I read Jeffrey’s post on Making sense of Complexity and engaging others in Change11 with interests.
Jeffrey says:
While I prefer online communication as a mode of social connection,I am increasingly disoriented by the sheer scope of participation in the MOOC,and thus am really struggling to find a small (or any!) social connections of more than a passing or very focused interest.
First, relating to the setting up of goals for MOOC Change11. I don’t think I have a particular set of goals this time.
I have only got one goal: To research and learn through Change 11, and reflect upon the practical aspects relating to Connectivism principles and Community of Practice.
So, natural questions for me include: Were MOOC communities of practice? Is Change11 a community? And is Change11 a community of practice?
MOOC may be a COP, but may be not, in accordance to the definition of COP.
In this slideshow by Stephen, he mentions that you got to “create” or “join” your own networks, own communities in a MOOC.
But can one really “build” a community of practice, in MOOC?
Based on my past experiences with CCKs, PLENK2010 and other MOOCs, the community is quite different from the “typical” communities that we would define, as there is no distinct boundary for the community. Instead of a community, in MOOC, it consists of numerous networks and communities which formed and re-formed, with some sustained, and some re-configuration in the network-community that formed. MOOCkers might have morphed along conglomerate networks, or social media as the weeks progressed, thus staying on with a particular media for sometime, and/or created blogs for a particular purpose, and then, engaged with others for a while. This seems to behave in a self-organised manner, without any directions from any facilitators, but then the individuals within particular networks would set their own agenda, goals, or tasks which suited their needs.
Can one reveal the patterns out of these network/community formation and development? Some social network analysis did reveal the trend and pattern.
How about this network and community of practice? COPs need a lot of nurturing before they could grow, develop and sustain.
In this article by Wenger and Snyder suggest that: To get communities going – and to sustain them over time – managers should:
*Identify Potential Communities of Practice.
*Provide the Infrastructure that will support such communities of practice.
*Use non traditional methods to assess the value of these communities of practice.
In MOOC, who will be the manager managing the COPs? May be, there is no one manager, but each of the participants in the MOOC would take up such role, and self-organise the COPs/Networks in a way that suits him or her.
Twitter is a network, though not a community, as many would argue. But under the “infra-structure” of MOOC, would Twitter be re-defined differently? Is it a transitional community, or communities of practice? May be.