Understanding Virtual Communities

The implications of the power of the virtual communities to education after reading the TIME's articles and CH. 1-3 are that nearly everyone has access to information and we all are wanting to share, discover, and educate ourselves. However as educators I feel it is our responsibilty to help students decipher what is reliable information and what is not. Virtual communities have a lot to offer but need some guidance.

Of all five chapters I have read this week the one I most enjoyed was chapter 5 "Evolution of an Online Education Community." I found it fascinating of teachers were learning from other teachers in the virtual world. The continuing education offered for teachers in a virtual classroom was very innovative for the time (late 1990's). I did not realize virtual classrooms originated at this time. I remember talking with my husband in the early 1990's about the "new" Worldwide Web. I told him I thought there was no way that concept would ever work. Boy was I way off track. Now here we are blogging, sharing, stories, pic and conversing with people all over the world. I am in awe by the potential the virtual world has. OK sorry I'm rambling. Anyway back to the chapter 5. Tapped In was a virtual community in which teachers could gain guidance and insight with other teachers on a variety of topics. I enjoyed the comments made by Tapped In participants. One in particular statement that caught my attention was the teacher that stated she lost track of time and her bell (she was at school on break) had rung and she imagined all the teachers across the state having to leave because the bells had rung at the same time.
My least enjoyed chapter was Chapter 7 " Mask and Identity." This was a difficult chapter for me. I understand the overall concept of the chapter (I think) is that the virtual world allows us to be anyone we want to be and that we should take advantage of this facet of the virtual communities to have a sense of connection with others with in the community. Various theories of identity were discussed and um...dissected so to speak. Many of the theorists I have not heard. Any enlightenment from others on this chapter would be welcomed.
Chapter 8"WISE Learning Communities" describes a learning community success by giving consideration to the four design guide lines 1. Support practices and tasks of participants. 2. Collecting experiences and representing them. 3. providing framework and 4. Represent the identities of the community members. I enjoyed reading about the scaffold knowledge framework-- "encourages students to link and connect their ideas so that they develop more integrated and cohesive ideas" This framework builds on what the student knows and fosters learning from one another. This type of scaffold framework I have seen in post conferences with my past nursing students. Following clinicals, students would share experiences and as a group everyone would offer insight and this would assist the students in critical thinking skills. WISE learning communities can be beneficial to school age children because it allows students to learn from one another and cultivate critical thinking skills at an early age.
Chapter 9 "Reflexive Modernization and Wired Self Help" explores the growth of self help groups. Over the years I have heard many statements from my patients "I think I have this because I researched it on the Internet" or "I am doing this treatment because I saw it on the Internet." Today's health consumer is much more knowledgeable than years past. This can be good or bad,. Some of the self help groups may be giving wrong advice. It is important to advise patients and any one who uses self-help groups to be skeptical and know/research the resources.
Chapter 10 " Life Cycles of a Learning Community" discussed the phases of learning community, from birth to death. The Zero-g project was the community analyzed in this chapter. In nursing school we study and teach Erickson's Development Stages. Erickson was a psychoanalyst that described the physical, emotional and psychological stages of development and relates specific issues, or developmental work or tasks, to each stage of a person's life from infancy to elderly. As I was reading this chapter I thought of how the stages of a learning community are similar to that of a person's. It's like the song "to every season turn, turn,turn."
The implications of the power of virtual communities to education are 1. educators must become knowledgeable and navigate within virtual communities in order to reach more students, and keep the interest of the new "virtual savvy student, 2. virtual communities can take the classroom beyond the 4 walls and bring a world to the student that some may never experience otherwise, 3. Gives added insight from others (teachers or students) experiences and 4. virtual communities gives teachers more material to exercise.
I believe sometimes the students and teachers roles reverse, even prior to the Internet however with so much information at our fingertips I think in a lot ways we have become some what self taught with minimal guidance from teachers. My 13 year old son said he had a paper to write over koala bears. He did not use references at the library. He came home and immediately googled "koala bears." He wrote a 3 page paper about Koala Bears and shared it with his class. I find rarely school age children use library references anymore. In addition if we want to understand something the reply anymore is "google it." So I guess it does make us experts in some way if only to know how or where to look for the information.
This hyper-connectedness we have with virtual communities will impact nursing education in several ways. First, the student consumer will come to expect virtual comm unites as a predictable form of education delivery. I can see this especially with adult learners because virtual learning provides flexibility and convenience for the student. Second, learners are encouraged to seek out and investigate knowledge. Third, student are able to draw from one an other's experiences.

Thanks, Sharon Smith