Online Communities for Education The Communities Online approach

Online Communities for Education The Communities. Online approach A Presentation by Ross Whitcher and Harvey Calder - Trustees Communities Online Trust – New Zealand A Steering Committee Member of the Consortium for APEC Cyber Education Cooperation Helping communities bridge the digital divide © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust

Who is Communities Online Trust… ? § NZ based, working through-out Asia Pacific Region (& Africa) o Non-Government Organisation, Not-for-Profit Trust o Inaugural member of Consortium for. APEC Cyber Education (ACEC) § Helping communities get themselves online… o Empowering communities to help themselves o Strengthening communities and building human capacitiess § Creating sustainable programmes, via collaborative projects o o Education Lifelong education Personal life skill development Community development 2 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

International and National programmes… § Basic Education / ICT o o APEC Network for Education – to raise ICT awareness and capability in secondary teachers through international cooperation and collaboration Sister schools programmes Cyber-School programmes Special Needs programmes o o o Maori, Pacific Island Nations (Samoan, Tongan, Tokelauan, Tuvalu, Niuean, …) Strengthening communities through online means Building human capacity by advancing ICT skills § Indigenous Communities Online: § Lifelong education…………. . § Community development………. § Digital Divide programmes………… 3 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Today’s we will look at… § Online Communities for Education o What is an online community ? § What is an e. Group ? § How easy is it to create an online community? § How can I publish an online article? o Example communities § § Teacher Education Teacher Support Classroom without walls Special needs 4 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

What is an online community… ? o Any online group of people § any group who communicate using the Internet and web-based communities, forums, discussion groups and email § may represent a physical entity, an organisation, a club, an informal group or a virtual group o Horizontal flow of communication between members… enables more interaction o Should enable people to create their own online world, just as they do in real life 5 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

APEC Education requirements for communities § Needed an easy to use tool that : o Is accessible for everyone o Operates in any language o Enables anyone to publish their own content o Requires no special training or software o Operates on slow Internet connections So we created Cmonline™ 6 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Online community tools for APEC Cyber Education… § Cmonline™ - a web-based service o Lets education communities get themselves online o Enables communities to take a technology leap o Allows active participation online… § from anywhere (web-based, no special software required) § in their own language § without special skills or web training o Supports community and organisational structures online o What is an e. Group ? § An online group of common interest § Members publishing online easily, themselves, without special skills 7 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

So what does an online community look like…? Lets create our own e. Group! Enter e. Group name, and homepage blurb… Year 7 College Surfing team Coach Freddy Our College Year 7 Boys Surfing Team web-site Add image or logo from your own online image library This web-site is the home of the Year 7 Boys Surfing Team for 2002. All news items, fixtures and official results will be posted here. Also a number of discussion forums enable boys and parents to organise transport, events, and functions. Fundraising will also be advertised here and. . Choose functions required and go! © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 8 3/4/2021

Easy isn’t it. . Bingo! You’ve created your team’s web-site with lots of functionality. Now let’s add a news item… 9 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Now create a News announcement. . New College Surfing e. Group A new e. Group for the College Year 7 Surfing team is launched Today, Mr Bloggs launched the new web-site for the College’s Year 7 Surf club team. This site will be regularly updated with weekly events, results and news items for team members, family and friends…blah blah blah blah blah blah… 10 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Done ! Done You’ve just published a news item. 11 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

And the site is automatically updated… Look – now your e. Group has a new News item…. . and it will also appear on the communities home page…. . and all e. Group member’s home pages…. . and in their weekly newsflash which is emailed to them. 12 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Examples communities § Teacher Education o APEC Network for Education – Asia Pacific region § Teacher Support o Te Hiringa i te Hahara - NZ Maori Language Teachers § Classroom without walls o Hutt ICT Primary Schools Cluster – NZ low decile primary school classrooms § Special needs and distance education o Gifted Children’s Programme – Cyber-school 13 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Example 1: Teacher Education www. apecneted. org § APEC Network for Education o an international community of teachers. . § “To share information in education in the APEC region” § “to promote the use of cyber education and specifically ICT” - APEC Education Foundation o Communities. Online is providing the communities mechanism enabling collaboration and sharing online: · ICT integration into the curriculum · Use of ICT for Teaching · ICT Projects 14 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

APEC Net. Ed communities www. apecneted. org All content being created by the members themselves Recent content automatically appearing. . - News Items - Articles & publications - Discussion forum topics - Events and notices - Other new content. . (no web-developers or publishers in sight!) 15 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Structured into areas of interest. . • Learning with ICT • Integrating ICT into the Curriculum • Using ICT in Teacher Education • ICT Projects and case studies… etc Status: - Available for use. Awaiting APEC Network for Education portal completion You can use this communities site now – • to join e. Groups of interest • to share and contribute • to create new e. Groups in areas of your interest At: www. apecneted. org see Communities 16 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Example 2: Teacher Support § Te hiringa e te Mahara (THM) – o A community of Maori language teachers spread through-out New Zealand o Collaborating to support each other to develop further curricular material for leadership training & development to discuss new policy & strategy for Maori education § to up-skill themselves in ICT § § o Managed programme, § appointed leadership § weekly telephone-conferences § Regular community reviews 17 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Teachers supporting teachers… A sense of belonging… • Sharing and helping one another • Learning to use ICT • Leadership training and mentoring 18 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Are publishing online articles easily… Novice users, with limited ICT skills publishing their own Articles online, without special tools 19 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Example 3: Classroom without walls § Hutt Primary School ICT Cluster o 7 low-decile primary schools o using e. Communities to share and collaborate between classrooms § Within the school § Between urban & rural schools § Between school and remote “expert” resources § Between school and home Used by children 7 -10 years old 20 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Representing a group of schools’ communities online… Displaying the organisation structure online Using e. Groups for • each School • School groups • Teams each classroom 21 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Each classroom has its own e. Group … • Students actively participating 22 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Interactive discussions with remote “experts”, online… 23 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Example 4: Special needs and distance learning… § Gifted Children's Online Community o Supporting remote teachers and students and their parents o Distributing teaching aids and material o Enabling online publishing of digital learning resources o Easily creating their own resources … 24 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Bringing geographically remote teachers and students together (Pilot commenced) 25 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Creating their own learning modules and discovery objects…. . with dynamic links… 26 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Easily created and published online using URL links… 27 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Same can be used within any economy… Arabic Indonesia Bahasa Malaysia Bengali – Traditional Chinese - Simplified Chinese Cook Islands Maori Dutch English French German Hindi Italian Japanese Korean Māori Niuean Portuguese Russian Samoan Spanish Tagálog Thai Tokelauan Tongan Urdu Vietnamese 28 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Summary § Online communities being used increasingly o By teachers, students and parents/caregivers § Allowing educational communities to get their own communities operating, by themselves § But require planned establishment project and ongoing monitoring to be self-sustaining 29 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021

Any Questions ? Contact us Ross Whitcher or Harvey Calder Communities Online Trust Lev 14, 49 Boulcott Street Wellington, New Zealand Tel +64 -4 -473 0166 info@communitiesonline. org. nz www. communitiesonline. org. nz 30 © 2002 Communities On. Line Trust 3/4/2021