Would love your comments on these ideas — let’s have a conversation.

OTHER FORMATS
Portable (iPod)
http://blip.tv/file/get/Snbeach-Reflection1ToTEDxNYED352.wmv
Audio-only
http://blip.tv/file/get/Snbeach-Reflection1ToTEDxNYED604.wmv

Lawrence Lessig, at a talk given at TEDxNYED March 6, 2010, does a wonderful job of modeling how we can work together to accomplish copyright policy change that is in the best interest of freedom and our kids’ future, rather than reinforcing the polarizing type of rhetoric heard from both conservatives and liberals alike. He encourages us to teach the values of freedom, community, limiting regulation, respecting the creator and other issues of fair use,  while teaching us a thing or two about copyright and the shift in the process. The talk is brilliant and absolutely TED quality.  Watch the video and then my comments will be inserted below the clip.

LIBERTARIAN LESSONS

I love the Libertarian Lessons he shares about the remix examples he includes. The distinction is an important one– that this new participatory culture encourages “authentic social moments” where creating a mashup or remix becomes less about infringement of commercial copyright and more about fellowship or an act of social creativity. That this type of remix is actually changing the  way we relate to each other in that our social interactions become a type of collective expression.

The arts and pop culture have always reflected society.

“However; regardless of the graphic method, … art has always depicted our social values, racial attitudes, lifestyles, fashion and political views in a way that is only seen in the art form. It reflected who we were, who we were supposed to be, and at times, led who we became.” Gary Freiberg

In my elementary classroom about 10 years ago I use to do remixes with visual art as a way of social play and a more engaged way for students to relate to the message of the painting and artist. It was also a way for us to look at society in the era we were studying. In the case of the pic below we were studying ancient Greece during the time of Socrates.

Death of Socrates- original

Death of Socrates- remix

Even though it is visual art and not video it represents individuals (in this case 5th graders) using culture as a shared language in order to communicate about what they were learning together. This was not only a learning experience in and of itself but a way these 5th graders mediated relationships with one another around the learning.

Our students need to be afforded  the opportunities to allow these social co-creations and representations to enrich their lives and creativity.

DOVE TAILED IDEAS
One of the things I enjoyed most about TED was the way the ideas of the speakers dove tailed and brought a tacit validation to the concepts presented earlier. Lessig’s piece underscored both Henry Jenkins who talked about participatory culture and David Wiley’s talk on Open Education.

David defines open ed- “Teaching materials freely shared with permissions to engage in the 4R activities.” (Reuse, Redistribute, Remix, Redefine). He likens educators who will not give open access to content they create to bees. They sting once and then die without the ability to recreate and extend what they have created through selfless sharing.

MISUSE OF CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

One story Lessig told particularly caught my interest was the one about Disney. If you watched the clip you will remember that Walt was the expert at remixing popular culture pieces into children movies with the same theme, but after he died his predecessor made sure that “No one could do to Disney what Disney did to the Brothers Grimm.” I fear one particular danger with CC will be folks who try and abuse the license by taking a license like Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License and getting the part about how they can use the content and remix but ignoring the piece where they also have to give the same right to remix to their remixed product.

Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

I have had this happen to a product I created where a large organization decided to take advantage of the CC license I used and copied what I was doing to the letter, (not much building upon) without changing anything.

Two things they did bothered me greatly.

1) They charged for their version of my model, even though the license allows for noncommercial uses only. (They didn’t even change the price)

2) They immediately slapped an “all rights reserved” license on what they had borrowed from me.

I believe that we will begin to see litigation over issues like this more and more as the participatory culture begins to license their intellectual work in ways that allow for creative reuse.

I am driving home from NYC and while I know I should be devoting my time to the PLP communities, I couldn’t help myself- I had to come here first and reflect.

It is such a rare thing when I have a chance to attend an event as a learner only and at TEDxNYED I was just that “learner only.” Don’t get me wrong,  I learn a great deal while I am presenting and engaging  audiences in the workshops and keynotes I am invited to give, however, it is rare that I am ever able to attend an event with no pressure to perform-where I am allowed to take the posture of learner only- without feeling the responsibility of teacher/leader.

Will and I both are fond of saying “learner first-teacher second” in the conversations we have with the PLP cohorts. It is something we take to heart- as we model co-learnering within the communities of practice in which we engage. I think that is why I was so moved when David Wiley and George Siemens took my understanding of the transparent learner to the next level.

MEETING GEORGE SIEMENS
Meeting and chatting with George was a real plus of attending this event. While neither of us needed an introduction to the other as we both “know” each others work, (I regularly cite his ideas on developing a learning ecology as well as  his thinking on connectivism) we had never met f2f or had a sustained conversation 1-1. I am a big fan of his and his colleague, Terry Anderson’s research on social learning, especially within communities.

MY AHA MOMENT
But this idea of when we  transparently share what we are learning, we become teachers- caused a schematic shift for me. I talk all the time about allowing ourselves to be learners, to be ok with reversed mentorship (our students teaching us), to be ok with modeling how we all start at ground zero as a learner and being comfortable with our students watching our disequilibrium. I talk about how when we share transparently and honestly what we are learning that we position ourselves as learners. I feel it is important as teachers to be transparent in the  sharing of our mistakes, our ah ha moments, our lessons learned, our failures and our success. But where George’s and David’s ideas made an impact was that I had never made the connection that transparency as a learner is part of a learning-teaching continuum o r in essence that education is the process of sharing what we have learned.

David Wiley said, “Openness is the only means of doing education. If there is no sharing, there is no education. Education is a relationship of sharing. Successful educators, share most thoroughly with the most students.” (to which I would add - and with each other)

I find it  interesting that this concept is not an either or proposition, but rather part of a continuum in  how we learn as connected learners. That it isn’t learner first, teacher second- but rather teaching is an embedded piece of what happens when we learn transparently, whether we are student or teacher, and because the two are meshed together they can’t be put in some chronological order like learner first, then teacher.

THE TRANSPARENCY FACTOR IN A TEACHING-LEARNING CONTINUUM

When I am sharing what I am learning, (like now) I am in fact teaching. The reason we and our students need to be sharing what we learn is because as we share we are making connections (with the readers and observers of what we are sharing).

And in those connections our role as transparent learner also begins to  include a teaching element. Hopefully, as the connections are made with those who are learning from us-as we become transparent teachers- possibilities and opportunities for collaborating around a remixing or scaling of what we shared takes place.

The cycle or the connected continuum of teaching and learning looks like this-

• first we learn and share
• which of course is teaching in and of itself
• and part of the core definition of education
• next we move from individual learner/teacher to co-collaborator/ co-learner.

The connections we make as byproduct of our reflective sharing as individuals, starts a shift from a focus on the individual and the development of self efficacy to a collaborative focus and the development of collective efficacy.

As we begin to share our talents and ideas collaboratively and look at the possibilities of what we can create collectively, we begin to move toward collective action around some possibility- which then takes us back full circle to transparently sharing what we have learned from the newly launched collective action experience. As this teaching/learning continuum spirals upward and outward we find direction. Direction provides shift and transformational change. Social learning in spaces that provide for deep reflection and sharing as we learn through action while moving along a purposeful path paves the way for systemic change.

SYSTEMIC SHIFT

When thinking about how we move from the sharing of ideas, like at TedxNYED, to a place of action, I believe it is useful to start with David and George’s premise of transparent learning being a part of good teaching.

Which results in connected learning.

Which could result  in collective action.

Which fosters systemic change within our schools or organizations.

It will be the movement from the silos (individual teaching space) of our classrooms to the shared virtual and physical spaces of connected learning and community driven collaboration that will serve as the fertile idea bed where systemic change of education will take place. Collective action is not the culture of education,  however it is exactly the missing piece that will give wings and wheels to our best ideas and provide hope for educational reform and transformation in such a time as this.

I had an epiphany today. For most of you who lead change, run a company or ministry this is probably obvious. But for me– not so much. I was listening to John Maxwell on TV today and he shared something I had never considered. My mission, my purpose in all the work I do, whether keynoting, conferences, working with for profits like Intel or Microsoft or non profits like the EETT grant work and especially in the building of PLP, has to be about adding value to the lives of others.

I know..I know.. for you guys it is a no brainer, but for me it is transformational- and here is why.

Traditional Approach
My standard mode of operation has always been to come up with an idea, dream about it, obsess over it, talk about it and bring others on board to help shape it and help me achieve my dream. I passionately talk about it in ways that made others see it and want to help. I constantly sell the vision. Like when Darren and I started K12Online. It was never about helping all the folks that volunteered to find their passion and bring their ideas for that amazing collaborative to fruition, rather it was about us delivering what we had conceived would work and enthusiastically getting others to ride the wave with us. This takes energy and commitment, as few people will immediately buy into a radical vision, and some will join the show much more slowly than others. Don’t get me wrong, I am passionate and I care about those working with me. A lot. It is just I believe so strongly in the change I see needs to happen that I have been known to put it before those working with me- even though my mantra is people before things.

CEO of Something
So then I hear John say his motivation for all the work he does with his company is adding value to people’s lives and it hits me– woah.
That is where I have been missing it. The focus with those that work with me needs to be on their passion. Me helping them achieve their dreams. For example, my daughter sent me this article. I read it and thought heck yeah that is what I need to do. I need to find gifted folks and put them in charge. Have them figure out what they are into and do well. Ask them- What is your passion and how can we use that to push the goal of building capacity in our community members- forward? Capacity that will result in educators who understand how to manage change, build community, and grow as connected learners. How can you support folks in developing skill to produce the kinds of change that will make schools relevant in the lives of the students we serve?

My Role
How can I help the folks who work with Will, Robin and I at PLP accomplish their dreams, learn as passion-based learners and add value to their lives? How can I truly lead from a distributive leadership model and make my job adding value to the lives of those I serve? I think part of my role as a 21st Century leader is to realize that by helping others self actualize- by helping them to reach their dreams, it will mean that they will move on and start their own companies or develop their own ideas that will make the world a better place.

See the big shift for me (and I am being transparent here) was realizing that I can’t have one vision for PLP participants and another for PLP staffers. That while we are all moving through the PLP model I need to let go– let them do it– practice what I preach– and spend my time helping them reach the highest level of tribal leadership for themselves. I need to become one who adds value to the lives of those I touch; a dream catcher who inspires others to reach their dreams, not mine- and in doing so I will have accomplished the very things I sought to accomplish in the first place.

Photo credit: www.designsbywillow.com/…/DreamCatcher.jpg

What do you think of when you try and define the concept leadership? I surveyed my Twitter community recently and was struck with the diversity represented as they grappled with the idea. Most of the definitions spoke to leadership belonging to a group broader than individual leaders.  Which is a shift from the dictionary definition:

lead⋅er⋅ship

Up until recently we have generally considered leadership to be synonymous with a person in a position of formal authority.  But I think there is a new realization emerging that when we limit leadership to the behaviors of one person, we are limiting the possibilities of community based participation. School leadership specifically should be a broad concept that is separated from individuals and a predetermined set of behaviors performed by those in charge. The time has come to broaden the concept of leadership to include a shared responsibility for a shared purpose of the educational community.

Leadership Theory
It helps to have a basic understanding of the theory supporting a particular concept when considering the needed shift. A cursory look at the various types of leadership theory all point to individuals who lead and followers who follow. Why this happens is up for grabs, but across the theories one will see that individuals are at the crux of the leadership or change that is occurring.

However, it is also important to note that, “Despite thousands of empirical studies yielding hundreds of definitions of leadership, there is still no consensus about it.” (Evans, 1996, p. 116). For example in trait theory the basic assumption is that if an individual possess certain traits - we have good leadership. This idea that certain traits are needed and if I do not have them, then I should look for those more gifted than I to take the lead, has caused many who would have pitched in to help lead, back away.  (You can get a quick primer on leadership theories here. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/leadership_theories.htm.)

But even with transformational leadership (the leadership model which until recently, most closely aligned with my personal leadership philosophy) described by Kouzes and Posner in their book,  The Leadership Challenge (2002), there is an individual at the head- the Transformational Leader - who seeks to transform the organization, promising to the followers that in this process will be transformed in some way. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless the organization does not need transforming.

Kouzes and Posner’s transformational leadership is described as:

Model the way
Modeling means going first, living the behaviors you want others to adopt. This is leading from the front. People will believe not what they hear leaders say but what they see leader consistently do.
Inspire a shared vision
People are motivated most not by fear or reward, but by ideas that capture their imagination.
Note that this is not so much about having a vision, but communicating it so effectively that others take it as their own.
Challenge the process
Leaders thrive on and learn from adversity and difficult situations. They are early adopters of innovation.
Enable others to act
Encouragement and exhortation is not enough. People must feel able to act and then must have the ability to put their ideas into action.
Encourage the heart
People act best of all when they are passionate about what they are doing. Leaders unleash the enthusiasm of their followers this with stories and passions of their own.

None of us is as good as all of us
While it is obvious that that leaders do perform acts of leadership, I agree with Linda Lambert that looking at the two separately encourages us to reconceptualize the concept (Lambert, 1998). What if when we referred to building leadership capacity we thought of community-based, skillful involvement in the work of leadership? What if principals saw their role as helping their staff develop the skills that enabled them to find, connect and collaborate with those who have giftings and expertise important to the passionate changes and reforms that they wanted to lead? What if the instructional leadership role and the professional development role that administrators had in a school was to add value to the lives and dreams of their faculty? What if administrators understood that the skill their teachers needed was to understand how to capture the imagination of their colleagues and enabled them to evoke real change in their own classrooms, schools, and beyond and to tackle the inevitable conflicts that arise from such risk-taking, innovative behavior?

Leadership needs to be reconceptulaized to include the wisdom of the crowd. The skill set includes understanding how to leverage the wisdom of the crowd without simply developing a group think mentality.

Leadership, when conceptualized through a community lens, puts the concept “leadership” as being more global than the sum of its “leaders”. A viral flow is generated by those who are choosing to lead. It is the excitement and wave of energy and purpose created by a group of leaders who are committed to the work that pulls others in the community (including the formal leader) into the work of leadership. Everyone becomes engaged and has ownership in the improvement initiative. Leaders in the work are there because each brings something unique or purposeful to the cause.

The shift is - leadership becomes a learning together, a constructing meaning together, and a growing in expertise and understanding collaboratively and collectively, rather than a “do it because I say so mentality” or a “do it because I am so awesome that I inspire you to participate mentality” or “do it for the team mentality”. Leadership becomes an opportunity to learn socially by reflecting deeply with each other. Opportunities to negotiate perceptions, values, dispositions, information, and assumptions together through the continuing of conversations taking place in the community, allows the shared leadership to make sense of the work in the light of new ideas and shared beliefs. This in turn creates a series of actions, adaptations and improvements which grow out of the schematically connected new understandings. The sum becomes more powerful than it’s parts. Together in leadership we are much more amazing than we ever were apart. None of us is as good as all of us.

Leadership becomes a learning process in which collaborative leaders construct and reconstruct meaning as a means to positive school change. Leadership becomes the capacity to learn collaboratively, globally, and use the new understanding to inform the mission or initative being developed. Leadership has direction toward a shared purpose.

Scary Part
Leadership in the 21st Century will need to be distributive. Shared. There will be a realignment of power and authority from individuals to groups. Brave superintendents and principals will learn to release personal authority and instead develop capacity in their faculties to use their newly gained personal power in ways that enhance the value of the whole. Teachers need to see school change as a collective endeavor that they no longer can abdicate  to formal leadership. In a learning community, leadership becomes the right and democratic duty of each individual the school and in the transparent venue of learning together in the presence of others- excuses, laziness, and blame for why change isn’t managed effectively or truly effective innovations aren’t implemented isn’t tolerated.

Your Thoughts
Obviously, these ideas are emergent and need the powerful meaning a community of reflective learners can bring. Please share your ideas and where you see strength and loop holes in this reconceptualization of leadership. I am very interested in your thoughts and thoughtful reflection.Please reply below.

References

Evans, R. (1996). The human side of school change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B.  (2002). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Lambert, L. (1998). Building leadership capacity in schools. Alexandria: ASCD

Straker, D. (2009) Leadership theories. ChangingMinds.org  Retrieved: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/theories/leadership_theories.htm

Definitions of smart on the Web:

• showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
• chic: elegant and stylish; “chic elegance”; “a smart new dress”; “a suit of voguish cut”
• bright: characterized by quickness and ease in learning; “some children are brighter in one subject than another”; “smart children talk earlier than the average”
• fresh: improperly forward or bold; “don’t be fresh with me”; “impertinent of a child to lecture a grownup”; “an impudent boy given to insulting strangers”; “Don’t get wise with me!”
• painfully severe; “he gave the dog a smart blow”
• quick and brisk; “I gave him a smart salute”; “we walked at a smart pace”
• ache: be the source of pain
• a kind of pain such as that caused by a wound or a burn or a sore

The definitions shared tonight went the full gamet just like above.

Enjoyed being  at the panel discussion at Educon where we defined and discussed smart. While I am not sure I agreed with all that was shared in terms of what is meant by smart- I do feel I will be smarter for having attended this conference.

If you missed the conversation during the panel discussion check it out by searching the #educon hashtag. I’ll be live blogging the conference as will many others. So far the highlight was having Ed Allen sit behind me at the panel and toss commentary back and forth with him and his wife about what was being said by the panelists. He is one smart guy.

Oh, and seeing Chris Lehmann in a suit. That was a highlight too. He looked very smart.

In education we do not get to see the fruit of our labor until many years have gone past. But when it happens it always makes a profound impact. Today was just such a day. As many of you know I worked with the Alabama Best Practices Center for four years in Alabama with schools across the state on a 21st Century Learners project. We worked with schools  on reconceptualizing their teaching, classrooms, schools and districts in ways that would meet the needs of the networked learner. We pushed hard for reculturing and a shift in curriculum toward project/problem based learning. I remember wondering (more than once) if anything I was saying, sharing, modeling, and teaching was getting through.

Then today I get this letter-

Sheryl,

Yesterday, I attended a 21st Century Showcase at Winterboro in Talladega County. You will remember that they joined the project in the second year. I wish you had been there with me.

They have completely transformed the school. It is now geared around problem-based learning. They have added four learning suites to the school - which was built in 1930 - that enables interdisciplinary teaching. Each suite has computers on each desk, and desks can be reconfigured to meet whatever task is being done.

The students were amazing and they were ENGAGED. The teachers who had been at Winterboro before the transformation noted that before many students couldn’t look adults in the eye. When I approach the school, one student saw me, came outside to open the door for me, reached out his hand, looked me in the eye and said, “Welcome to our wonderful school!” Within one minute, five other students had made a point of coming up to greet me.

There is a short video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCykWrOZCjo
It was made by a student who runs the school’s video studio.

Amazing, amazing.
Wanted you to know because you helped make this happen. Wish you could visit.

I was so happy, so proud, and so humbled. Change does happen. They are listening. You will see evidence of your hard labor.

Things are changing. They are shifting.

Lately, I have been thinking quite a bit about the shift in educational leadership that has occurred or has to occur in these changing times. What aspects of leadership works in this new era and what needs to shift in order to help school remain relevant in the lives of the students we serve.

I turned to my Twitter network to get their take. (You can add these smart people to your network too and learn from them like I do as their Twitter user names are in the parentheses) I asked them to complete the sentence:

Leadership is..

I went first…

Leadership is about learning together, and constructing meaning and knowledge collectively and collaboratively.

dwillard (dwillard)

@snbeach Leadership is being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and walk with them to a destination

gcarboni (gcarboni)

@snbeach Revised: Leadership is trusting others enough to allow them to lead.

teechrk12 (teechrk12)

@snbeach … Shared!

Peter Beens (pbeens)

@snbeach Leadership is to empower; to create an environment where collaboration and social networking are the norm, not the exception.

JFarm (JFarm)

@snbeach inspiration, perspiration, dedication, compassion… Not in any specific order.

Chuck Bell (Chuck_Bell_)

@snbeach Working on the sentence…regarding leadership, I thought this was very insightful…http://tinyurl.com/ycy7us3…great advice!

Lisa Mireles (lisamireles)

@snbeach creating supportive space so that each member of the learning community to reach their fullest potential.

JosieHolford (JosieHolford)

@snbeach And leadership is…definitely what we don’t have a lot of now. http://tinyurl.com/ykefnwo

JosieHolford (JosieHolford)

@snbeach Leadership is… when no one thinks you are leading but progress is made anyway

JosieHolford (JosieHolford)

@snbeach Leadership is … when followers follow and then in turn lead even when you are long gone.

Josh Allen (j_allen)

@snbeach …not always having to have the right answer because you hired the right staff.

Mark Carls (mcarls)

@snbeach Leadership is making informed decisions and sticking to them. Not wavering when things get rough. Being The Role Model.

JosieHolford (JosieHolford)

@snbeach ” Leadership” is like the words progressive and excellence - empty of meaning. But you know it when you experience it.

Jim Meredith (jdmeredith42)

@snbeach service

MONISE SEWARD (EDUCATIONCEO)

@snbeach LEadership is realizing you cannot do it alone…

angie abbott (ladyvolhoops)

@snbeach leadership is getting your teachers to work harder than they ever have and thank you for making them do it.

Randy Rodgers (rrodgers)

@snbeach Leadership is pushing others to expand their capabilities beyond their own expectations.

JosieHolford (JosieHolford)

@snbeach Leadership is always having to say you are sorry.t

Tom Turner (Tom_Turner)

@snbeach Leadership is: not being afraid to take chances

FreshCrust (Trattoria Freshcrust)

@snbeach putting yourself last, your people first

carolyn kick (ckicker)

@snbeach Leadership is to empower, engage, and establish those around you.

gcarboni (gcarboni)

@snbeach allowing others to lead.

heiditaylor (heiditaylor)

@snbeach Leadership is communicating the mission and vision daily in various ways to move an organization towards strategical objectives.

Jeremy Brueck (brueckj23)

@snbeach Leadership is setting high standards for academic & social development of all students & performance of adults & taking them there.

Lesley Edwards (bookminder)

@snbeach … willingness to try new things even if the road is a bit rocky in order to change things for the better.

Lorraine Orenchuk (lorenchuk)

@snbeach visionary, courageous and supportive to start

Michael Josefowicz (ToughLoveforX)

@snbeach Leadership is… finding and nurturing precisely the right people for your team. about 14 hours ago from web in reply to snbeach

Thanks Twitter Network!

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT BELOW AND FINISH THE SENTENCE:

LEADERSHIP IS:

photo credit: http://handsoncharlotte.org/HomePage/index.php/programs/charlotteen/images/LEADS.jpg

Photo credit: http://thenewpostliterate.blogspot.com/2009/01/dr-john-m-bennetts-solo-and.html

In the PLPNetbooks community (Australia work) this blog post surfaced after my interview with Steve Hargadon on The Future of Education

The Title of the post is the same as mine.. Why Are We Here? It follows:

Ok … Now I’ve got your attention

I’ve just finished listening to the lastest episode of the “Ed Tech Live” podcast in which Steve Hargadon interviewed our very own community leader Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. This is a great interview in which Sheryl talks about the PLP and also her background in working with communities and some of her journey in education.

So if you need a re-charge or need to be re-affirmed why we are all here, I’d suggest you take a listen (at least the first half of the podcast!) Well done, Sheryl!

Elluminate Full: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2009-09-08.1709.M.ACE02B5F35…
Audio: http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/sherylnb.mp3
Portable Video: http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/sherylnb.m4v
Chat: http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/sherylnb.rtf

To which I responded– (trying to model community leadership)

He followed with several well formed questions that I thought you might interest you- my blogging community. Here is my response to him.

——————-
Thanks for asking such powerful questions. I hope others will weigh in with their experiences as well.

As the community leader you should make sure in the practice posts and introductions that 100% of member posts get a response from you or someone else. The thrill of getting a response encourages more participation. After the initial building of capacity it is a give and take in trying to balance your community building efforts and posts.

Remember as a community leader your role is facilitator/instigator– not teacher. I think if you respond to posts with questions and use your replies as ways to bring others into the conversation, that your time is well spent. You do not want to be seen as the info giver here, rather you want to be the person that helps community members identify what it is they do well and what they have to add to the conversations and then help them do so.

Here is a public post from a past PLPer that highlights the feeling of getting a response.

It can be annoying– but out of sight–out of mind. It is great when you send out periodic links to great content being created by the community. What we do at PLP in our year long cohort is to have the community leader post a blog post on our PLPnetwork site or in a quarterly e-newsletter and we send those links out in NING. That way we are celebrating and recognizing folks for the good work they do which usually makes others want to participate more.

When you think of community as a place where a group of people make a commitment to each other to grow together and improve over time in their practice (teaching) and each team and each team member understands their role in collectively making the community successful, then the reminders are a welcomed intrusion.

Shepherding a community is different than being part of a network. Network connections have no expectations in terms of collective inquiry and improvement. They are what they are. But community is different. Communities have a purpose and understand that the best way to accomplish that purpose is to reflect, build, and grow together.

During norm setting with your community you could offer that regular reminders would be sent as a courtesy and in return the group agrees to not get annoyed.

I love this one. You would NOT believe the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in communities. You should encourage, recognize and celebrate often in f2f, synchronous and asynchronous ways. Also, find those in your community who have a gifting in encouragement and dub them with the role of Encourager. In a healthy community, you create a loose governance in the beginning and then part of the role of the leaders is to nurture leadership from the members. Natural leaders emerge over the months and designated leaders should recognize their abilities and share the load of shepherding. Community leaders should quickly become community members.

Bottom line– We look at who is in the room and what strengths and gifting they bring to the table. Then we decide, as a community, what possibilities we want to tackle and who has the capacity to help us. The purpose of team’s sharing projects is so that others who have wisdom, time, experience, or resources can offer to help. A team problem becomes a community problem. Transparent, deep, reflection nurtured through critical inquiry is what learning in a community is all about.

Bielaczyc & Collins (1999) identify the defining quality of a learning community as one in which:

You add a little as a way to model and to be a good community member. However, your more important role is to build into your community design ways for others to add content and co-create and evolve over time. The reason we use community leaders, fellows, experienced voices, team leaders, and team members is so we are all sharing and adding content in different ways.

Your intuition is right. If you have one person always adding content, then it is seen as a top down initiative and members will slip back into the 20th C pattern of passive learning.

As to your last comment–

Adult learning theory is different and new notions are emerging as our learning landscape shifts. But in a participatory culture and as we shift our classroom structures to community structures, I think we will find that community is community, and while the passionate interests and discussions may change the model holds true for kids or adults.

Here are some graphics that I created  for some work I did with Intel that may help in your understanding. (The pics are copyrighted- so please give attribution if you use them.)

I sure hope others will weigh in and share what they know or believe to be true from their experience or– maybe ask some more questions. I am a co-learner in this and VERY interested in what you have found to be true.

Ever wondered what PLP is all about?

Susan Carter Morgan shares about her PLP experience.