‘Supporting Learning Communities with ICT’ is the second module in our computing specialism and revolves around the use of online communities as social learning tools. The module takes a look at the many uses of online resources such as blogs, forums and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) as well as the impact they can have upon children’s learning. Before we can evaluate how to use Learning Communities, it is useful to take an introspective look at my own experiences with the internet and how I have used communities online to support my own learning. One of the reasons online learning communities are becoming such a useful tool is due to their versatility; these communities can enable people to learning formally or informally in terms of study and environment; this means that the internet can be used as an educating tool anywhere, anytime.
Throughout my own life I have used online learning communities in a variety of way; one example of a formal learning community I was a part of is the VLE Fronter which was used by my sixth form. My most prominent use of the VLE was during my Computing A-Level; to support our learning, my teacher had uploaded all of the powerpoints from throughout the year as well as providing us with examples of previous students coursework. This combined with the forum and messaging services provided by Fronter amalgamated in a hugely positive and productive online learning community with classmates sharing programming tips, revision notes and information about class with each at home or in school. This is an example of a formal learning community working together and interacting over the internet to support each other’s learning.
A second instance of using an online learning community is when I taught myself guitar through the use of YouTube videos, online music scores and forums. The internet is an amazing place to learning how to play an instrument with thousands of websites dedicated to learning every kind of instrument and every kind of way to play that instrument. When I started to learn guitar I learnt how to read guitar music (called tablature) from the internet and since then I have been using UltimateGuitar to learn any song I can manage. The really great thing about UltimateGuitar is as well as provide tablature for playing songs, the forum on the website is a highly active community with a huge amount of support and advice available for players of all abilities. For instance when I was beginning to learn I was really struggling to find songs easy enough to play; after a search on the UG forum I was able to find hundreds of posts with suggestions of easy songs which enabled me to get a good start and develop from there. As well as UG, YouTube has been a great source of information for me; watching video lessons (such as the one below) enables you to learn songs from expert players with descriptions of technique and music to help you play along. Clearly, the use of online communities has enabled me to learn a great life skill in a completely informal setting as well as saving me saving huge sums of money in music lessons. Just to put into perspective how much money online communities have saved me; an hour of one-on-one guitar tuition would cost around £25, I’ve been playing for 5 years so assuming one lesson a week I would’ve spent £6500 on learning the skills that I’ve learnt for free because of these communities.
In terms of pedagogy online learning communities are possibly one of the greatest examples of social constructivism today. These communities almost work like a classroom in terms of how there will be experts on the subject providing support and advice to more inexperienced members of the community; clearly this is an example of scaffolding in action, across the internet more knowledgeable others will provide support for those who wish to learn on any subject imaginable.
The creator of the World-Wide-Web Tim Berners-Lee says in his article ‘Answers for young people‘ that online learning communities are effectively the reason he came up with idea. Berners-Lee says that ‘The Web is a tool for communicating’ which he hopes is used for helping people understand each other and learn from one another. Online learning communities are clearly the vision Berners-Lee had when he created the WWW; people coming together to share knowledge, learn from each other and spread ideas across the globe. Before the internet a thought was a thought, but now anyone ideas can be shared, read, disputed or spread across the globe for all to see. In terms of a learning tool, this is unprecedented in human history, never before has world wide communication be so easily available and clearly people are choosing to use this new found communication tool to band together in communities and learn.
There are some nice reflections here. How would you go about teaching the Internet and the Web in schools? Can you find and share any good lesson ideas? It would also be good to include more hyperlinks, embedded media and some case studies.
In practice what VLE would you use to aid learning in the classroom and at home ?