Helferich/Pleil: Communities of Practice and Higher Education
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Transcript of Helferich/Pleil: Communities of Practice and Higher Education
Communities of Practice and Higher Education Social Media 2015, 10-12 April 2015 / HongKong
Pia Sue Helferich & Thomas Pleil
About
▪ Pia Sue Helferich
▪ Consultant E-Business-Lotse Darmstadt-Dieburg (Competence Center for Social Media & E-Learning)
▪ PhD Candidate
▪ @pshelferich, ebusinessinfo.de
▪ Prof. Dr. Thomas Pleil
▪ Director Institute for Communication & Media
▪ Head of study program Online Communication (B.Sc.)
▪ @tp_da, thomaspleil.wordpress.com, mediencampus.h-da.de
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Agenda
Introduction Higher Education
and Lifelong Learning
Communities of Practice in Higher
Education
Case Study: Connecting
Students with External
Communities of Practice
Conclusion
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Introduction
▪ Universities: education as self-contained phases
▪ Further qualification: responsibility of the employer and the employees
▪ Employees’ challenge: continuous development of qualifications (Gornik & Tomaschek, 2011)
è Universities have to prepare for informal and lifelong learning
Example
Type
Formal Education
School / University
Informal Learning
Communities of Practice Reading
Formal Learning
Courses / Trainings
Life-long Learning
Global Knowledge society
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Lifelong Learning
▪ The ongoing (re)qualification of practitioners: lifelong learning
▪ Lifelong learning: “purposeful learning, occurring among adults on an ongoing basis with the aim of improving skills or acquiring knowledge or competencies” (Head, Van Hoeck, & Garson, 2015)
▪ Lifelong learning can occur in the workplace, personal or civic life (Head et al., 2015)
Helferich / Pleil 2015
▪ Permanent changes and new requirements in the job demand to keep up-to-date (Arnold & Rohs, 2014)
▪ Changing jobs during career requires broadening expertise
▪ Ongoing education and training of employees as a key competitive factor for companies (Jongbloed, 2002, p. 416)
Relevance of Lifelong learning
▪ Students have to get prepared for fast changing environments & knowledge (Jongbloed, 2002)
▪ Universities should convey skills and methods to handle this (Jongbloed, 2002)
è Students have to shape individual learning environments
▪ Higher Education has to respond to these changes and to the continuous need for lifelong learning (Jongbloed, 2002).
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Communities of Practice & Higher Education (1)
▪ Communities of Practice (CoPs) (Wenger, 1998) as an answer to the need for lifelong learning
▪ CoPs can be defined as “groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise” (Wenger, 2000, p.139).
▪ Educational scholars have transferred the concept of CoPs to Higher Education for example for architecture classes (Morton, 2012). Huge body of research dealing with Higher Education and CoPs (Lea, 2005),
è Focus: The class or the students themselves form the CoPs.
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Communities of Practice & Higher Education (2)
▪ Our Approach: students should also be trained to connect with existing external CoPs within their future profession in order to be prepared for lifelong learning challenges in their future jobs.
è Learning as a networked process (Siemens, 2005)
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Educators‘ Weblog Textdepot
Course Blog PR-
Fundsachen
Social Bookmarks
(Group Archive)
Public Wiki
PR-Wiki
Private Wikis
PR-Blog
PR-Blog
PR-Blog PR-Blog
PR-Blog
PR-Blog (other
students)
Others‘ Bookmarks
PR-Blog (other
students)
IM
Educators‘
Communities of Practice in economy (1)
▪ CoPs in companies: most studies focus on internal CoPs
è Not adequate to all professions
▪ Social media give the opportunity to enrich networking and communication (Koch & Richter, 2008), not only within large organisations but also for smaller organisations and freelancers with professionals in their field
Helferich / Pleil 2015
▪ Examples are expert blogs, XING, LinkedIN or Facebook Groups
Communities of Practice in economy (2)
▪ The use of social media leads to a differentiation of CoPs
è CoP in times of social media may be cross border of organizations, are more self-organized and fluid than traditional CoP
è Connecting with such CoPs needs special training with web literacy as a basis
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Picture: Flickr @Doug Belshaw
Case Study: Hochschule Darmstadt
▪ Programme: Online Journalism, optional focus on Online PR
▪ Challenge: Fields change quickly
▪ Avoid to degree students with yesterday’s knowledge
è Scientific foundation, project based learning
è Topic centred usage of social media as a means to participate in CoP
è CoP on campus
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Case Study: Hochschule Darmstadt
Activities (starting 2005)
▪ (pr-wiki.de: A wiki on PR)
▪ pr-fundsachen.de, a group blog on the future field of occupation (+ FB, Twitter)
▪ Presentations: 5 minutes on a current self-selected topic
▪ Workshops and barcamps: Students’ presentations & live communication
▪ Do-Camps: working together with professionals on a nonprofit project
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Case Study: Hochschule Darmstadt
The students shall learn to
▪ identify experts in their future occupational field
▪ connect with them (following, reading, sharing, publishing, discussing, working together)
▪ identify relevant online places, events & networks with relevant discussions
▪ set up an personal learning environment
▪ identify current topics of their industry
▪ present themselves online (personal branding)
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Research Questions
1. Which networks do graduates use for lifelong learning?
2. Which effects has the connection with external CoPs during the study programme for lifelong learning? ? ?
? ?
? ? ? ?
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Research Methodology
▪ Qualitative interviews with former public relations students
▪ We coded and analysed the interviews with the software package MaxQDA and focused on open as well as process coding (Saldaña, 2013)
▪ From about 170 former students we conducted eight interviews. ▪ Five work in communications
agencies, two are founders of communication agencies ▪ One participant works part time in an
agency and part time as a freelancer for other agencies ▪ We covered six cohorts from the
graduation years 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007 & 2005. ▪ Participants were 24 to 35 years old
and speak German as their native language ▪ Working area of all participants: online
communication ▪ Fast changing conditions, high
demand for lifelong learning
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Findings
We structure our results into two parts according to our leading questions:
1. networks for lifelong learning and
2. effects of the connection with CoP in the study programme
Results
Networks for lifelong learning
Effects of the connection with CoP
in the study programme
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Networks for lifelong learning: Internal Networks
Networks
Internal Networks
External Networks
Networks of Former Fellow
Students
▪ Six of eight participants build learning networks with their actual working colleagues
▪ All participants said, that they realised the importance of learning on the job on a regular basis
▪ Four former students: face-to-face meetings with presentations and discussions on current development
▪ Strategies learned during the study programme are still being used to stay up-to-date
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Networks for LLL: External Networks
1. Networks with other professionals ▪ Five participants are using social media
extensively to stay in contact with professionals of their field (esp. Twitter, Facebook, XING)
▪ All participants: Social Media shape individual networks, no identification with a traditional CoP.
▪ Four participants: Being part of a web community in general, but no specific CoP
▪ Different approaches in connection with other professionals
▪ Online complements offline connections
2. Knowledge transfer networks ▪ Four former students noted that they built up a
network of online resources (blogs, export websites etc.) during their study programme, which they still use today
▪ Success factor: trust
Networks
Internal Networks
External Networks
Networks with other
professionals
Knowledge transfer
networks
Networks of Former Fellow
Students
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Effects Connecting Students with External CoPs
▪ Three former students noted they learned about the relevance of networks at university
▪ Five participants: the connection with external CoPs via social media and through events had clear effects
▪ Five former students: learned general strategies to participate in networks at all, like the reflection of media usage, being open-minded and to try things like new tools
Effects New Job / Job
Change Faster work
routines Cooperations
in Projekts Staying up-to-
date
Lifelong Learning Networks (external, internal) Strategies
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Limitations & Conclusion
▪ Our case study is limited as it refers to a certain study programme and a certain profession, where the need to stay up-to-date might be higher than in other professions
▪ Nevertheless, we think the case study may support didactical considerations, e.g. on the use of social media in education and to help to develop further study programmes
▪ We found some confirmation connecting students with external CoP might improve career opportunities as well as it supports lifelong learning
▪ Our findings on two groups of external networks (relationships and resources) support the idea of network learning (Siemens, 2005)
Future research:
▪ … on other professional fields
▪ … on conditions for acceptance of students within CoPs
▪ …. on the long-term social media usage and details about the learning process itself,
▪ … will have to be on a broader basis in terms of participants
Helferich / Pleil 2015
References
▪ Arnold, R., & Rohs, M. (2014). Von der Lernform zur Lebensform. In K. W. Schönherr (Ed.), Lebenslanges Lernen. Wissen und Können als Wohlstandsfaktoren (pp. 21–28). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
▪ Gornik, E., & Tomaschek, N. (2011). Prozesse für Lifelong Learning ermöglichen - eine Kernaufgabe der Universität der Zukunft. In N. Tomaschek (Ed.), The Life-long Learning University (pp. 7–14). Münster, Westf: Waxmann.
▪ Head, A., Van Hoeck, M., & Garson, D. (2015). Lifelong learning in the digital age: A content analysis of recent research on participation. First Monday, 20(2).
▪ Henderson, M. (2015). The (Mis)Use of Community of Practice: Delusion, Confusion, and Instrumentalism in Educational Technology Research. In S. Bulfin, N. F. Johnson, & C. Bigum (Eds.), Critical perspectives on technology and education (pp. 127–140).
▪ Jongbloed, B. (2002). Lifelong Learning: Implications for Institutions. Higher Education, 44(3/4), 413–431. doi:10.1023/A:1019825803857
▪ Koch, M., & Richter, A. (2008). Social-Networking-Dienste im Unternehmenskontext: Grundlagen und Herausforderungen. In A. Zerfass, M. Welker,, & J. Schmidt (Eds.), Kommunikation, Partizipation und Wirkungen im Social Web (Vol. 2 ; Vol. 3, pp. 352–369). Köln: Halem Verlag.
▪ Lea, M. R. (2005). Communities of practice in higher education: useful heuristic or educational model? In D. Barton & K. Tusting (Eds.), Learning in doing. Beyond communities of practice. Language, power, and social context (pp. 180–197). Cambridge, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.
▪ Morton, J. (2012). Communities of practice in higher education: A challenge from the discipline of architecture. Linguistics and Education, 23(1), 100–111. doi:10.1016/j.linged.2011.04.002
▪ Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed). Los Angeles [i.e. Thousand Oaks, Calif]: SAGE Publications.
▪ Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, U.K, New York, N.Y: Cambridge University Press.
Helferich / Pleil 2015
Roles for Educators (Siemens 2007)
§ Educator as network administrator § Helping students to construct
networks
§ Educator as master artist § Enculturation into a practice
è Very open spacy
§ Educator as curator § Expert with advanced knowledge § Creating learning resources
è Great in an ideal world. Problems: Motivation, proactivity
§ Educator as concierge § Directing learners to ressources § Incorporating traditional lectures § Permitting learners to explore on
their own
è Striking the balance
Lessons (Example)
Learner Generated Content: Short presentations (topic
chosen by students), discussion
èArticles in a Wiki
Educator Generated Content: Body of Knowledge: Lectures,
Excercises
Discussion: Hot topics within the Social
Web
------
------
1,5
to 3
hou
rs
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Lessons (Example)
Learner Generated Content: Short presentations (topic
chosen by students), discussion
èArticles in a Wiki
Educator Generated Content: Body of Knowledge: Lectures,
Excercises
Discussion: Hot topics within the Social
Web
------
------
1,5
to 3
hou
rs
------
-----
Bringing the Social Web into the classroom
Opening classroom to
the Social Web
Continuing Learning
outside the classroom