Monday, April 27, 2009

Salon #10: The Art of Building Virtual Communities

A virtual community is the gathering of people, in an online "space" where they come, communicate and connect with one another. It is what you make of it. I think when you start an online learning community you need to have specific goals of what you are trying to do. You need a community who is active and has consistent participation. Each person should be contributing something to the community. Knowing information is great but sharing makes you a community. It doesn't matter how big a community is but how much each person brings to the table. People who communicate and help out others who are in need are sometimes rewarded with brownie points which can be used towards a prize. This is to motivate everyone to help each other and keep a healthy environment. I think from a professional point of view this could be a great thing. As long as topics are approriate and people are contributing it will be beneficial. There will be people lurking, learning, and leading. I think classroom2.0 is a great online community. There are many different groups to join and interact with. There are times where I am lurking, sometimes I am learning and othertimes I am contributing and leading a conversation. As we worked on our collaboration I wanted to see if anyone had any fun songs, videos, or power points so I posted into the highschool math section of classroom 2.0 and people responded and I was able to add those into my project. I think with good intent virtuall communities are an excellent tool.

No comments: