Social Software for Sustaining Interaction, Collaboration, and Learning in Communities of Practice

2009 ◽  
pp. 300-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy el Helou ◽  
Denis Gillet ◽  
Christophe Salzmann ◽  
Yassin Rekik
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Collaboration ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Ubiquitous Access ◽  
High Level ◽  
École Polytechnique

The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne is developing a Web 2.0 social software called eLogbook and designed for sustaining interaction, collaboration, and learning in online communities. This chapter describes the 3A model on which eLogbook is based as well as the main services that the latter provides. The proposed social software has several innovative features that distinguish it from other classical online collaboration solutions. It offers a high-level of flexibility and adaptability so that it can fulfill the requirements of various Communities of Practice. It also provides community members with ubiquitous access and awareness through its different interfaces. Finally, eLogbook strengthens usability and acceptability thanks to its personalization and contextualization mechanisms.

Personalization Services for Online Collaboration and Learning

2010 ◽  
pp. 1334-1346
Author(s):  
Christina E. Evangelou ◽  
Manolis Tzagarakis ◽  
Nikos Karousos ◽  
George Gkotsis
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Collaboration ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Virtual Spaces ◽  
Effective Collaboration ◽  
Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools can be exploited as virtual spaces that satisfy the community members’ needs to construct and refine their ideas, opinions, and thoughts in meaningful ways, in order to suc-cessfully assist individual and community learning. More specifically, collaboration tools when properly personalized can aid individuals to articulate their personal standpoints in such a way that can be proven useful for the rest of the community where they belong. Personalization services, when properly integrated to collaboration tools, can be an aide to the development of learning skills, to the interaction with other actors, as well as to the growth of the learners’ autonomy and self-direction. This work pre-sents a framework of personalization services that has been developed to address the requirements for efficient and effective collaboration between online communities’ members that can act as catalysts for individual and community learning.

The eLogBook Framework

2010 ◽  
pp. 1856-1869
Author(s):  
Yassin Rekik ◽  
Denis Gillet ◽  
Sandy El Helou ◽  
Christophe Salzmann
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Multiple Views ◽  
Innovative Learning ◽  
High Level ◽  
École Polytechnique

Convinced by the important role of CoPs (communities of practice) and the innovative learning modality they offer,the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne is currently developing a framework to sustain interaction,collaboration, and learning in laboratory-oriented CoPs, namely the eLogBook. This paper describes the services provided by this framework, the 3A model on which it is based, and the main features it presents. The eLogBookpresents several innovative features that make it different from other classical collaboration workspaces. TheeLogBook offers a high level of flexibility and adaptability so that it can fit the requirements of various CoPs. It allowsCoPs’ members to define their own rules, protocols, andvocabularies. The eLogBook also focus on usability anduser acceptance thanks to its personalization andcontextualization mechanisms. Finally, the eLogBookprovides a community’s members with ubiquitous services thanks to its multiple views and its advanced awareness services.

Tackling Acceptability Issues in Communities of Practice by Providing a Lightweight Email-Based Interface to Social Software

2010 ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Chiu Man Yu ◽  
Denis Gillet ◽  
Sandy El Helou ◽  
Christophe Salzmann
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Joint Activities ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
Asset Management System

In the framework of the PALETTE European research project, the Swiss federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) is designing and experimenting with eLogbook, a Web-based collaborative environment designed for communities of practice. It enables users to manage joint activities, share related assets and get contextual awareness. In addition to the original Web-based access, an email-based eLogbook interface is developed. The purpose of this lightweight interface is twofold. First, it eases eLogbook access when using smart phones or PDA. Second, it eases eLogbook acceptance for community members hesitating to learn an additional Web environment. Thanks to the proposed interface, members of a community can benefit from the ease of use of an email client combined with the power of an activity and asset management system without burden. The Web-based eLogbook access can be kept for supporting further community evolutions, when participation becomes more regular and activities become more complex. This chapter presents the motivation, the design and the incentives of the emailbased eLogbook interface.

Social Software (and Web 2.0)

2010 ◽  
pp. 305-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Dorn
Keyword(s):  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Social Software ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Work Systems ◽  
Collaborative Software ◽  
Community Project ◽  
Bulletin Boards ◽  
Use Of The Internet

Social software is a class of information systems supporting the establishment and management of online communities for people in performing certain tasks. One of the first application types were bulletin boards. Social software may provide different services for community members such as finding members with similar interests, finding information on interesting subjects, discussing common problems, or simply the storing of private or publicly-accessible documents. Another similar term, collaborative software, applies to cooperative work systems, and is applied to software that supports working functions often restricted to private networks. Web 2.0 is a term coined only recently, and with this concept promoters try to focus on the change of use of the Internet. While Web 1.0 was a medium where few users published information in Web sites and many users read and surfed through these publications, in Web 2.0 many users also publish their opinions, information, and documents somewhere in the Internet. By motivating large communities for submissions and by structuring the content, the body of the aggregated information achieves considerable worth. A good example for such a community project is Wikipedia, where thousands of contributors deliver millions of articles, forming an encyclopaedia that is worth millions of dollars.

Online Communities of Practice and Web 2.0

2016 ◽  
pp. 265-292
Author(s):  
Amir Manzoor
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Management Communication ◽  
Organizational Goals ◽  
The People ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Online Communities Of Practice

In contemporary Knowledge Management, communication and collaboration play very significant role. Knowledge exists within the stakeholders of an organization. Such knowledge, when extracted and harnessed effectively, can become an extremely valuable asset to achieve organizational goals and objectives. This knowledge, embedded in the people, must be properly released through an appropriate channel to make it usable. Through dialogue and discussions, using online tools, this release and reuses of knowledge can be made possible. The Community of Practice (CoP) is a useful organizing concept for enhancing collaboration, sharing knowledge, and disseminating best practices among researchers and practitioners. This chapter explores the concept of Communities of Practice and how Web 2.0 technologies can facilitate the transformation from a conventional community of practice to online community of practice for better and effective online communities of practices.

Social Software (and Web 2.0)

2009 ◽  
pp. 1327-1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Dorn
Keyword(s):  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Social Software ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Work Systems ◽  
Collaborative Software ◽  
Community Project ◽  
Bulletin Boards ◽  
Use Of The Internet

Social software is a class of information systems supporting the establishment and management of online communities for people in performing certain tasks. One of the first application types were bulletin boards. Social software may provide different services for community members such as finding members with similar interests, finding information on interesting subjects, discussing common problems, or simply the storing of private or publicly-accessible documents. Another similar term, collaborative software, applies to cooperative work systems, and is applied to software that supports working functions often restricted to private networks. Web 2.0 is a term coined only recently, and with this concept promoters try to focus on the change of use of the Internet. While Web 1.0 was a medium where few users published information in Web sites and many users read and surfed through these publications, in Web 2.0 many users also publish their opinions, information, and documents somewhere in the Internet. By motivating large communities for submissions and by structuring the content, the body of the aggregated information achieves considerable worth. A good example for such a community project is Wikipedia, where thousands of contributors deliver millions of articles, forming an encyclopaedia that is worth millions of dollars.

Personalization Services for Online Collaboration and Learning

2009 ◽  
pp. 258-270
Author(s):  
Christina E. Evangelou ◽  
Manolis Tzagarakis ◽  
Nikos Karousos ◽  
George Gkotsis
Keyword(s):  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Collaboration ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Virtual Spaces ◽  
Effective Collaboration ◽  
Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools can be exploited as virtual spaces that satisfy the community members’ needs to construct and refine their ideas, opinions, and thoughts in meaningful ways, in order to suc-cessfully assist individual and community learning. More specifically, collaboration tools when properly personalized can aid individuals to articulate their personal standpoints in such a way that can be proven useful for the rest of the community where they belong. Personalization services, when properly integrated to collaboration tools, can be an aide to the development of learning skills, to the interaction with other actors, as well as to the growth of the learners’ autonomy and self-direction. This work pre-sents a framework of personalization services that has been developed to address the requirements for efficient and effective collaboration between online communities’ members that can act as catalysts for individual and community learning.

From Basic Participation to Transformation

2014 ◽  
pp. 446-473
Author(s):  
Diana Ayling ◽  
Hazel Owen ◽  
Edward Flagg
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Community Platforms ◽  
Online Communities Of Practice

In a time of great change and challenge in education, teachers have an “urgency” with regard to their professional development. Many educators are choosing to move away from traditional modes to participation in online communities of practice. The aim of this research was to verify that online communities of practice can support transformative learning and positive professional development experiences for members. Two community platforms were observed and examined in terms of online activity. In addition to the formal research methods, the researchers monitored the activity of a selection of community members, tracking their engagement and participation in the communities. The research demonstrates that rich and transformative learning and professional development can occur in online communities of practice. The authors highlight some of the values and skills required by both the community and active members. They conclude that well designed and deftly supported online communities have a bright future for professional learning and development.

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