tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21181769.post5164526454575506554..comments2023-08-12T02:42:38.772-05:00Comments on OPEN2LEARN: Learning Community Instructional DesignsRobert Hughes Jr, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156837218158354296noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21181769.post-9769180742882968892008-12-13T08:06:00.000-06:002008-12-13T08:06:00.000-06:00Good point Harold. I agree with your point learni...Good point Harold. I agree with your point learning communities have different purposes and therefore may have different lifetimes. <BR/><BR/>My comments about the life course of this effort reflects my interest in how we develop longer-term learning communities and how "educational efforts" can be translated into longer-term learning projects. Obviously, every educational effort does not need this purpose. Thanks for reminding me of this.Robert Hughes Jr, PhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17156837218158354296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21181769.post-90731433914181965372008-12-11T18:19:00.000-06:002008-12-11T18:19:00.000-06:00Good questions. At WorkLiteracy we didn't really k...Good questions. At WorkLiteracy we didn't really know what to expect, as the main idea was to start some conversations prior to the DevLearn conference. I didn't attend DevLearn but I'm told that the online community was well-received.<BR/><BR/>As we were facilitating the group we discussed how we could keep some aspects for longer than the life of the "course". My idea was to use the wikis (available off the main site) to synthesize what hat been discussed and learned over the 6 weeks. There wasn't much participation in the wikis and I suspect that was due to people being tired after 6 weeks. However, the Ning community remains open though I personally do not go there very often.<BR/><BR/>I don't think that the ephemeral nature of these online spaces is a problem though. They afford some intensity of participation and experience during a finite period but I'm not sure how they could be sustained by volunteers. The discussions were more intense than what you see on most blogs, so I think that the Ning site served a learning purpose. Keeping it going would take a lot of volunteer time or it would have to become commercial and then would lose some of its grassroots idealism.<BR/><BR/>Like a conference, it served a purpose, but the various communities and networks continue and there are many other venues online to continue the conversations that were started at WL.Harold Jarchehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11462304722726586155noreply@blogger.com