Posts tagged Community cases

Jokaydia Community of Practice

September 1, 2009 · Filed under Community capers, Community case studies, Community cases, Uncategorized · Tagged , , , ,

This month restarts the Community Capers project to case study some of the brilliant examples of communities of practice that exist across the globe.

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The first of these spotlighted communities will be Jokaydia a CoP that has its home base in Second Life but impacts on the professional lives of its members well beyond that environment. It is en educational community that cuts across geographic, systemic and sectoral boundaries to serve the needs of educators in K-12, academic, vocational, corporate and not-for-profit environments.

“The Island of Jokaydia is designed to provide a flexible and dynamic space for educators in Second Life which includes informal and formal meeting spaces, plus a range of interesting objects and tools to explore. Our space is designed to assist new residents to gain competency and confidence in using the Second Life interface – whilst they are having fun! We also support mixed reality events, professional development activities and a number of other projects.” Jokaydia Community Blog.

In keeping with the model for Community Capers, over the next week or so I will describe Jokaydia through 4 tenets of community in terms of its people, common ties, social interaction and place. 

Over the next month you will get the opportunity to hear about the community, its projects and events, hear an interview with its convener Jo Kay and  towards the end of the month meet community  members in an inworld field trip event that coincides with the community’s annual online unconference.

Jump in now and get acquainted with some of the community spaces and conversations.

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Jokaydia Community of Practice convened by Joanna Kay  

Community blog http://jokaydia.com/

Community Wiki : Jokaydia wiki

http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia/183/188/21  (for Second Life)

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MirandaNet: Introduction

July 10, 2008 · Filed under Community capers, Research Findings · Tagged , , , ,

The MirandaNet Fellowship is a community of UK and International educators, educational researchers, technology consultants focused on the domain of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in school education and in supporting action research best practices.

MirandaNet Homepage

MirandaNet Homepage

MirandaNet’s evolution began after the 1992 closure of the Toshiba sponsored Project Miranda at the London Computing Centre. The team of academics involved wanted a way to stay working and learning together about ICTs in schools and MirandaNet was born under the vision of its founder Christina Preston.

An ongoing stream of research, assessment, and demonstration projects over the years has provided a rich learning environment in this community. Projects have for instance explored the use of laptops, electronic whiteboards, web resources and e-facilitation in K-12 contexts. The Fellowship’s work has been funded through grants, tendered and sponsored action research projects, and industry partnerships. Core group members act as part of a professional consultative organization, where professionals talk, listen and collaborate with government, industry, teacher educators and researchers.

This is a structured community where those accepted for membership enter as MirandaNet Scholars. After making a clear contribution to the community through a personal workplace research project and publication, Scholars may be promoted to become Fellows. Fellows are the experienced inner circle of the community who offer mentorship and expertise back to the community.

The community membership has been supported by web and e-mail-based technology, as well as public and private web forums and more recently the community has adopted Web2.0 technologies and online live meeting facilities. Fellows, as a group and within geographical limits, have opportunity throughout the year for face-to-face interaction through the community workshops, seminars and MirandaNet presentations at related educational conferences.

A few things really set this community apart from many educational counterparts and may be testimony to its longevity and the very low attrition in membership over its nearly 16 years in existence. The next four posts will examine MirandaNet’s development through the lens of the four community components; people, common ties, social interaction, and place. And next week we will be joined by some amazing guest bloggers from the community, beginning with the Founder and Director Christina Preston, to give us insight into the current community activities and the value they derive from community engagement.

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