Assignment 4 - Communities of Practice Project

Research a successful online community of practice (OCoP) and report on it. Can be a written report or a presentation. Be sure to answer the following questions in your report, but certainly don't limit yourself to these. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What kind of OCoP is this? What is its history? What makes this OCoP successful? What DE theories contribute to this success? How does it function? (See Harasim, pp. 150-151 for more details on this aspect.) How does this OCoP contribute to learning and building knowledge? How would you monitor or assess the success of this OCoP?

Approximately 1000 words in length; Direct citations are not to exceed 10% Double-spaced, Times New Roman or other sans serif, 11- or 12-point font; proper citation of any sources using APA style; no title page, but you should title your essay. Make sure name, course, and section heading is on first page, upper left. Clearly written, with no errors in grammar and spelling. Should include an introduction with thesis statement, developed ideas, and a conclusion. Should be clearly organized. Should sufficiently address questions suggested by your approach. Style should be formal academic writing. The essay should include your thoughts and describe your experience on the question you have chosen to write on, but also be supported through literature (from our course or additional research) and logical persuasive argumentation. Avoid using first-person point of view.

If you use PowerPoint, you should follow guidelines for the organization of slides. Length should approximate the word length for the written report, but may include audio as part of the length. You should plan to use audio in your presentation. Should include an introduction with thesis statement, developed ideas, and a conclusion. Should be clearly organized. Should sufficiently address questions suggested by your approach. Style should be a formal academic presentation. Should include your thoughts and describe your experience on the question you have chosen to write on, but also be supported through literature (from our course or additional research) and logical persuasive argumentation.

Online Communities of Practice: A Brief Look at MOOC-Ed OCoP

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to report briefly on the activities of the Massive Open Online Courses for Educators (MOOC Ed). It is an online community of practice (OCoP) that evolved from and was inspired by MOOCs, taught by three Canadian professionals: George Siemens, Stephen Downes and Dave Cornier. (Daniel, 2012) This paper will argue that, the value of massively open online courses (MOOCs) may not be ascribed to the MOOCs themselves. Instead, the value arises from the numerous technological innovations and services that develop, when MOOCS are utilized as a platform. This will be similar to those ecosystems that created Facebook and Twitter (Siemens, 2012).In like fashion, MOOC Ed is able to facilitate the sharing and creating of knowledge among its participants, by embracing similar collaborative social networks found in MOOC platforms, (Siemens, 2012). To understand the nature of this OCoP, the author begins this paper by tracing the historical roots of MOOC Ed, through the lens of a MOOC. Next, the underlying distance education theories, that support its functionalities, as well as knowledge creation strategies are examined. These are the aspects that will provide substance and direction, for the rest of this short report. A Brief History of MOOCs and the MOOC-Ed OCoP What is a community of practice (CoP) and how does it differ from an OCoP? According to Harasim, (2012) a community of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis (p. 142). By contrast, an online community of practice

(OCoP) includes all the traits of a CoP with one main difference: it is web-based and therefore exists and functions online (Harasim, 2012). The MOOC-Ed shares similar core characteristics. In 2012, the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University launched MOOC-Ed. The goal was to help K-12 educators develop and implement technological learning initiatives successfully. MOOC-Eds membership is free, and consists of district school leaders, including superintendents, curriculum and technology directors, all of whom share this same vision and passion for excellence in education. (Meyer, 2013).While the MOOC-Ed shares many characteristics with a traditional OCoP, as defined by Harasim, it non-the-less differs from the rest.in a distinctive way. A MOOC-Ed is an online community of practice that flourished and evolved from a MOOC .It is important to note this fact because, even though the MOOC-Ed resembles an OCoP structurally, it still functions like a type of MOOC, depending on the underlying learning theory, that supports its activities. What is a MOOC anyway? How does a MOOC-Ed function? These questions will be examined next. What is a MOOC? Traditional distance learning courses charge tuition, carry credit hours, and limit the enrollment class size to ensure student / instructor interaction. In contrast, the MOOC is usually free, does not carry credit, and massive. That is the design. These MOOCs are open in the sense that, because there are no participation prerequisites, they become global in their reach as they massively enroll tens of thousands of participants. As a result, some would argue that, MOOCs have the potential to democratize higher education as we know it. (Daniel, 2012) .Finally, according to Siemens (2012), MOOCs could be classified into two platforms: the first platform, xMOOCs emphasizes knowledge duplication and is favored by colleges and

universities that participate. The second platform is the Connectivist MOOCs that emphasize the role of social networks, knowledge sharing and creation. (Siemens, 2012) This MOOC model, developed by George Siemens, Stephen Downes and Dave Cormier in 2008, inspired and facilitated the creation of the MOOC-Ed. How does the MOOC-Ed function? Its functionality is based on connectivist principles of learning that embrace all learners as co-producers of knowledge and meaning. While the learning from all participants occurs in decentralized locations, the artifacts of learning remain harvested to a central hub through daily / monthly newsletters, blogs or some other social network tool. (Daniels, 2012; Siemens, 2012)

For its operations, the MOOC-Ed OCoP has adapted the connectivist model to support its activities. From that connectivist perspective, connecting to others through nodes within networks, suggests that knowledge is not gained from a single source, but that the variety of knowledge within a network, is where knowledge occurs. In other words, knowledge is not an individual acquisition, but rather the result of information obtained through various sources, networks and communities (Kop & Hill, 2008)

How does knowledge sharing and building occur in a MOOC-Ed? To implement the connectivist perspective, participants of a MOOC-Ed can engage in four different levels of activity: Aggregation, Remixing, Repurposing, and Feed forward. (Kop et al. 2011, p. 79).

Conclusion: What are the Indicators for Promise and Success for MOOC - Ed? Harasim notes (2012) that it is not very difficult to start an online community of practice. She continues to remind us that, the great challenge lies in building and sustaining a long term community of practice. Therefore, the question that every OCoP must answer is, whether it is

successful now and in the future. Accordingly the key indicator for success for any OCoP is basic: is it alive and well? (Harasim, p.152, 2012). She recommends that a quick method to answer this question is to inspect the pulse of member activity, as well as the quantitative participation data. MOOC-Ed is still in its infancy. It was founded last year to promote and cultivate professional growth , to all members involved in digital learning initiatives. Therefore, it is too soon to make judgments or assessments of any significant value. However, if we use the pulse criteria recommended by Harasim (2012), then MOOC-Ed is alive and well if you click on the following link : http://dlt.mooc-ed.org/preview.

References Daniels, J. (2012). Making sense of MOOCs. Musings in a maze of myth, paradox and possibility. Journal of Interactive Media in Education. Retrieved from http://wwwjime.open.ac.uk/jime/article/view/2012-18

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theories and online technologies,141-166. New York: Routledge. Kop, R. & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: learning theory of the future or vestige of the past. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3). Kob, R., Fournier, H., & Mak, J.S.F. (2011). A pedagogy of abundance or a pedagogy to support human beings? Participant support on massive open online courses. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL), 12(7), 74-93. Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1041/2042

Kirschner, A. (2012). A pioneer in online education tries a MOOC. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/A-Pioneer-in-OnlineEducation/134662/

Meryer, L.(2013). North Carolina State U To Offer MOOC for School District Leaders.

Distance Learning. Campus Technology

Retrievedfromhttp://campustechnology.com/Articles/2013/03/19/North-Carolina-StateU-To-Offer-MOOC-for-School-District-Leaders.aspx?p=1

Siemens, G. (2012). MOOCs are really a platform. [Web log post]. Retrieved from `http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2012/07/25/moocs-are-really-a-platform/