Weak ties suffer no such restriction, though they are certainly not automatically bridges. Designing a virtual community of practice can be operationalized using the ADDIE model to guide the process. While counseling describes the supportive relationship between a social worker or another allied professionals and their client, mentoring relates more to a professional relationship between mentor and protégé. (pp. Without dismissing legitimate concerns about participation in virtual communities as a substitute for face-to-face human bonds, one of Rheingold’s most important contributions comes from his focus on the ways in which virtual communities possess potential for human bonding and social development: Those who critique [virtual communities] because some people use [them] obsessively hit an important target, but miss a great deal more when they don't take into consideration people who use the medium for genuine human interaction. What is important, rather, is that all bridges are weak ties. Expanding Tönnies’ work, Max Weber—the father of modern sociology—made a stronger case for the importance of community structures in individual development. This section reviews some significant research surrounding the use of virtual communities in counseling and mentoring, both as a way of offering insights into using virtual communities in daily practice as well as in expanding social workers’ knowledge bases and professional networks. "Dualities, distributed communities of practice and knowledge management", "Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship", "On-line communities: helping them form and grow", "Knowledge-sharing in an online community of health-care professionals", Searching for virtual communities of practice in the Usenet discussion network: combining quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the constructs of Wenger's theory, Searching Usenet for virtual Communities of Practice: using mixed methods to identify the constructs of Wenger's theory, Modelling Participation in Virtual Communities-of-Practice. This direct and authentic engagement between adult learners, when combined with opportunities to solve real problems, can increase leadership and confidence. Most importantly here, school social workers aiming to utilize virtual communities as a means of supporting students requires that “a multifunctional role structure concurrently provides opportunities for skill development, skill utilization, and the exercise of responsibility, voice, and influence” (p. 12); it also requires designers and practitioners to establish common “belief systems in empowering settings [which] encourage members to look beyond themselves, incorporating a shared vision and larger purpose shared by members of the setting” (p. 8). The members have some form of common background and shared language. Virtual Communities Of Practice: 9 Tips To Engage Participants. The technologies that use a lot of bandwidth (like video and webcams) are more likely to crash than enhance your participants’ experience. Proceeding farther into the 21st century, more theorists are exploring the uses of virtual communities, and more professional and educational institutions are developing digital forums for a wide range of services and training procedures. Ackerman, & G. Mark, (Eds. While cyberbullying is a problem among all children and teens, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth have been found to be disproportionately targeted by aggressors. Virtual discussions and collaborative learning can fit into busy teacher schedules, and can happen much more frequently within a community of practice. Web 2.0 applications and social networks have increased the ease with which OCoPs are created and maintained. Whenever participants reach out to you in the chat or aloud, always respond verbally or using the “chat” function in your platform. NoPs link local communities whose members have similar interests and give a minimal coherence to the network. (2005). Based on this brief review of the scholarly literature, virtual communities have been widely deployed in social work as a way of serving children, adolescent, and school populations—groups that are already active in social networking and thus stand to benefit from online support groups. If you do not respond, they may assume you are not interested in their ideas. In J. Jacko and A. Sears, A. Legitimation is concerned with power and authority relations in the community but is not necessarily formalised. A few sentences explaining what is happening can normalize the interruption and keep the meeting on track. Communities of Purpose: Communities of purpose form around people who are to achieve a similar objective. Discourse and jargon can create confusion and misunderstanding for non-native speakers and clarifying the communication errors online can prove difficult.[9]. If you know someone is new to the group, or will be speaking later, introduce that person at the beginning of the CoP so no one is wondering who the new person is. If this is not possible, assign a point person for each sub-group who will represent their team and commit to attend all of them. The book centers upon Rheingold recounting his experience as a formative member of the Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (the WELL), which opened in February 1985 and remains one of the oldest virtual communities still in existence. The article concludes by examining contemporary research and practices utilizing virtual communities in social work, with a particular emphasis on ways to integrate virtual communities into professional practice. This process allows for greater flexibility and more comprehensive resources for personal and professional development. Many schools and universities have also utilized virtual communities as a means of providing information and counseling services for students experiencing a wide range of issues, such as mental health, substance abuse, and stress management. So what happens if members aren’t talking? For example, some[3] claim that a wiki (such as Wikipedia) is a virtual CoP (Bryant, Forte & Bruckman, 2005), others argue that the essence of a community is that it is place-based – a community of place. [9], Social networks allow for the creation of clearly defined domains of interest in which dialogue and interactive conversations create communities with common and recorded histories. Where is the Action in Virtual Communities of Practice? However some researchers argue that a VCoP's high use of ICT, changes some of its characteristics and introduces new complexities and ambiguities, thus justifying the creation of the term and area of study (Kim, 2004; Zarb, 2006). Active participation means that members regularly contribute to community discourse. Offline communities of practice include user groups such as ASUG and eBay's annual “Live” event. New York: McGraw-Hill, Computer-supported collaborative learning, The Adult Literacy Education Wiki as a Virtual Community of Practice. Furthermore, theorists have demonstrated that the prominence of online social networking has accentuated the divide between classes, benefiting primarily those affluent enough to utilize computer-mediated networks at the expense of those lacking access (Maton, 2008). If teacher is characterized as discerner, with the ability to “transform understanding, performance skills, or desired attitudes or values into pedagogical representations and actions” (Shulman, 1987: 4) then teacher knowledge (of content, students, and pedagogy) is of paramount importance. Communities of practice are about what people do for a living. In the counseling field, scholars and practitioners have long understood the importance of an individual’s social network, whether as a means of introducing him or her to toxic behaviors or of rehabilitation from toxic behaviors. Journal of Distance Education/Revue de l'enseignement à distance, 19(1), 20–35. Good online facilitation is much more important than lots of fancy technology applications. While this field of study is relatively new, just as the implementation of virtual communities in educational settings is new, initial results are promising. The term “community of practice” (CoP) was first introduced by Etienne Wenger, an education practitioner and scholar who described CoPs as “groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.” Virtual CoPs provide an opportunity for educators to connect around similar topics, passions, and areas of expertise. Group is separated by space and time; based in networked technologies. Members of the community can assist each other by sharing experiences, suggesting strategies and exchanging information on the process in hand. Online communities of practice run the gamut from forums, faqs, to email list serves. I love connecting with my colleagues. Network of Practice: People who are not directly connected to each other but still engage in similar kinds of activities are said to belong to a network of practice (NoP).

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