DOCSLIB.ORG

Social Networks and Communities of Practice

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Social Networks and Communities of Practice Chapter 9 Social networks and communities of practice Key terms in this chapter: ■ core, peripheral, secondary network ■ life-mode members ■ community of practice ■ dense and loose networks ■ brokers ■ uniplex and multiplex ties INTRODUCTION In the previous chapter we looked at the way in which linguistic variation can be analysed in terms of social classes. Social class can be used to group large swathes of people without the researcher needing to know them very well, and it would be impossible to imagine all mem- bers of a single social class knowing each other at all. As we saw, even a more sociologically inflected definition of class (such as Weber’s) sees commonalities across people in light of their aspirations and life trajectories, not whether they interact with each other or not. However, the topics of this chapter – social networks and communities of practice – are groupings that are based on frequency and quality of members’ interaction. Communities of practice are defined by shared practices and goals; the salience and meaning of those practices and goals can only be determined through detailed or ingroup knowledge. Because these three levels of social cat- egorisation (social class, networks and communities of practice) ask different questions about the social meaning of a linguistic variable, they can be used effectively with different kinds of data to analyse – and, more importantly, to understand – the meaning of linguistic variation. In this chapter, we turn to social groupings that may have more local meaning or more salience in the day-to-day workings of speakers’ lives than something like social class does. They will gradually form a bridge between the way variation patterns in larger social group- ings of class to the more interpersonal view of variation that informed Chapters 3–6 when we considered the impact of addressee and domain on the way speakers talk. SOCIAL NETWORKS Copyright © 2018. Routledge. All rights reserved. © 2018. Routledge. Copyright Social networks can be defined as ‘the relationships [individuals] contract with others . [reaching] out through social and geographical space linking many individuals’ (Milroy and Gordon 2003: 117). Whereas grouping people into social classes involves compartmentalising Meyerhoff, Miriam. <i>Introducing Sociolinguistics</i>, Routledge, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/senc/detail.action?docID=5494448. Created from senc on 2019-10-28 01:37:05. SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE 207 them on the basis of factors that may matter to society as a whole (e.g., how prestigious their jobs are), social networks group people on the basis of factors that are more idiosyncratic. Social networks are defined by who your friends are, who your kids are friends with, who you live near, who you have dinner or have drinks with, and who you work with. Network analyses also ask how often the members of all these groups are the same, and how often they are completely different. It is very important for sociolinguists to have a sense of what the patterns of associations are between people who are friends or roughly social equals within a community. This is because the diffusion of linguistic change happens relatively fast and very efficiently along what we might call horizontal channels (e.g., within one age group and a social cohort). What we might call vertical channels (e.g., channels between generations or across big social divides) are a comparatively slow and inefficient means of transmitting innovation. So it is common knowledge that kids talk more like their friends than they do like their parents (and that’s what gives rise to the nice age differences underpinning the apparent time construct discussed in Chapter 7). The significance of social networks emerges implicitly in sociolinguistics as early as Labov’s study of Martha’s Vineyard. There, as we saw, the networks of the Chilmark fisher- men and the Menemsha Native Americans were characterised (respectively) by higher levels of (ay) and (aw) centralisation than were found in other groups. The Native American commu- nity was a relatively self-contained network of individuals because of the regional and cultural isolation of the reservation. The fishing community also formed a reasonably self-contained network. Partly this was because they were located at the end of the island furthest from the growing tourism industry, but their network was also characterised by a more general orienta- tion to traditional Island ways of life. However, the systematic use of social networks as the basis for analysing linguistic vari- ation is most closely associated with James and Lesley Milroy’s research in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Milroys found that the patterns of language change that they observed correlated in very informative ways with the web of relationships that make up social networks. They argued, therefore, that social networks are at least as important as macro-social categories like class for understanding how changes take hold and spread across a community (or communities). Indeed, in some communities, social class may not be at all relevant and linguistic inno- vations or shared features may be defined in terms of people’s social networks alone. For example, many people working on sign languages observe that standard divisions of social class don’t seem to be very appropriate for deaf people. That’s because in many communities, deaf people have restricted access to education and employment. Since these are (as we have seen) two of the most widely used measures for deciding which social class someone falls into, this makes class problematic in the deaf community. Instead, when there is variation, the main social factor that predicts what signs someone is likely to use is what school they went to. This is not about level of education; rather, it is about who your densest networks are with. The importance of school as a predictor of lexical variation shows up in studies of signed languages in the New Zealand (McKee et al. 2011), Hong Kong (Siu 2016) and Germany (Eichmann and Rosenstock 2014). In the next two sections, some basic terminology associated with network analysis is introduced, as well as ways in which an analyst can identify social networks. I then introduce Copyright © 2018. Routledge. All rights reserved. © 2018. Routledge. Copyright the concept of the community of practice. We will see that communities of practice are a specific form of social network. They are defined even more strictly by members’ negotiated shared behaviour(s). Then we look at some case studies where social networks have been Meyerhoff, Miriam. <i>Introducing Sociolinguistics</i>, Routledge, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/senc/detail.action?docID=5494448. Created from senc on 2019-10-28 01:37:05. 208 SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE usefully deployed for analysing linguistic variation. (We will examine more case studies of communities of practice in Chapter 10.) Finally, the chapter will conclude with a discussion of some more theoretical issues aris- ing from the discussion of social class or social status and social networks, especially the relationship between class and style. Defining networks If membership in a particular social class can be determined on the basis of all sorts of external factors, but especially an individual’s occupation, what determines membership in a social network? Social network theory was introduced to sociolinguistics from sociology. In other fields of the social sciences, social networks have been found to have a big impact on how inno- vations are spread through society. You can look, for instance, at how fashions for sneakers/ trainers spread, or how new forms of technology spread using social networks (so, as you can imagine, marketers love studying social networks). Some researchers working in the Digital Humanities have also found it useful to plot networks of characters in novels – this can show how characters move across space in the novel world and how the author introduces them and lets them drift out of the narrative in relation to other characters (Luczak-Roesch et al. 2018). Naturally, if we can show that networks influence the social dispersion of innovations in fields like knowledge and technology, it would be nice to know whether they also affect the spread of linguistic innovation. How can you identify a social network? One way of going about it is for the researcher to observe who interacts with who in a community and to note how or why they are interacting with each other. Slowly, patterns of interaction will emerge and these can be said to consti- Core network tute individuals’ social networks. This method has the advantage of being objective and, like member a census, can provide a comprehensive slice-of-life picture of the way the community was structured at the time the research took place. If you were to construct a social network based Term used by Jenny Cheshire to describe on your Facebook contacts (and their Facebook contacts, and the contacts of their contacts the members centrally etc.), you would be doing something like this. The analytic tools would search across all your involved and actively posts over a specified time period and draw a line connecting who interacts and responds to participating in a whom during that time. friendship network. Another way of identifying networks is for the researcher to let the people s/he is observ- Distinguished from peripheral ing define their own social networks. That is, you can simply ask the subjects in your study and secondary something like ‘who are your best friends?’ or ‘name all the people that you had a conver- members who were sation with yesterday’. The researcher can then build up a network on the basis of all the progressively less answers. Some problems inevitably arise: Tim might name Nick as a best friend, but Nick involved.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Forming Communities of Practice in Higher Education: a Theoretical Perspective
    FORMING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE Maria Jakovljevic University of South Africa, South Africa [email protected] Sheryl Buckley University of South Africa, South Africa [email protected] Melanie Bushney University of South Africa, South Africa [email protected] Abstract: Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. The current problem is that there is no specific guidance to form communities of practice (CoP) in higher educational institutions to guide learners’ practical and theoretical knowledge and learning experiences. This comparative action research study will investigate, explore and describe ways of developing learning communities at institutions of higher education in South Africa and Europe, as well as determine the feasibility of doing so. In this research project entitled ‘Women in research’ the team of researchers who are predominantly women will focus on how learner learning can be stimulated through learning in communities of practice. Communities of practice recognise the diverse needs of the increasing numbers of learners entering university with different academic and cultural backgrounds and with varying social expectations and experiences. This study consists of six phases: developing a theoretical framework for communities of practice; exploring preliminary learners’ attitudes toward communities of practice; forming pilot communities of practice; evaluating pilot communities of practice groups; implementing action research to pilot communities of practice; and applying the communities of practice model to other groups. The aim of this paper is to highlight phase one of the study, that of developing a theoretical framework for communities of practice.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Communities of Practice in Cloud Skills Executive Summary
    Achieving Digital Transformation: The Role of Communities of Practice in Cloud Skills Executive Summary Digital transformation has become central to the success Successful digital transformation, however, doesn’t just happen of nearly every major industry. According to a recent IDG in the IT department. It requires all employees to buy in, as well report, 93% of surveyed enterprises have a digital-first as a commitment by the organization to cloud-skills training strategy for their business, encompassing everything from that goes beyond a single one-day class or a few online courses. enhanced data availability to the development of new Organizations need a comprehensive skills development program. revenue streams. A third of the respondents reported that This begins with identifying skill gaps throughout the workforce and digital business has already helped their organization includes creating a strong strategic communication plan to bring all achieve revenue growth.1 Digital transformation has become employees onboard. a critical trend for industry leaders, as organizations harness the power of technology to create better customer experiences and improve worker productivity. Cloud fluency has become a major component of that transformation. In a recent survey by the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, companies that move to the cloud can improve service levels, shorten times to market, and reduce IT overhead costs by up to 40%.2 © 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2 Such a program incorporates both formal teaching methods (classroom training, digital training, certification exams) and informal approaches (workshops, peer mentoring). Among these informal processes, communities of practice have garnered a great deal of attention from industry leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept Etienne Wenger
    Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a concept Etienne Wenger The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition. It has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory (Lave, 1988; Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984; Foucault, 1980; Vygostsky, 1978). But the concept of community of practice is well aligned with the perspective of the systems tradition. A community of practice itself can be viewed as a simple social system. And a complex social system can be viewed as constituted by interrelated communities of practice. In this essay I first explore the systemic nature of the concept at these two levels. Then I use this foundation to look at the applications of the concept, some of its main critiques, and its potential for developing a social discipline of learning. The concept of community of practice does not exist by itself. It is part of a broader conceptual framework for thinking about learning in its social dimensions.1 It is a perspective that locates learning, not in the head or outside it, but in the relationship between the person and the world, which for human beings is a social person in a social world. In this relation of participation, the social and the individual constitute each other. When I refer to “the theory” in what follows, I refer to this version of social learning theory. A social systems view on learning: communities of practice as social learning systems A community of practice can be viewed as a social learning system.
    [Show full text]
  • Practicing Community: Outline of a Praxeological Approach to the Feeling of We-Ness
    Klückmann Practicing Community Practicing Community: Outline of a Praxeological Approach to the Feeling of We-ness Matthias Klückmann Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft University of Tübingen Germany Abstract Community, once a backbone of the social sciences as well as the study of folklore, has lost its status as a framing concept. My aim in this article is to argue for the analytical value of community for the study of expressive culture and the everyday. Based on assumptions of practice theory, especially the work of Theodore R. Schatzki, I propose to understand community as a feeling of we-ness that evolves and transpires through bundles of practices and arrangements among participants of these practices. The praxeological perspective allows comparing communities of different types in order to gain general insights into aspects of boundaries as well as spatial and temporal orders of communities. usic played in the distance. I entered the district through a leafy graveyard. It was a hot summer day and immediately I missed the shadow I had been enjoying for the last few minutes. The streets around me—with their brick Mstone buildings, their small shops, bars and cafés on the main street, the allotments, the church and the school in the near distance—make up a small neighborhood in Stuttgart, a city in the southwest of Germany. The neighborhood is part of my fieldwork; the fieldwork is part of my research on the feeling of home and diversity in multi-ethnic neighborhoods. The neighborhood is commonly called Nordbahnhofviertel—literally translated ‘North Station Quarter’.1 It was built for railroad employees toward the end of the nineteenth century, in conjunction with a newly constructed freight station.
    [Show full text]
  • Motivation for Information Exchange in a Virtual Community of Practice: Evidence from a Facebook Group for Shrimp Farmers
    Motivation for Information Exchange in a Virtual Community of Practice: Evidence from a Facebook Group for Shrimp Farmers Guenwoo Lee1 and Aya Suzuki2 May, 2018 PRELIMINARY AND INCOMPLETE PLEASE DO NOT CITE OR DISTRIBUTE WITHOUT PERMISSION Abstract In order to reveal the motivation of information exchanges between farmers, we take a case of one Facebook group, which share a common farming crop and the majority of the members are farmers. We construct a monthly panel data to addresses a Facebook group member's motivation for information exchange between January 2015 and May 2017. Based on Poisson and negative binomial regressions, we found that: (i) members who have previously asked questions are more active in sharing information than people who have never asked; (ii) other members' positive expressions to previous information shared (such as clicking likes) promote future information sharing; (iii) the act of information sharing by one’s peer promote his/her own information sharing, and (iv) the more the member shares information in the past, the more s/he asks information today. These findings suggest that reciprocity does play a significant role in motivating information exchange even in the virtual communities of practice, similar to the communities of practice. We also confirm that professional reputation is one of the motivations for information sharing and that there is a positive effect of peer’s prosocial behavior. Keywords: Peer effect; Reciprocity; Reputation; Shrimp farming; Virtual community of practice JEL Codes: D80; O33; Q10 1 Corresponding author: Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Environmental Studies Building #706, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba-ken 277-8563 Phone: +81 80-4726-6874 email: [email protected] 2 Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo 1 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Communities of Practice Approach for Knowledge Management Systems
    systems Article Communities of Practice Approach for Knowledge Management Systems Sitalakshmi Venkatraman 1,* and Ramanathan Venkatraman 2 1 Department of Information Technology, Melbourne Polytechnic, Preston, Victoria 3072, Australia 2 Institute of Systems Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119615, Singapore; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-3-9269-1171 Received: 26 August 2018; Accepted: 24 September 2018; Published: 27 September 2018 Abstract: In this digital world, organisations are facing global competition as well as manpower pressures leading towards the knowledge economy, which heavily impacts on their local and international businesses. The trend is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to cope with these problems. With the advancement of technologies and social engineering that can connect people in the virtual world across time and distance, several organisations are embarking on knowledge management (KM) systems, implementing a community of practice (CoP) approach. However, virtual communities are relatively new paradigms, and there are several challenges to their successful implementation from an organisation’s point of interest. There is lack of CoP implementation framework that can cater to today’s dynamic business and sustainability requirements. To fill the gap in literature, this paper develops a practical framework for a CoP implementation with a view to align KM strategy with business strategy of an organization. It explores the different steps of building, sharing, and using tacit and explicit knowledge in CoPs by applying the Wiig KM cycle. It proposes a practical CoP implementation framework that adopts the Benefits, Tools, Organisation, People and Process (BTOPP) model in addressing the key questions surrounding each of the BTOPP elements with a structured approach.
    [Show full text]
  • Communities of Practice Guide
    Communities of Practice Guide Creating, reinvigorating or transforming a community of practice. by Christine Lupton, Harry Webne-Behrman, Julie Hunt Johnson, Margaret Merrill, Tetyana Schneider Community of Practice (CoP) Network Communities of Practice Guide In this Guide: Overview ………….……………………………………………………………………………… 3 5 Phases of CoPs………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Worksheets for 5 phases: Define……………………………………………………………..……………………… 6 Design…………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 Grow……………………………………………………………………..………………... 10 Perform……………………………………………………………………………..…….. 12 Transform……………………………………………………………………………..…. 14 References………………………………………………………….……………………………… 16 2 Communities of Practice Guide What are Communities of Practice (CoPs)? CoPs are “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Not everything called a “community” is a community of practice. For example, a neighborhood may be considered a community, but not necessarily a community of practice. Book club members may all enjoy reading novels, but they do not share a practice that expands the field of literature or addresses literacy. Three elements are key: COMMUNITY members “engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). DOMAIN is “shared domain of interest” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015), “a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic” (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002). PRACTICE is a “shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems” (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Why are CoPs useful? Communities of practice (CoPs) connect people with common goals and interests for the purpose of sharing resources, strategies, innovations and support. CoPs support the transmission and expansion of knowledge and expertise for leaders, learners and professionals in any field or discipline.
    [Show full text]
  • Studying STEM Faculty Communities of Practice Through Social Network Analysis
    The Journal of Higher Education ISSN: 0022-1546 (Print) 1538-4640 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uhej20 Studying STEM Faculty Communities of Practice through Social Network Analysis Shufeng Ma, Geoffrey L. Herman, Matthew West, Jonathan Tomkin & Jose Mestre To cite this article: Shufeng Ma, Geoffrey L. Herman, Matthew West, Jonathan Tomkin & Jose Mestre (2019): Studying STEM Faculty Communities of Practice through Social Network Analysis, The Journal of Higher Education, DOI: 10.1080/00221546.2018.1557100 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1557100 Published online: 09 Jan 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 40 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=uhej20 THE JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1557100 Studying STEM Faculty Communities of Practice through Social Network Analysis Shufeng Ma a, Geoffrey L. Herman b, Matthew West c, Jonathan Tomkind, and Jose Mestre e aInstitute of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; bDepartment of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA; cDepartment of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA; dDepartment of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA; eDepartment of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE
    [Show full text]
  • Medicine As a Community of Practice: Implications for Medical Education Richard L
    Perspective Medicine as a Community of Practice: Implications for Medical Education Richard L. Cruess, MD, Sylvia R. Cruess, MD, and Yvonne Steinert, PhD Abstract The presence of a variety of independent Having communities of practice as the medical education’s complexity. An learning theories makes it difficult theoretical basis of medical education initial step is to acknowledge the for medical educators to construct a does not diminish the value of other potential of communities of practice as comprehensive theoretical framework learning theories. Communities of practice the foundational theory. Educational for medical education, resulting in can serve as the foundational theory, and initiatives that could result from this numerous and often unrelated curricular, other theories can provide a theoretical approach include adding communities instructional, and assessment practices. basis for the multiple educational activities of practice to the cognitive base; Linked with an understanding of identity that take place within the community, thus actively engaging students in joining formation, the concept of communities of helping create an integrated theoretical the community; creating a welcoming practice could provide such a framework, approach. community; expanding the emphasis emphasizing the social nature of learning. on explicitly addressing role modeling, Individuals wish to join the community, Communities of practice can guide mentoring, experiential learning, and moving from legitimate peripheral to full the development of interventions reflection; providing faculty development participation, acquiring the identity of to make medical education more to support the program; and recognizing community members and accepting the effective and can help both learners the necessity to chart progress toward and educators better cope with 2017 community’s norms.
    [Show full text]
  • What Are Communities of Practice?
    What are Communities of Practice? Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope. In a nutshell: Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. Note that this definition allows for, but does not assume, intentionality: learning can be the reason the community comes together or an incidental outcome of member's interactions. Not everything called a community is a community of practice. A neighborhood for instance, is often called a community, but is usually not a community of practice. Three characteristics are crucial: 1. The domain: A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections between people. It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people. 2. The community: In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. 3. The practice: A community of practice is not merely a community of interest – people who like certain kinds of movies, for instance.
    [Show full text]
  • Community of Practice Always Involves Learning
    What are Communities of Practice? Key theorist, Etienne Wenger, defines Communities of Practice as groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger, 1998). It is a process of social learning that occurs when members collaborate, share ideas and strategies, determine solutions and build innovation. They are known by many names such as learning networks, tech clubs, reading circles, teaching teams, interdisciplinary research collaborations and other hubs where knowledge and practice is continually developed and shared. Wenger (1998) identified three critical elements of Communities of Practice: Domain or mutual engagement, where an identity is defined and shared by a community based on the common goals or interests of its members. Members are more likely to be motivated by their passion for the domain and are committed to regularly interact and contribute. Community or joint enterprise, where people care about the domain and actively participate in activities, discussions, helping each other and share information. Relationships are built that enable mutual learning and members are mindful of their standing within the community. Practice or shared repertoire, where resources, experiences, stories and tools are shared. Ways of addressing problems are continually developed, often resulting in new knowledge and innovation. Members are practitioners, regularly applying the domain’s knowledge and skills. Communities of Practice require a combination of these three elements. Communities are cultivated by constantly developing these elements simultaneously. What do they look like? Communities of practice are everywhere: Some are small, others large with a core group and many peripheral members.
    [Show full text]
  • Building Communities for the Exchange of Learning Objects
    ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology Vol. 12, No. 1, March 2004 Building communities for the exchange of learning objects: theoretical foundations and requirements Rob Koper*, Kees Pannekeet, Maaike Hendriks & Hans Hummel Educational Technology Expertise Center (OTEC), Open University of the Netherlands TaylorCALT1210310.1080/0968776...Research0968-77692004Association121000000MarchEducationalrob.koper@ou.nl & inArticleFrancis (print)/1741-1629 LearningforTechnology 2004 Learning Ltd Technology ExpertiseTechnology (online) Center (OTEC)Open University of The NetherlandsPO Box 26906401 DL HeerlenThe Netherlands In order to reduce overall costs of developing high-quality digital courses (including both the content, and the learning and teaching activities), the exchange of learning objects has been recog- nized as a promising solution. This article makes an inventory of the issues involved in the exchange of learning objects within a community. It explores some basic theories, models and specifications and provides a theoretical framework containing the functional and non-functional requirements to establish an exchange system in the educational field. Three levels of requirements are discussed. First, the non-functional requirements that deal with the technical conditions to make learning objects interoperable. Second, some basic use cases (activities) are identified that must be facilitated to enable the technical exchange of learning objects, e.g. searching and adapting the objects. Third, some basic use cases are identified that are required to establish the exchange of learning objects in a community, e.g. policy management, information and training. The implications of this frame- work are then discussed, including recommendations concerning the identification of reward systems, role changes and evaluation instruments. Introduction In online education there is a common need to reduce the workload of course devel- opers, to increase the quality of courses and—more generally—to reduce costs.
    [Show full text]