My Paper.Li aggregator brought me a link to a Jane Hart post this morning.
In her discussion of collaborative learning, Jane describes an approach in which:
the content is well-integrated within the community, and in fact co-created by the community, and where the emphasis is placed much more on the interactions, knowledge sharing and conversations of the participants – than on the content per se.
Jane has been working with Harold Jarche to develop this approach in their online workshops. She identifies ten success factors in supporting online learning:
INGREDIENTS
1 Someone who wants both to share expertise but is interested in hearing the views and experiences of others, and is willing to facilitate discussions.
2 A group of people who are hungry to learn from the one another and willing to share their experiences.
3 A private online group space where discussions can be held and resources can be shared.
4 A period of time that allows for reflection and discussion, and takes into consideration everyone’s busy schedules.
PREPARATION OF WORKSHOP
5 Identify the performance outcomes.
6 Design some practical and reflective tasks.
7 Create some supporting content. The content is there to promote and support conversation and discussion, not be the focus of the workshop.
8 Build in as much autonomy as possible.
RUN-TIME OF WORKSHOP
9 Provide lite-touch facilitation.
EVALUATION
10 Encourage self-evaluation of performance outcomes.
I think these are very helpful guides. At the moment I am working on a Small Open Online Course (SOOC) that I hope will facilitate learning in the ways that Jane and Harold have done so successfully in their workshops.
