Building Online Education Communities:

Case Studies from the UAE and Abroad

Anna Batchelder
Founder
For the next 40 minutes we will discuss…
What are online education communities?
Why participate in online education communities?
Case studies of online education communities.
How to create great online education communities.
 Education Technology PD and Consulting

Our mission is to help schools and organizations use

digital technologies to achieve their learning and
communication goals!

h"p://www.boneduca0on.com
Twi"er:
@bon_educa0on
Facebook:
h"p://www.facebook.com/pages/Dubai/Bon‐Educa0on/193712389877?ref=ts
 What are online
education communities?
Image:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/baratunde/2837373493/
Virtual spaces where people can…

Connect Collaborate Create Listen Learn

Images:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenhunter/2881565734/
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/mikedefiant/2149175068/
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/collin_key/2981543442/
 Why should educators &
students participate in online
education communities?
Image:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02/3574392846/
Research says…
Teachers are the most important variable in determining childrenʼs educational success
(North Central Regional Education Laboratory 2009, McKinsey 2007, Darling-Hammond 1997).

Systematic support for teachers leads to increased teacher effectiveness in schools

(Boreen, Johnson, Niday and Potts, 2000; Wong and Breaux, 2003).

Teachers can be effective change agents when supported by communities of teacher learners
(Corrie, 2000).

Blended instruction is a very effective way to learn

(Reynard 2009).

Viewed together, these findings suggest that by providing educators with systematic professional
development and collaboration opportunities within a face-to-face and online teacher community—the
nourishing conditions to support an effective teacher corp. (and hence engaged students) can be
introduced.
 Examples of online
education communities
at the global, local and
personal levels.
Image:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/jakebouma/3345296623/
 Morocco UAE USA

Learn
more
here:
h"p://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/CurrikiStories
 A place where RAK
educators can collaborate,
share knowledge and
support one another.
http://www.rakteachersnetwork.ning.com
The goals of the forum and accompanying edtech workshops are to:
- Facilitate a forum (face-to-face and virtual) by which Ras al Khaimah (RAK) educators
and school leaders can collaborate, share knowledge and support one another.
- Improve the quality of teaching in RAK through the exchange of ideas, experiences and
research.
- Disseminate best practices in education from global thought leaders to the teachers of
RAK.
- Provide RAK educators and school leaders with tools and strategies to take advantage of
the vast educational potential of the World Wide Web.
- Break down cultural barriers and help build an education community in RAK committed
to improving education for ALL children in RAK.
 Build your own Personal Learning Network
Math Join a professional learning community on
Math Ning, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twine…
Pick 5 education blogs and follow them using
your RSS reader.
Create a Twitter account and converse with
other edutweeters!
Come to Open Diversity Education Forums at
the Shelter (UAE)!

Image:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/mehradhm/2725631582/
See
accompanying
blog
post
and
video:
h"p://literacyispriceless.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/developing‐your‐personal‐learning‐network/
To
learn
about
Open
Diversity,
click
here:
h"p://www.facebook.com/pages/Open‐
Diversity/111073592243025?ref=ts
 How to build effective
online education
communities…

Image:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/163959411/
1) Identify the people and the purpose! 5) Seed engaging content.

2) Develop use cases. 6) Invite pilot users.

- What are members going to do? 7) Get initial feedback and modify interface
3) Select a platform. and content.

- Ning, Curriki, Facebook, Dolphin… 8) Invite more members.

4) Design and build your online interface. 9) Cultivate your community!

 How to cultivate your
online education
community…

Image:
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/lighthack/4289818310/
1) Have rules! 4) Encourage and reward community

2) Find a passionate community generated content.

manager. 5) Experiment!

3) Continually seed great content. 6) Combine with face-to-face!

1) Have
rules
‐
Have
the
community
collabora0vely
create
rules
that
make
all
members
feel
welcome,
safe
and
excited
to
learn/par0cipate.
2) Find
a
passionate
community
manager
‐
The
manager
should
welcome
all
new
members
and
coordinate/adver0se
all
community
ac0vi0es/content
addi0ons/etc.
The
person
should
regularly
engage
members
and
send
monthly
updates
to
all
members
to
keep
people
engaged
and
in
the
know.
The
person
should
also
use
community
usage
stats
(Google
Analy0cs!)
to
measure
what
the
community
cares
about.
It
always
helps
to
stay
on
top
of
community
best
prac0ces
via
sites
like
Mashable
and
Ning.
3) Con0nually
seed
great
content
‐
Members
need
to
feel
like
they
are
gecng
something
out
of
the
community
‐
conversa0on,
resources,
news,
useful
informa0on.
Great
content
=
happy
community
members.
4) Encourage
and
reward
community
generated
content
‐
A
con0nuous
flow
of
user
generated
content
is
a
great
way
to
keep
a
community
alive.
Make
it
easy
for
members
to
contribute
content
and
then
celebrate
them
when
they
do!
Create
incen0ves
for
user’s
to
contribute
content
and
then
make
sure
that
content
is
easy
to
find
(I.e.,
in
a
central
place
on
your
community).
5) Experiment
‐
Rela0onships
take
0me
and
effort.
Don’t
expect
to
get
your
online
community
right
the
first
0me.
A
successful
and
alive
community
requires
constant
experimenta0on.
6) Combine
with
face‐to‐face
‐
Online
conversa0ons
are
great,
but
they
are
even
more
powerful
when
you
know
the
people
in
person
(think
Facebook!).
 Q&A
Thank you!
Email: anna@boneducation.com
Blog: www.literacyispriceless.wordpress.com
Website: www.boneducation.com
Twitter: @bon_education