Practicum 1
Part 111: Provide a reflective statement evaluating what you have learned in the communities of practice
In belonging to a number of different Communities of Practice this year, I think that my association with each group has developed and has brought together and exposed me to a range of perspectives on a number of different educational issues. Belonging to these different Communities of Practice has provided me with the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge, but more importantly, has helped me make sense of and reflect on specific contexts. Belonging to these Communities of Practice has also provided me with the opportunity to discuss, reflect on and make changes to my own professional practice as a teacher and has also stimulated and challenged my thinking as a learner.
The EDUX 590 online conference discussions
This Community of Practice provided a platform to discuss, generate and challenge and confirm ideas and thinking on professional development, critical analysis and evaluation of literature, developing and participating in Communities of Practice and the planning, implementation, recording and evaluation of specific research projects.
Although the sessions seemed quite far apart, I found the interactions with other students interesting, supportive and comforting especially during the planning stage of Practicum 2. The professional level of the participants was quiet different and so it was interesting to engage in and share perspectives on issues such as professional development and developing communities of practice with leaders of schools and teachers.
Classroom 2.0 Community of Practice
The initial purpose of my involvement in this Community of Practice was to become involved with a community of learners with a common focus on 21st century learning. The first discussion I posted was to engage in discussion and illicit ideas and thinking on the use and development of e-Portfolios in supporting reflective, self-directed learning. I wanted to build on and develop my existing knowledge of practice in the use of web 2.0 tools to support, develop and demonstrate reflective, self-directed learning. I also wanted to developed my own professional practice in using tools that help students to be reflective, self directed learners.
From the discussions that followed I received valuable feedback in the form of examples of e-Portfolios that I could view and links to professional readings on reflective practice. It was also encouraging to find that I could help other community members with ideas on options for setting up e-Portfolios. I felt that my engagement helped to clarify and direct some of my thinking in the areas of reflective practice and the use of e-Portfolios to support, develop and demonstrate reflective, self-directed learning practice, in the developing stages of my project.
My participation in this discussion and the ones that followed helped me and other community members, as we shared information and built relationships that enabled us to learn from each other.
I also posted discussions on ‘Teaching and the use of e-tools to support reflective practice’ and ‘My learning is done to me – The changes we need to make as teachers to allow and support reflective, self-directed learning for life’.
My involvement with this Community of Practice is ongoing and I review discussions on a weekly basis. I receive e-mail alerts whenever someone has made a posting in this community.
For the purposes of wanting to establish some initial discussion and thinking around e-Portfolios and reflective learning practice, I felt that belonging to Classroom 2.0 met this need.
PLP Community of Practice
Powerful Learning Practice offers a unique opportunity for educators to participate in a long-term, professional development program that immerses them in 21st Century learning environments. The PLP model enables educators around the world to experience the transformative potential of social Web tools to build global learning communities and re-envision and re-shape their own personal learning practice.
Through my involvement with this community of practice, I have taken part in my first webinar session, which involved 74 teachers from all over the world. In preparation for this first Elluminate session there were some guiding questions that had to be answered, and some professional reading that had to be done prior to the session. The focus for the session was ‘Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, What is 21st Century learning? Why is it important?’ The purpose of the session was to introduce the context, research and trends shaping the current shifts in education presently.
I feel that my involvement in this community of practice has and will keep me at the cutting edge and up to date with new, emerging Web technologies and other Web 2.0 tools. My involvement has also and will continue to demand that I challenge my own thinking on how effectively I integrate these technologies in my own professional and personal learning practice as a teacher and life-long learner.
As a mentor/fellow to two PLP cohort groups, I have had the opportunity to initiate discussion on teaching and learning in the 21st century, and share some of the concerns of community members with PLP leaders with regard to their participation and their involvement in this community of practice. Presently there seems to be little involvement of group members. I am sensing that participation in these community groups has been thrust upon the participants and that the groups have not established themselves through a common interest or need. I am also aware that the leaders of these groups are extremely overloaded with other school responsibilities and sense that this is just one more thing that needs to be attended to.
As I continue to be involved in this community of practice through to next September, I hope to be involved in larger or more complex activities and projects with my groups and to foster cooperation, bind people together and help to facilitate relationship and trust.
School ICT Community of Practice
My involvement in the ICT Community of Practice has been successful in that there has been and still is ongoing involvement, with most members contributing. The group is keen to continue in 2010. I have also done a quick survey to ascertain the peripheral involvement and interest of broader community members (other members of staff) in their use of the resources created, and I have been encouraged by the positive results of this survey. This confirms that the relationships that we establish and develop not only help us but also indirectly help those who are outside of the community, as we share our learning within our official organisation or working community.
My involvement in this Community of Practice has been valuable in terms of my project because in searching for and trialling open source e-tools and Web 2.0 applications for the school website and to present at the e-learning morning sessions, I have sourced e-tools that were suitable for use in supporting, developing and demonstrating reflective, self-directed learning. This has mainly been in sourcing a variety of open source audio applications and programmes.
4M Community of Practice
This community of practice was born out of existing, established relationships where the participants had a developing, shared interest of what learning was, learning how to learn and using technologies to support their thinking and learning. The members were brought together by their joining in of daily learning activities and by 'what they had learned through their mutual engagement in these activities' (Wenger 1998). Through the introduction of SOLO Taxonomy a community of practice emerged as we started to talk about what learning actually was, how we knew that we were actually learning and determining what we could do to improve on the learning that we were involved in. These discussions resulted in the creation of collaborative rubrics to guide and develop higher order thinking and direction for improved outcomes to learning. Discussion and collaboration also resulted in self and peer assessment of tasks giving students a clearer understanding of where they are in the learning process.
My involvement in this Community of Practice has been enlightening because I have realised that Communities of Practice can range from novice to expert and that age does not necessarily affect the building of quality relationships and the ability to share information. Communities of Practice encourage a ‘culture of expert practice’ in which discussion of practice and reflection on practice become routine (Collis, Brown & Newman, 1989). This Community of Practice provided a platform for the students to discuss and reflect on their learning, and in so doing, develop the meta-language of learning that supported reflective practice and self- directed learning practice. Establishing a community of practice with 7 to 10 year old students has been an interesting experience. I have learnt that we should never under estimated the ability of the children that we teach. I have also learnt that given the tools to support the articulation of their knowledge, thinking and learning, it is amazing the level of expertise and that can be achieved.
Through my involvement in this Community of Practice I have realised that communities of practice do require internal leadership, whether formal or less formal in order to legitimise the community as a place for sharing and creating knowledge. My role as the leader was to provide direction in the day-to-day organization of activities relating to the shared interest, I had to document developments and practices, I had to provide guiding questions to stimulate discussion and provide the opportunity for social interaction and I had to expose the community members to e-tools and technologies that they could use to support, develop and demonstrate reflective, self-directed learning practice.
This Community of Practice came to natural close as we ended the school year. However, we have captured what we have learnt from being part of this Community of Practice on blogs and e-Portfolios and four of the students in this participating group have created their own websites so that they can continue with reflective, self-directed learning practice. It will be interesting to follow the progress of these four students and to observe if and how their involvement in this Community of Practice has impacted on them as reflective, self-directed learners.
I feel that, even though the emerging of this community of practice was unscheduled and unplanned, what I have learnt from being a member of this group has been invaluable. I have had to really question my views on what I think learning is and how I know if I am learning and if the students in my class are learning. I have learnt about SOLO Taxonomy and I know that I will implement the use of this from the very start of the year in 2010. Through our discussions in the Community of Practice I have learnt about the intricacy of developing rubrics that support and direct next learning steps, higher order thinking. I have also learnt how important it is to work on the principle that “less is more”, giving students the time to reflect on their learning, assess themselves against criteria, give them the opportunity to talk about what they could do to improve their learning, and then give them time to have another go.
Communities of Practice exist all around us. Any gatherings of like minded people, who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better come under the umbrella of Communities of Practice.
References
Collis, A., Brown, J.S. & Newman, S.E. (1989).Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the craft of reading, writing and mathematics. In L.B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning and instruction: Essays in honour of Robert Glaser (pp. 453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Murphy 1997.
Snyder, W. & Wenger, E. (2003). Communities of practice in government: the case of sponsorship. Report to the CIO Council of the US Federal Government.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66363-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC.
Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E. (c 2007). 'Communities of practice. A brief introduction'. Communities of practice [http://www.ewenger.com/theory/. Accessed January 14, 2009].
Wenger, E., McDermott, R. & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Wenger, E., & Snyder, W. (2000). Communities of practice: the
organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review. (January-February 2000), 139-145.
Part 111: Provide a reflective statement evaluating what you have learned in the communities of practice
In belonging to a number of different Communities of Practice this year, I think that my association with each group has developed and has brought together and exposed me to a range of perspectives on a number of different educational issues. Belonging to these different Communities of Practice has provided me with the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge, but more importantly, has helped me make sense of and reflect on specific contexts. Belonging to these Communities of Practice has also provided me with the opportunity to discuss, reflect on and make changes to my own professional practice as a teacher and has also stimulated and challenged my thinking as a learner.
The EDUX 590 online conference discussions
This Community of Practice provided a platform to discuss, generate and challenge and confirm ideas and thinking on professional development, critical analysis and evaluation of literature, developing and participating in Communities of Practice and the planning, implementation, recording and evaluation of specific research projects.
Although the sessions seemed quite far apart, I found the interactions with other students interesting, supportive and comforting especially during the planning stage of Practicum 2. The professional level of the participants was quiet different and so it was interesting to engage in and share perspectives on issues such as professional development and developing communities of practice with leaders of schools and teachers.
Classroom 2.0 Community of Practice
The initial purpose of my involvement in this Community of Practice was to become involved with a community of learners with a common focus on 21st century learning. The first discussion I posted was to engage in discussion and illicit ideas and thinking on the use and development of e-Portfolios in supporting reflective, self-directed learning. I wanted to build on and develop my existing knowledge of practice in the use of web 2.0 tools to support, develop and demonstrate reflective, self-directed learning. I also wanted to developed my own professional practice in using tools that help students to be reflective, self directed learners.
From the discussions that followed I received valuable feedback in the form of examples of e-Portfolios that I could view and links to professional readings on reflective practice. It was also encouraging to find that I could help other community members with ideas on options for setting up e-Portfolios. I felt that my engagement helped to clarify and direct some of my thinking in the areas of reflective practice and the use of e-Portfolios to support, develop and demonstrate reflective, self-directed learning practice, in the developing stages of my project.
My participation in this discussion and the ones that followed helped me and other community members, as we shared information and built relationships that enabled us to learn from each other.
I also posted discussions on ‘Teaching and the use of e-tools to support reflective practice’ and ‘My learning is done to me – The changes we need to make as teachers to allow and support reflective, self-directed learning for life’.
My involvement with this Community of Practice is ongoing and I review discussions on a weekly basis. I receive e-mail alerts whenever someone has made a posting in this community.
For the purposes of wanting to establish some initial discussion and thinking around e-Portfolios and reflective learning practice, I felt that belonging to Classroom 2.0 met this need.
PLP Community of Practice
Powerful Learning Practice offers a unique opportunity for educators to participate in a long-term, professional development program that immerses them in 21st Century learning environments. The PLP model enables educators around the world to experience the transformative potential of social Web tools to build global learning communities and re-envision and re-shape their own personal learning practice.
Through my involvement with this community of practice, I have taken part in my first webinar session, which involved 74 teachers from all over the world. In preparation for this first Elluminate session there were some guiding questions that had to be answered, and some professional reading that had to be done prior to the session. The focus for the session was ‘Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, What is 21st Century learning? Why is it important?’ The purpose of the session was to introduce the context, research and trends shaping the current shifts in education presently.
I feel that my involvement in this community of practice has and will keep me at the cutting edge and up to date with new, emerging Web technologies and other Web 2.0 tools. My involvement has also and will continue to demand that I challenge my own thinking on how effectively I integrate these technologies in my own professional and personal learning practice as a teacher and life-long learner.
As a mentor/fellow to two PLP cohort groups, I have had the opportunity to initiate discussion on teaching and learning in the 21st century, and share some of the concerns of community members with PLP leaders with regard to their participation and their involvement in this community of practice. Presently there seems to be little involvement of group members. I am sensing that participation in these community groups has been thrust upon the participants and that the groups have not established themselves through a common interest or need. I am also aware that the leaders of these groups are extremely overloaded with other school responsibilities and sense that this is just one more thing that needs to be attended to.
As I continue to be involved in this community of practice through to next September, I hope to be involved in larger or more complex activities and projects with my groups and to foster cooperation, bind people together and help to facilitate relationship and trust.
School ICT Community of Practice
My involvement in the ICT Community of Practice has been successful in that there has been and still is ongoing involvement, with most members contributing. The group is keen to continue in 2010. I have also done a quick survey to ascertain the peripheral involvement and interest of broader community members (other members of staff) in their use of the resources created, and I have been encouraged by the positive results of this survey. This confirms that the relationships that we establish and develop not only help us but also indirectly help those who are outside of the community, as we share our learning within our official organisation or working community.
My involvement in this Community of Practice has been valuable in terms of my project because in searching for and trialling open source e-tools and Web 2.0 applications for the school website and to present at the e-learning morning sessions, I have sourced e-tools that were suitable for use in supporting, developing and demonstrating reflective, self-directed learning. This has mainly been in sourcing a variety of open source audio applications and programmes.
4M Community of Practice
This community of practice was born out of existing, established relationships where the participants had a developing, shared interest of what learning was, learning how to learn and using technologies to support their thinking and learning. The members were brought together by their joining in of daily learning activities and by 'what they had learned through their mutual engagement in these activities' (Wenger 1998). Through the introduction of SOLO Taxonomy a community of practice emerged as we started to talk about what learning actually was, how we knew that we were actually learning and determining what we could do to improve on the learning that we were involved in. These discussions resulted in the creation of collaborative rubrics to guide and develop higher order thinking and direction for improved outcomes to learning. Discussion and collaboration also resulted in self and peer assessment of tasks giving students a clearer understanding of where they are in the learning process.
My involvement in this Community of Practice has been enlightening because I have realised that Communities of Practice can range from novice to expert and that age does not necessarily affect the building of quality relationships and the ability to share information. Communities of Practice encourage a ‘culture of expert practice’ in which discussion of practice and reflection on practice become routine (Collis, Brown & Newman, 1989). This Community of Practice provided a platform for the students to discuss and reflect on their learning, and in so doing, develop the meta-language of learning that supported reflective practice and self- directed learning practice. Establishing a community of practice with 7 to 10 year old students has been an interesting experience. I have learnt that we should never under estimated the ability of the children that we teach. I have also learnt that given the tools to support the articulation of their knowledge, thinking and learning, it is amazing the level of expertise and that can be achieved.
Through my involvement in this Community of Practice I have realised that communities of practice do require internal leadership, whether formal or less formal in order to legitimise the community as a place for sharing and creating knowledge. My role as the leader was to provide direction in the day-to-day organization of activities relating to the shared interest, I had to document developments and practices, I had to provide guiding questions to stimulate discussion and provide the opportunity for social interaction and I had to expose the community members to e-tools and technologies that they could use to support, develop and demonstrate reflective, self-directed learning practice.
This Community of Practice came to natural close as we ended the school year. However, we have captured what we have learnt from being part of this Community of Practice on blogs and e-Portfolios and four of the students in this participating group have created their own websites so that they can continue with reflective, self-directed learning practice. It will be interesting to follow the progress of these four students and to observe if and how their involvement in this Community of Practice has impacted on them as reflective, self-directed learners.
I feel that, even though the emerging of this community of practice was unscheduled and unplanned, what I have learnt from being a member of this group has been invaluable. I have had to really question my views on what I think learning is and how I know if I am learning and if the students in my class are learning. I have learnt about SOLO Taxonomy and I know that I will implement the use of this from the very start of the year in 2010. Through our discussions in the Community of Practice I have learnt about the intricacy of developing rubrics that support and direct next learning steps, higher order thinking. I have also learnt how important it is to work on the principle that “less is more”, giving students the time to reflect on their learning, assess themselves against criteria, give them the opportunity to talk about what they could do to improve their learning, and then give them time to have another go.
Communities of Practice exist all around us. Any gatherings of like minded people, who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better come under the umbrella of Communities of Practice.
References
Collis, A., Brown, J.S. & Newman, S.E. (1989).Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the craft of reading, writing and mathematics. In L.B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning and instruction: Essays in honour of Robert Glaser (pp. 453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Murphy 1997.
Snyder, W. & Wenger, E. (2003). Communities of practice in government: the case of sponsorship. Report to the CIO Council of the US Federal Government.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66363-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC.
Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E. (c 2007). 'Communities of practice. A brief introduction'. Communities of practice [http://www.ewenger.com/theory/. Accessed January 14, 2009].
Wenger, E., McDermott, R. & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: a guide to managing knowledge, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Wenger, E., & Snyder, W. (2000). Communities of practice: the
organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review. (January-February 2000), 139-145.