Power in the Networks

I am currently faced with the need to train faculty who are new to teaching online and/or to BlackBoard, the CMS we use here.  And since there has been little, if any, training with respect to online pedagogy even though there have been master’s level courses online for several years, I also do not know the degree to which online best practices are being adhered.

I read a thought-provoking blog posting today called “Communities, PLEs, small groups, & power, in a blog entitled Adventures in Corporate Education or, how my graduate studies are affecting my job in corporate education.

From my perspective, the author makes two critical points. The first point centers around the idea that learning occurs via social interaction, which often happens when finding and creating our own networks and communities. She further states that communities are recognizable by a set of norms to which all help create and then adhere. To know “the rules” is to be an insider.

The author then quotes Manuel Castells,

… in this network society, power continues to be the fundamental structuring force of its shape and direction. But power does not reside in institutions, not even in the state or in large
corporations. It is located in the networks that structure society….

As an educational technologist and instructional designer, I completely agree with the author when she says “we have to figure out how to empower members and learners to create a dedicated connection to the community we have built.  We have to look at how the controls we put in place (you know, that list of stuff that defines our community) interact with the characteristics of groups [of students] with whom we have invited to connect.

I also concurr with the blog author that we as faculty or learning designers need to be cognizant of the need to:

1. create a learning community in an online learning opportunity
2. recognize the power of the online community
3. design learning activities that will increase the likelihood that members of the course deciding are able to manage conflict and meld into a learning community.