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Category Archives: community development


Developing and stimulating vibrant online communities

May 22, 2008 – 2:01 pm

In my job, I do a lot of thinking about how you make online communities work, how do you know they are “working”, and how do you know they have passed their “use-by” date?
I’m convinced that though the technology can assist, and obsolete technology can hinder, that the clue to success lies within the community […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, virtual environments, community building | Comments (1)

oz-teachers icon to become a teenager

January 10, 2008 – 7:51 am

In August 1995 Lindy McKeown, on behalf of the oz-TeacherNet Project at Queensland University of Technology, announced a new service for Australian teachers - an email discussion list to be called oz-teachers.
The oz-teachers list has been established in response to numerous requests for a national list to collect Australian teachers in one ‘place’ and to […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, Australian education, informal learning, networking, community building, social networking, collaboration, oz-teachers | Comments (4)

Making Online Communities work

December 29, 2007 – 10:28 am

This is a topic I’ve already written about and given workshops on. But all my writings and presentations so far have really been based on the assumption that the community has been set up by someone who has a purpose in mind and who will be a driving force behind the community. Most communities that […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, online technologies, Australian education, networking, community building, social networking, me.edu.au | Comments (6)

Feedback coming in about me.edu.au

December 27, 2007 – 1:11 pm

Australian educators playing around with the beta release of http://me.edu.au are impressed with its capabilities and potential. By Christmas Eve over 1500 people had begun setting up their pages. Nick Lothian, one of the team behind the project has advised in his educationau blog of a couple of extra capabilities including the ability to […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, communication tools, Australian education, social networking, me.edu.au | Comments (3)

SINs are big in edna Groups

September 12, 2007 – 12:18 pm

SINs are Special Interest Networks and, in case you are not aware of it, that is what edna Groups is all about. Pre-social networking we would probably have talked about SIGs (Special Interest Groups) but they often used only one vehicle of communication such as a bulletin board or an email discussion list.
edna Groups provides […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, online technologies, Australian education, networking, community building, social networking, web 2.0, edna Groups | Comments (0)

Dynamics in an online community - 3 - building

May 24, 2007 – 8:41 am

Through Stephen Downes’ daily musings I have recently discovered two educational bloggers by the name of Dave. All three have worthwhile things to say about building communities and networks but I agree with Stephen (I think) that a community and a network are not necessarily the same thing.
In trying to envisage what I mean, I see […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, professional learning, networking, community building | Comments (0)

Dynamics in an online community-1

May 15, 2007 – 11:28 am

One of the things that interests me greatly is what creates/builds a dynamic online community.
One of my presentations in the current round edna 2.0 workshops is titled Making Online Communities Work and I am not at all sure that gives the perspective that I want to impart. It seems to imply a sort of top-down view, whereas I […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, communication tools, online technologies, virtual environments | Comments (2)

Peer production of knowledge

April 27, 2007 – 3:59 pm

I attended the Jimmy Wales seminar in Perth on Tuesday and enjoyed the networking with old and new friends as well as the intellectual stimulation of listening to Jimmy, other presenters, a good panel, and then workshopping ideas around our table.
I can’t cover everything here but there are a few points I want to make […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, online technologies, eduausem2007 | Comments (0)

Thinking about Second Life, VLEs, and other 3D environments

April 13, 2007 – 1:00 pm

A good friend, Lindy McKeown, ACCE and ISTE ICT Leader of the Year 2006, is ‘doing’ her PhD on use of 3D learning environments. She has set up Terra Incognita in Second Life as an island for educators. A dozen of us have become her “lab rabbits” and have begun thinking about how such environments might be used […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, online technologies, Australian education, professional development, professional learning, Second Life, SL, learning environments, 3D, virtual environments | Comments (4)

Wikis in education (2)

April 3, 2007 – 9:14 am

Wikipedia itself defines a wiki as “a website that allows visitors to add, remove, edit and change content, typically without the need for registration. It also allows for linking among any number of pages. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
Most wiki sites including wikipedia […]

By Kerrie Smith | Also posted in Educationau, teaching and learning, online technologies, professional development, professional learning, eduausem2007 | Comments (0)