1. Instructional DEVELOPMENT CENTRE c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Building Learning Communities through Learning Object Development Denise Stockley Mark Fleming Queen’s University

2. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Agenda A Learning Community Approach CLOE CLOE@Queen’s Building and Sustaining Learning Communities Successful Learning Communities Require…

3. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c A Learning Community Approach Definition - a learning community consists of individuals who are working towards the primary goal of building knowledge.

4. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Why Develop Learning Communities? Assists with deeper levels of knowledge generation Promotes initiative, creativity, and critical thinking Allows students to create a shared goal for learning A sense of responsibility and accountability Time management and planning skills Better interpersonal communication Leadership Tolerance and sensitivity towards others’ viewpoints The ability to negotiate and resolve conflict Forms the foundation of a learning community

5. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Approach Cont. Modeled our approach after Shaffer and Anundsen (1993) philosophy that a learning community is created when individuals: w participate in common practices, w depend on one another, w make decisions together, w identify themselves as part of something larger than the sum of their individual relationships, and  commit themselves for the long term to their own, one another’s, and the group’s well-being.

6. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Cooperative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE) CLOE consists of 17 universities across Ontario Members develop and reuse learning objects All learning objects are developed in a collaborative approach Similar to an Inter-Library loan system

7. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c CLOE@Queen’s Partnership between the Instructional Development Centre and the Learning Technology Unit Team includes: Instructional Developer, Technical Support, and 3 senior undergraduate students

8. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c CLOE@Queen’s Cont. CLOE@Queen’s is our approach for learning object development, which is rooted in the need to build and sustain a learning community. This approach is used in the partnership, hiring of students, and working with faculty.

9. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Hiring Students Hired three students as Learning Object Developers Recommended to us by our Computing Science faculty (all had taken a 4 th year Learning Object Course) Each had various levels of technical expertise – for example one student was familiar with Macromedia products, another with JAVA, and the third with Databases. This combination resulted in a well-rounded community – technically.

10. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Building the Learning Community Initially, we designed a number of activities to promote the participation in common practices: Examined already developed learning objects to determine why objects were good or bad pedagogically and technically (used the MERLOT database) Co-developed the CLOE@Queen’s website for the official project launch, which in part helped them to learn about each others strengths and weaknesses in relation to developing learning objectsCLOE@Queen’s

11. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Building the Community Cont. Created the online form that invited faculty to propose their learning object to be considered for development (over 20 applicants) w Projects were selected for development through a community approach (involving the presenters, students, and faculty) determining that the learning object met the criteria for the project

12. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c Sustaining the Learning Community Co-developed 2 learning objects (4 more this summer). Water hammer (Applied Science), Molecular Chemistry (Arts and Science), Daoism Perspectives (Arts and Science), Teaching Philosophy Statements (Education), Learning Communities (Education), and Learning Communities (Education), Immunology (Health Science). Participated regularly in f-2-f meetings, online discussions, and a shared workspace (virtual and physical). This project encouraged the students to make decisions together, identify themselves with something larger than the individual, and commit to the long-term sustainability of the community.

13. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c A successful learning community requires: w clearly defining the purpose of the community, w creating a distinctive gathering place for the group, w promoting effective leadership from within, w defining norms and a clear code of conduct, w allowing for a range of member roles, w allowing for and facilitating of subgroups, and w allowing members to resolve their own disputes. Palloff and Pratt (1999) Based on feedback from the students and faculty, we feel that a learning community approach provides a sustainable model for learning object development

14. c o l l a b o r a t i v e r e s p o n s i v e p r a g m a t i c For More Information www. queensu.ca/cloe stockley@post.queenu.ca