Evaluating the development of a community of e-learning researchers: from short-term funding to sustainability

Abstract

This paper reports an evaluation of a special interest group created to support e-learning researchers. The study aimed to examine the ways in which short term funding is used to support the development of a community and the sustainability challenges facing this emerging community of practice when initial funding ceased. The iterative, formative evaluation process drew on statistics of community membership and use of the online community space, and surveys responses. The challenges faced were found to be similar to those common to any community of practice, i.e., the determination of domain, the identity of the community and the processes of communication within and across community boundaries. Wenger's communities of practice model was shown to be useful in diagnosing key tensions between the individual and the collective, between expert and novice researchers and between the core membership and the periphery of the community. The implications are discussed for the creation of project funded communities.