it, will they come?
Associate Professor Shirley Reushle
Deputy Director
Australian Digital Futures Institute
University of Southern Queensland
Keynote presentation APLEC conference, 13-15 November 2014 Auckland, NZ

2. Presentation aims
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To explore the concept of a learning community
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To consider the importance of leadership in creating and maintaining a learning community
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To share insights into what makes a successful learning community
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To demonstrate methods for conducting a learning community
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3. Ongoing aim of USQ:
improve learning and increase access
27,000
students
76% off-campus
USQ: regional university
Commenced online 1997
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4. My context
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My discipline is Education, specifically online education
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17 years’ online teaching experience (since 1997)
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My guiding question - what do I, as an educator, need to do to provide successful learning experiences for my students?
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5. What are my propositions?
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6. The concept of “community”, whether it is in an educational context or in other spheres of life, is highly valued by society.
Having an agreeable set of individuals to call on for support when needed leads to individuals having a positive outlook and experiencing a greater sense of well being
Evidence that strong feelings of community may not only increase persistence in learning activities, but it may also increase the flow of information among all learners, commitment to group goals, cooperation among members, and satisfaction with group efforts
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7. Students want more hands-on learning, more interactive lessons, and enjoy social learning activities. They do not like passive learning.
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Communities need effective leadership to keep the community alive
But, community should be a two way process, belonging to everyone. Shared “control” (leadership/responsibility) leads to increased engagement/involvement, and a sense of ownership.

9. Innovation should be part of the learning ethic in education – innovation springs from the freedom to connect ideas and individuals, in new and different ways.
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10. “Community” is at the heart…
It’s a collaborative process
Learners are PEOPLE…
Need structure & purpose, yet
flexibility & fluidity
Effective leadership & facilitation
…and should feel they are part of something special 10

11. Consider…
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Do learning communities “work” in your context? Are they necessary?
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What purposes might a learning community serve in your context?
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Is it important, in your discipline, to acknowledge and actively demonstrate recognition and acceptance of difference in terms of perspectives, values, beliefs, etc.?
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Is the development of interactive and collaborative skills required in your discipline context? In your students’ worlds of work?
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12. Ohler, J.B. (2010). Digital community, digital citizen. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
“…many educational systems still force learners to have two lives, their traditional educational (lives) within school and outside of school, their digital lives”.
“As a student whose livelihood depends on appropriate use of technology, it is tremendously frustrating to have to leave my technology at the door”.
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13. Peer-to-peer support is not new or atypical. In a physical community, you are seen and your presence is evident and registered in the minds of others.
In a virtual community, with the lack of visual cues, you must make a determined effort to communicate with others in order to establish your existence. However, once that communication occurs, the online environment makes the circle of peer support more visible and evident.
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14. Is there a relationship between the physical separation of learners in educational programs and higher dropout rates?
Research reveals that separation and its resultant reduction in the sense of community, leads to feelings of disconnection, isolation, distraction, and lack of engagement and is often a major contributor to attrition.
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15. Forming connections…
Building community…
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16. Forming connections…
(Source: Husband, J. (2012). Wirearchy. http://www.wirearchy.com/) 16

17. Digital learning community... defined as a group of people who come together in an online environment to conduct focused and scholarly dialogue, collaborate with their peers, share resources and practices, and build and deepen knowledge and expertise.
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18. 
How can I form and sustain successful learning communities with groups of online learners?
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How do I maintain interest and participation in an online learning community?
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20. What is valuable about collaborating online?
Online activity and video 20

21. 
“
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Flexibility - participation from anywhere, any time - removes geographic barriers
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Convenience, continuity, connectedness
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Visibility of discussions
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Participation is democratised
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Opportunities for critical reflection
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Opportunities to meet and work with a diverse, potentially global group of peers and build community
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Can provide an efficient mechanism for sharing resources
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22. Describe a challenging experience you have had online.
Online activity and video 22

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24. Regardless of the strategies employed by the teacher, the decision to join an online community appears to rest with the “will” of the individual.
Members need a reason to come back, time and time again, to an online community.
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25. Activities in the community should promote interactivity, collaboration and be social
The prior knowledge and expertise of learners must be acknowledged
The prior knowledge and expertise of learners must be acknowledged
The learning community needs structure & purpose, yet
flexibility & fluidity
Participants need to be able to project themselves in a learning environment – a strong sense of “presence”
Activities should be situated and contextual – authentic, and meaningful
Time and “space” to reflect is crucial to the learning process
The pedagogy of a learning community
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Other challenges identified in the literature related to building online learning communities

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Instability/unreliability of the online environment for both students and teachers (e.g. poor internet connection; drop-outs; sound delays)
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Some applications make it difficult to create communities online
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24/7 expectation of students
Access, reliability, usability
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28. •
Students are sometimes technologically inexperienced
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Wanting to vary strategies and being innovative and creative – but the challenge of having to learn another online platform in order to use it efficiently and interactively;
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Challenge of working with large numbers of students
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Resistance to technology by students and teachers
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Time required to engage and do a good job may be underestimated by the institution
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Need for more SUPPORT – JUST IN TIME rather than JUST IN CASE
Knowledge and skills/digital literacies
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29. Inflexible institutional administrative demands; inflexible systems
Working outside the institutional options e.g. mobile, social media, open options can be a challenge
The challenge of using multiple channels of engagement
Managing diverse student expectations
Designing for individualisation and flexibility (without killing the teachers)
Flexibility…and inflexibility
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30. Break large groups into smaller groups as quickly as possible and provide activities that immediately focus on developing community.
Explicitly state, and actively model the recognition and acceptance of difference in terms of perspectives, values, beliefs, etc.
How do I build a learning community?
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Use messages to maintain contact with participants, prompt activity, and promote a caring, safe environment for learning.

32. Provide formal and informal activities to develop a sense of community, especially at the beginning e.g., introductions, small group activities that focus on the process rather than an outcome.
Ensure a sense of substantive, meaningful purpose for the existence of the community e.g., participating in interactive, collaborative activities that are tied to assessment requirements. The notion that an online community can be solely about coming together to talk is questionable. 32

33. Be explicit about what you doing, and why you are doing it…
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34. Original principles for designing for online learning…
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
(from Reushle, 2005)
EXAMPLE
The CHE factor - Connectivity, Humanness and Empathy
The central tenet – critical in establishing and maintaining “presence”
Learning to be learner-centred and learning centred
Places the learner and learning firmly at the centre of the learning process
Immerse to converse - reflection is critical
Learners need support and practice in recognising frames of reference and using their imagination to redefine problems from a different perspective
Learning must be a community activity
The concept of community, whether it is in an educational context or in other spheres of life, is highly valued by society.
Online educators are learners and learners are online educators
Learn about online learning by being an online learner; Provide opportunities for learners to assume facilitative roles
Communication is VIP - Visible, Instant and provides a Permanent record
Online activity can create a visible, instant, and permanent record
Educators need to be able to interpret signs of change in the learning environment and respond accordingly to encourage dynamic growth
“Read” the learning environment regularly and be prepared to adapt and change according to the context.
Lead by example – create a model experience. The provision of exemplars or models supports and enhances the online experience for learners.
Provide quality models or exemplars – e.g. model answers, project examples, guidelines, model behaviour which provides sound examples for students
An online learning environment must be built, managed, and nurtured.
Be responsive, proactive, and organised. 34

35. Technologies = tools that enable us to do our job – not an optional extra
As educators, we must consider what we want to achieve with our learners, and determine how the technologies can help us do that…
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36. What other tools?
It's difficult to stay current and informed in a climate where everything is changing (George Siemens) 36

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Free tool – based on keyword searching
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Notification is pushed to you via email
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Allows you to accept or discard suggested links = quality control
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Publishes links in magazine-type layout
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Great application to report events -
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Supports digital communities
FREE digital curation tool

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For meetings, discussions, sharing of ideas

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Used to collect websites in one place
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Private/public bookmarks
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Groups can aggregate content and collaboratively build libraries
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44. http://www.zotero.org/
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47. PURPOSEFUL
requires leadership
engaged
social
about PEOPLE
has structure
connected
In summary, a learning community is…

48. Shirley Reushle shirley.reushle@usq.edu.au
Images sourced from: http://www.kozzi.com Shirley Reushle MS clipart
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@
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