additional insights re on-line communities

Earlier, I used a face-to-face model to understand the workings of an on-line community. Over the weeks that I have participated in the FOC course, I have come to use a new model as a handle of what might be going on in an on-line community. The model is as follows:

I now see four types [...]

3d facilitation and on-line communities of learning

In the third edition of “Did You Know” a certain Allan November was supposed to have identified 3 essential skills we need (children) to learn:

… deal with massive amounts of information;
… global communication skills;
… to be self-directed and understand how to organize more and more of their own learning.

I [...]

moving on…

Moving on the focus of the ‘course’ at this stage, of looking at the role and behaviour that distinguish Facilitator, Moderator and Teacher, and then to describe the skills requirements of each, I browsed through Extra Resources and found Leigh’s To Facilitate or to Teach and was intrigued by the following:

“Either I yield to the [...]

Still learning…

The thoughts shared by Amy as to Facilitating being that of “stewarding” & “nurturing” than formally “facilitating” and the role Leigh has modelled in this FOC08 as “host,” triggered a few more insights at my end:
First, couldn’t the biggest contribution of a Facilitator in a community be that of hospitality? In a community, there will [...]

How communities prosper/last

It is not strong individual leadership (facilitator, moderator, etc) that sustains community but rather the continuing commitment of a group of people who have seriously taken into their heart the love for the community and what it stands for. Invariably, there will be many “members” who would claim to be members of a particular community. [...]

On Communities & Virtual Learning Communities

This week’s focus is one closest to my heart – Communities. Sometimes I wonder whether the use of the word community has any actual differentiation from other terms such as Networks, Groups, Teams, etc. While classifications according to participation of members (such as those described in The Art of Building Virtual Communities are useful, they [...]

Where is the Heart?

One of the biggest issues I encounter in facilitating face to face events is the need to “get to the heart” of the participants. When the heart is involved in learning then the impact is greatest. When the heart is not touched then every event becomes just like most of the 86,400 seconds that pass [...]

Inching a bit more

Successfully posted insights and questions. I have also started using Google Reader plus Netvites to create my own public page. It is amazing how the vehicle works and I can just foresee the many applications it can have to facilitating learning. I am eagerly looking forward to picking up more from this course.