Communities of practice for educators (Al Delgado)

Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 21:16:19 -0500
From: Albert Delgado
To: Sebastien Paquet
Subject: Help regarding study on community of practice

Hello Seb,

I was wondering if you could lead me to some resources in
regards to communities of practice among educators. We are six
elementary school teachers at one school and 5 professors .

My basic study is the development of a community of practice
around a Teacher action research group(s). The group is
looking at ESL Student Discourse development. We officially
start in September.

Second, to see if web services such as a blog, wiki and scout
portal toolkit, IM will support the community in its mission
over time.

I am looking at the history of of inquiry at our school among
educators.
I have set up a blog at http://www.learningcommons.net and
http://www.learningcommons.net/discourse/

I will have to "show" and "sell" the benefits of using
disruptive technology.

Any suggestions regarding communities of practice and
disruptive technology to enhance the work of said groups would
be very welcome.

Al

---

Al:

I know little on CoPs among educators. I don't think they're very
widespread, though they ought to. I'd say the Edblogosphere is one of the
most visible. In Higher Ed there are http://www.aahe.org/cop.htm

This should help -

http://web.archive.org/web/20030608211506/http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/onlinecomm.htm

> My basic study is the development of a community of practice around a
> Teacher action research group(s). The group is looking at ESL Student
> Discourse development. We officially start in September.

Sounds like jargon to me. :)

> Second, to see if web services such as a blog, wiki and scout portal
> toolkit, IM will support the community in its mission over time.

For sure, as long as the educators are not afraid to try them... an IRC
channel could be fun too. If they're not very techy a mailing list might
be more likely to have high participation. If using a blog at least you
need email updates. you can use a wiki as a repository of the useful
stuff. Publicise the wiki regularly on the list.

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/community/MailingListThenWiki

> I am looking at the history of of inquiry at our school among educators.

> I have set up a blog at http://www.learningcommons.net and
> http://www.learningcommons.net/discourse/
>
> I will have to "show" and "sell" the benefits of using disruptive
> technology.

To funders or teachers? It's a very different sale.

> Any suggestions regarding communities of practice and disruptive
> technology to enhance the work of said groups would be very welcome.

The wwwtools backlog is the single best thing I could think of to sell to
funders. For teachers you'd need conversation and live demos. My 2c.

http://web.archive.org/web/20040626115438/http://webtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/

Cheers, sorry for the late response
Seb