Well, I’m working on my literature review, so I’m bound to tinker with my research questions, aren’t I?
Also, an initial pass over my data showed me that if I just look at the skills and resources that people use to learn together online, I’m going to end up with a list. And not a very interesting list, at that.
I’m trying to look at what it buys me to consider the students as a network or one of various types of community Network doesn’t feel quite right, and I’m not entirely sure why. Something to do with it not being completely people centred. Community of practice isn’t right, either, because you can’t really argue that six students and two tutors make up a community of practice.
So I think I’ve either got a community of learners or a learning community. Whichever, I need to look at what I gain by looking at them as a community. I get all the elements of what a community is – reason for being a community, history, language, boundedness, members…
Today’s research questions are therefore:
How do students mobilise the resources of their online learning community in order to build knowledge?
What constrains them from mobilising these resources?
(I could use ‘affordances’ instead of ‘resources’ but then I’d have to go into the whole ‘what are affordances and what do I mean by them? debate – and I’d get saddled with a word which I think will date fairly quickly.)
Interesting problem Rebecca. I think your struggle reflects a broader problem in terms of what metaphors are most appropriate to describe this complex new world we are in. It seems to me – as you have outlined it above – BOTH network and community as terms have some relevance for what you are trying to focus on, community for the reasons you have stated and network because it gives an indication of the inter-connectedness. Affordances as a term does indeed have lots of baggage!!!! But interestingly it is a term that people keep flirting with in our area in terms of something about the essence or properties of something, what it offers….