What is the value of meaning created through social learning in informal virtual communities?
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This study asks the question ‘What is the value of meaning created through social learning in informal virtual communities?’. By researching how people learn in two virtual communities of practice, based around forums, it endeavours to explore learning in online environments that are unconnected to workplace or educational institutions. Both communities studied in this project are meeting places for peers who pursue a domain of personal interest, hence neither community defines itself as a learning environment but as a social meeting place for people to share similar pursuits. The rationale of this study was to explore in-depth the plethora of resources that forum-based communities offer researchers of learning outside the academy, in order to understand the intricacies of un-facilitated social learning. A research strategy for this study was developed from Crotty's (1998) platform which defines: research methods; a methodology; a theoretical perspective; and an epistemology. Triangulated research methods of interview, observation, and personal participation form the basis of data collection. Ethnography, which incorporates auto-ethnography, was the chosen methodology, and the study is centred on a constructivist epistemology. This study employs an interpretivist theoretical perspective, relying on the approaches of two theorists to analyse the data. Both communities were explored by developing four specific propositions from an in-depth analysis of the available literature on informal learning, virtual environments and communities, together with the theoretical understandings of Wenger (1998) regarding Communities of Practice, and Candy (1991) relating to autodidactic and constructed learning. Two viewpoints were chosen because whilst there are a number of theoretical perspectives that can be applied to informal learning in a virtual environment, there is no one agreed theory which comprehensively explains the complexities of individual and social learning in virtual communities. Despite recognition of the Internet as a major source of many people’s informal learning, there is still comparatively limited research undertaken on how this happens. This study is intended to assist in the reduction of this gap by examining aspects of learning including: the connection between autonomous learners and virtual communities; the effect of the written format of the communities observed on dispersing meaning; and the impact of the virtuality of the community on the process of learning and creation of meaning. By undertaking an ethnographical examination of the nature of learning in two informal virtual communities based around written asynchronous forums, this study is intended to contribute to understanding the worth of informal learning in virtual communities where learning occurs between peers. This study contributes to knowledge through its exploration of the way learning occurs in un-facilitated environments and the legitimacy of the outcomes of that learning. Through this exploration, it fosters an appreciation of the value of meaning created in these social environments, as well as their role in validation of communal and individual meaning. It is able to do this by circumnavigating the difficulties earlier researchers have had in developing in-depth studies of the topic because it does not rely implicitly on the perspectives of those participating, or limited-time observations. The study concludes that for both communities their virtuality greatly influences the way their practice develops, as well as how this practice shapes the way in which their members learn in informal environments. It also concludes that learning in these environments is a very complex, often sophisticated, and sometimes contradictory process that is governed by many different, and occasionally competing, aims of individuals and communities. This study also resolved that because of the very complexity of this learning, these two communities produce some very deep and meaningful contributions to their respective domains. As individuals connected within these communities in order to explore their interest in their respective domains, the communities became: repositories of ideas and resources; places to engage in negotiating and renegotiating meaning; and places to validate personal meaning through testing against established community understandings and peer views. Thus after extensive ethnographical research on both communities of this study, it is considered that this work advances the knowledge of learning outside the academy by providing evidence that people do learn effectively in informal virtual communities
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: This study asks the question ‘What is the value of meaning created through social learning in informal virtual communities?’. By researching how people learn in two virtual communities of practice, based around forums, it endeavours to explore learning in online environments that are unconnected to workplace or educational institutions. Both communities studied in this project are meeting places for peers who pursue a domain of personal interest, hence neither community defines itself as a learning environment but as a social meeting place for people to share similar pursuits. The rationale of this study was to explore in-depth the plethora of resources that forum-based communities offer researchers of learning outside the academy, in order to understand the intricacies of un-facilitated social learning. A research strategy for this study was developed from Crotty's (1998) platform which defines: research methods; a methodology; a theoretical perspective; and an epistemology. Triangulated research methods of interview, observation, and personal participation form the basis of data collection. Ethnography, which incorporates auto-ethnography, was the chosen methodology, and the study is centred on a constructivist epistemology. This study employs an interpretivist theoretical perspective, relying on the approaches of two theorists to analyse the data. Both communities were explored by developing four specific propositions from an in-depth analysis of the available literature on informal learning, virtual environments and communities, together with the theoretical understandings of Wenger (1998) regarding Communities of Practice, and Candy (1991) relating to autodidactic and constructed learning. Two viewpoints were chosen because whilst there are a number of theoretical perspectives that can be applied to informal learning in a virtual environment, there is no one agreed theory which comprehensively explains the complexities of individual and social learning in virtual communities. Despite recognition of the Internet as a major source of many people’s informal learning, there is still comparatively limited research undertaken on how this happens. This study is intended to assist in the reduction of this gap by examining aspects of learning including: the connection between autonomous learners and virtual communities; the effect of the written format of the communities observed on dispersing meaning; and the impact of the virtuality of the community on the process of learning and creation of meaning. By undertaking an ethnographical examination of the nature of learning in two informal virtual communities based around written asynchronous forums, this study is intended to contribute to understanding the worth of informal learning in virtual communities where learning occurs between peers. This study contributes to knowledge through its exploration of the way learning occurs in un-facilitated environments and the legitimacy of the outcomes of that learning. Through this exploration, it fosters an appreciation of the value of meaning created in these social environments, as well as their role in validation of communal and individual meaning. It is able to do this by circumnavigating the difficulties earlier researchers have had in developing in-depth studies of the topic because it does not rely implicitly on the perspectives of those participating, or limited-time observations. The study concludes that for both communities their virtuality greatly influences the way their practice develops, as well as how this practice shapes the way in which their members learn in informal environments. It also concludes that learning in these environments is a very complex, often sophisticated, and sometimes contradictory process that is governed by many different, and occasionally competing, aims of individuals and communities. This study also resolved that because of the very complexity of this learning, these two communities produce some very deep and meaningful contributions to their respective domains. As individuals connected within these communities in order to explore their interest in their respective domains, the communities became: repositories of ideas and resources; places to engage in negotiating and renegotiating meaning; and places to validate personal meaning through testing against established community understandings and peer views. Thus after extensive ethnographical research on both communities of this study, it is considered that this work advances the knowledge of learning outside the academy by providing evidence that people do learn effectively in informal virtual communities
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
A review of cloud application assessment practices at the University of Ballarat
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre , Knox, Ian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education for Information Vol. 29, no. 3-4 (2012), p. 229-242
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: It has been suggested that traditional assessment practices in tertiary institutions tend not to equip students well for the processes of effective learning in a learning society [1]. This paper reviews alternative Internet based assessment practices used in Library, Business and Education courses at the University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 2011. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
Tinkerers, learning organisations and sustainable innovation
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Full Text:
- Description: The contribution of the lone ranger educator who tinkers with applications, testing discarding and working haphazardly around systems, should be seriously considered. Whilst learning organisations want to be perceived as dynamic structures that recognise and support innovation in curriculum and teaching practice they cannot responsibly incorporate every technical change, new invention or application, and idea into their curriculum. Collaborative teams concerned with responsible sustainability, should not be subjecting their ideas to natural selection. Before ideas can be disseminated through collective teams, there needs to be a diffusion of originality, innovation and thought between members of teams, and this frequently stems from the very tinkerers whose willingness to take risks and fail with new technologies is often regarded as inefficient and contradictory to organisational development. As learning organisations embed open source and community developed software, they are finding themselves enmeshed with systems that are never complete and always being changed as the Internet magnifies the opportunities for tinkerers to adapt applications. When learning organisations embrace the open source option instead of using proprietary licences, they too have an obligation to support and participate in the development. This development is often done within a community that exists without concerns for sustainability and responsibility but uses an adaptive process of natural selection. An important way in which they can respond to this obligation is to provide an environment where lone rangers tinkering in the developmental role of resources can function. © 2010 Dierdre Wilmott.
- Description: 2003010649
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Full Text:
- Description: The contribution of the lone ranger educator who tinkers with applications, testing discarding and working haphazardly around systems, should be seriously considered. Whilst learning organisations want to be perceived as dynamic structures that recognise and support innovation in curriculum and teaching practice they cannot responsibly incorporate every technical change, new invention or application, and idea into their curriculum. Collaborative teams concerned with responsible sustainability, should not be subjecting their ideas to natural selection. Before ideas can be disseminated through collective teams, there needs to be a diffusion of originality, innovation and thought between members of teams, and this frequently stems from the very tinkerers whose willingness to take risks and fail with new technologies is often regarded as inefficient and contradictory to organisational development. As learning organisations embed open source and community developed software, they are finding themselves enmeshed with systems that are never complete and always being changed as the Internet magnifies the opportunities for tinkerers to adapt applications. When learning organisations embrace the open source option instead of using proprietary licences, they too have an obligation to support and participate in the development. This development is often done within a community that exists without concerns for sustainability and responsibility but uses an adaptive process of natural selection. An important way in which they can respond to this obligation is to provide an environment where lone rangers tinkering in the developmental role of resources can function. © 2010 Dierdre Wilmott.
- Description: 2003010649
Virtual teams : Worlds apart
- Authors: Knox, Ian , Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Full Text:
- Description: Virtual teams are a relatively new phenomenon. A number of studies have focused on the description of team development and the group process of virtual learning teams as they form. This paper is a study of how Australian and American undergraduates worked together in virtual teams to respond to ethical and business practice problems for a given scenario. The study specifically examined the communication methods, task completion methodology and cultural differences exhibited by two undergraduate classes from the University of Ballarat, Ballarat Australia and Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Both synchronous and asynchronous communications methods were used with differing levels of enthusiasm and acceptance. Although the study was based on a small sample, which limits its generalisability, there are implications to inform those who are considering similar methods in their teaching. © 2008 Ian Knox and Deirdre Wilmott.
- Description: 2003010647
- Authors: Knox, Ian , Wilmott, Deirdre
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Full Text:
- Description: Virtual teams are a relatively new phenomenon. A number of studies have focused on the description of team development and the group process of virtual learning teams as they form. This paper is a study of how Australian and American undergraduates worked together in virtual teams to respond to ethical and business practice problems for a given scenario. The study specifically examined the communication methods, task completion methodology and cultural differences exhibited by two undergraduate classes from the University of Ballarat, Ballarat Australia and Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Both synchronous and asynchronous communications methods were used with differing levels of enthusiasm and acceptance. Although the study was based on a small sample, which limits its generalisability, there are implications to inform those who are considering similar methods in their teaching. © 2008 Ian Knox and Deirdre Wilmott.
- Description: 2003010647
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