and by sharing and modeling caring for each other, educators help learners build a community!

I somewhat disagree - I think this community building is successful precisely because there is a shared interest or goal. It goes hand in hand. If there is no connecting theme or goal, the groups fall apart.

Spinney, L. (2022, January 9). Are we witnessing the dawn of post-theory science? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/09/are-we-witnessing-the-dawn-of-post-theory-science

This helps me consider communities of practice, and unpacking the relational aspects - agency within a context, not autonomous, informed by the context and others. Is there a tension with "groupthink", how to value the diversity in a group, and build stronger not weaker, not defaulting or regressing to a mean?. How do we build a group to be more than the sum of the parts. how does the community work to enhance practice.

Similar ideas here: Stephen Downes (2015). Design Elements in a Personal Learning Environment. Invited talk, Guadalajara, Mexico. https://www.slideshare.net/Downes/design-elements-in-a-personal-learning-environment-52303224

What makes an 'online course' different to an 'online learning community'?

How do we find the connections we don't know we're looking for?

Not only new media; this would probably also work for schools, or any learning community.

Racine, N., Madigan, S., Cardinal, S., Hartwick, C., Leslie, M., Motz, M., & Pepler, D. (2021). Community-Based Research: Perspectives of Psychology Researchers and Community Partners. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cxrmt

Portfolio, B. and S. S. at N. (2021, November 3). No evidence school closures reduce the spread of COVID-19. Behavioural and Social Sciences at Nature Portfolio. http://socialsciences.nature.com/posts/no-evidence-school-closures-reduce-the-spread-of-covid-19

I like the idea of Discord as a backchannel but it suffers from the problem that it's a relatively niche app, and no-one is going to install and learn how to use it just for a conference.

I think that Discord would work well for a learning community though.

Kuepper-Tetzel, C. E., & Nordmann, E. (2021). Watch Party Lectures: Synchronous Delivery of Asynchronous Material [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ys4jn

Our institutions are colonial systems, the ivory towers render the people leading and running them to become disconnected from the very public they are supposed to be representing, ending up only serving themselves. “Do we have to burn it down and start again? Do we have to completely recalibrate it from the inside?

This post articulates a lot of what I've been thinking about for the past 18 months or so, but it adds the additional concept of community integration.

Interestingly, this aligns with the early, tentative ideas around what the future of In Beta might look like as a learning community, rather than a repository of content.

David Dye. (2021, January 26). So if you work somewhere already like this maybe suggest how to really run a WFH/mobile collaboration uni, and how we re-tool the physical meeting place we then in light of that? Maybe the philosophers already know this?? [Tweet]. @DavidDye9. https://twitter.com/DavidDye9/status/1354176181042556929

A followup to studies of community college students in Virginia and Washington, this national study found that students who enrolled in online classes early in their college careers were more likely to complete their degrees. This was true even though students in online classes are somewhat less prepared than those in in person classes. One difference may be that this study was published a few years after the Virginia one, and more students were enrolled in online classes by then. 9/10

The author, Kendra Grant, is the Director of Professional Development and Learning for Quillsoft in Toronto Canada. Grant helps business succeed in education design and support. In this article Grant discusses how quickly the learning environment has changed through technological development. Grant explores the RAT Model, which guides instructors in the "use of technology to help transform instructional practice." Grant then examines the Community of Inquiry model, which seeks to create meaningful instruction through social, cognitive and teaching presence. Grant concludes by providing general principles for creating a positive video presence.

Rating: 8/10

The authors detail their development of a professional learning community to advance technology integration at Nova Southeastern University. After a literature review of the key components of online learning, they discuss the method of implementing the PLC and the major outcomes and then offer recommendations for starting a PLC within institutions of higher ed.

10/10

The cutting edge of informal learning: makers, mobile, and more. This article discusses the features of informal learning and also discuss how it can be 'meaningful' and engaging. Constructivism and constructionism are mentioned though not at length. This may be useful given the limited resources I have but it is not one of the more impressive journal articles I have seen. rating 3/3

Learning Center

I find this article to be neglectful of our own agency -- that we learn and bring back to our own family and community that which helps us live and work together. And this paragraph holds most meaning to me-- and it reminded me of Sitting Bull who said, "When you find something good on the whiteman’s road, pick it up; but when you find something bad, or it turns out bad, drop it and leave it alone." https://flic.kr/p/NMPuKG

There are many truths within all of these [I found page 7 of the most interest]. I think about the propaganda that is permeating our online discourse-- and I think we all are getting smarter in our engagement or refusal to do so. And I see more polite disagreement recently. Because, with time, we strive for truth, even when we must revise our own thinking. We choose, no matter what is forced or imposed. Education matters. Schools matter. And learners take that which best benefits them. We see in schools kids not learning that which they deem not relevant-- so the transformation will come from the students expectations, I think. Consider the whole of our world, and what people have done with what they have learned. I don't think the hidden agenda, if there is one, works quite like these academics think -- when we consider the progress -- and how we are overcoming any back steps -- that exists in the world.

Education is not just school: it's wherever we are and how we connect with others to understand it.

Community-base Learning

Obvious question: what about groups, communities, networks, and other supra-individual entities apart from the course/cohort model?

Annotation as one such mechanism: learning, reading in community.

Drupal seems to have outstanding community building and support practices.

http://drupalladder.org/ladders<br> Drupal Core Ladder "This ladder teaches essential skills for contibuting to Drupal 8 Core." This is the first time I recall seeing an open source software project with planned pathways for potential contributors.

Contributor profiles, Jobs, and Marketplace pages.

How do I learn best? What resources are the best ones for me?