Networks of Community: Educators Talking about Teaching Sally Fincher LINKS’98 Stockholm 26th October tml

2 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Overview Introduction & Background Three things to think about –community –dissemination –network Some models for making networks work

3 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Introduction & Background UK Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) “Discipline Networks” initiative: Computer Science Discipline Network (CSDN) UK Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Fund for Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL)

4 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Three things to think about: Community A network serves a community –How is that community formed? –How does it think of itself? common status (“We’re all University Presidents”) common activity (“We’re all parking attendants”) boundaries (“I may not vote, but I know I live here”) –But, in general, not common interest

5 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Three things to think about: Dissemination “Dissemination” is a many-faceted thing (not a unitary activity) –Awareness –Knowledge –Use

6 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Three things to think about: Network What is a network? How is it interpreted –as a noun –as a verb

7 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 The noun-verb distinction NounVerb BelongingDoing Existence depends on: creating thingscreating activities

8 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 The noun-verb distinction: real examples NounVerb AccretorOpportunist BuilderCharismatic Problem-Solver Radial

9 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Academics Experiences of Networking: 1 “I don’t see networks as being anything terribly original, I mean we have actually been doing this for as long as anyone can remember at a research level, we don’t call it networks … and the only thing that I can see that stops you from doing it in teaching is some kind of lack of focus and some kind of feeling of isolation which people actually need to get over. The principle of meeting to talk about teaching is much the same as the principle of talking - meeting to talk - about research”

10 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Academics Experiences of Networking: 2 All in the “research” arena Diana Crane Invisible colleges; diffusion of knowledge in scientific communities University of Chicago Press, 1972 Tony Becher Academic tribes and territories : intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines Open University Press, 1989 Characterised by well-defined communities of interest and formal frameworks of dissemination (conferences, refereed publications etc.)

11 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 What is a network about teaching in Higher Education? It serves an ill-defined community –low status –poorly identified (people don't want to be "in") –Disciplinary, not institutionally based. Many isolated individuals It serves an ill-defined dissemination function –no formal frameworks –funders & politicians think of dissemination of use –Members think of dissemination of awareness maybe of knowledge

12 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Use of Technology Frequently used to overcome problems of isolation, absence of formal mechanisms and low status Frequently doesn’t work Mailing lists –opening a channel does not make communication –opening a channel does not make a community WWW –an individual does not make a network: a single site does not make a resource

13 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Some Models Mailing lists which move by themselves (The Corresponding Society) Web site which: –encompass periodicity (The Newsletter) –encourage return (The Noticeboard) –are comprehensive of initiative (The Book) –act as advertisement & display as well as providing information - creating a community by example (The Shop Window)

14 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Most importantly... The most powerful leverage networks can offer come at node-points - the places where communities intersect –individuals that intersect communities –web-sites which intersect dissemination efforts (“gateway” pages)

15 26th October 1998 LINKS’98 Closing thoughts Talking about teaching can work Networks can be a good way to do this Networks can work using technology Activity in this area works better if due consideration is given to –the community –what the dissemination is trying to achieve –matching both these with an appropriate model of networking activity