REFLECTION - EIPT Week of February 7-13.

This weeks readings from Chapter 9 - 12 were very interesting.  I feel I am learning a lot even though at times it seems a little overwhelming.  I appologize for not getting this posted earlier.

1)     How do virtual communities impact individuals in information seeking and knowledge construction? What are the possibilities for learning and change in this case study?  (for Ch. 9)

Virtual communities have a big impact on everyone that gets on the internet looking for answers to their question.  The most interesting part for me was the self help communities.  I never really stopped and thought about the fact that instead of calling a trusted friend for advise or answers to your question, we just get on the internet and look for it.  We blog it, put it on facebook, go to ask.com or anyother variety of web pages.  The most concerning is the fact that some people use the internet as their doctor and may not be on a reliable site.  On top of that they might be "lurkers" and not asking questions but just looking and picking out the answers to their questions that might be the most appropriate.    I like the term reflexive modernization.  We do a lot of reflecting and re-evaluating information that is already known. 

2)  How does technology support a knowledge-building community? (Ch. 12)

There are several ways technology can support a knowledge-building community.  Software can be designed to find out and support the needs of the community.  Technology can be designed and then must be facilitated. In this chapter it was called "cultivating a community of use". (p 349).  I feel without the technology advancements there have been we would still be back trying to obtain knowledge via chat rooms or just e-mails.  

3)  What are the specific implications that you can draw and apply to your specific context  (e.g., your own online course in which you are an instructor) of building a virtual learning community? (Ch. 10)

The implications I found were that every project based virtual learning community has a life cycle. Starting with the proposal and ending with the publication.  As a participant it is good to know about these phases as the role changes through out.  But just because it gets to the publication phase doesn't mean it stops.  It can be used to expand to another community and it's successes (or failures I presume) can be used to educate others. 

Renninger, K. A., & Shumar, W. (Eds.) (2010). Building virtual communities.
     Cambridge N.Y.: Cambridge University Press