Networked Learning Community Research Articles

Leadership in networked learning communities: defining the terrain

This article describes results related to leadership that emerged from a series of studies commissioned by the Networked Learning Group of the National College of School Leadership to draw on the experiences of the Networked Learning Communities (NLC) Programme, with a view to informing the work of other groups and agencies in England and beyond who are incorporating networking into their educational change efforts. The focus of the evaluation was not on the effects of the NLC Programme as a separate entity. Instead, the focus was on identifying promising features and processes being implemented in NLCs and NLC schools and ascertaining the importance of these features to the success of educational networks generally.

Assessing the quality of action research

This contribution constitutes an attempt to distil quality criteria for assessing educational action research from examples of action research that the author has directly experienced in the course of his career. As such it effects a reconciliation between the idea of quality as an object of direct and immediate experience and as an object of more distanced criterial thinking and measurement. The author grounds the criteria in a number of narratives of experience or vignettes. In doing so he demonstrates how quality criteria are bound to contexts and multifaceted. The author clarifies the tradition of educational action research that has shaped his work with teachers and to which that work itself has contributed; namely one that stemmed from Stenhouse's notion of ‘teachers as researchers’. He then goes on to illustrate three different kinds of teacher research he has engaged with—externally mediated, experimental teaching, and networked learning communities—and how quality shapes up rather differently in each. Each kind of teacher research will need to be judged in its own terms even when it shares certain common features. In the final section, Furlong and Oancea's domains of quality for applied and practice‐based research are addressed. The author argues that each set of criteria distilled from his experience can be linked to Furlong and Oancea's dimensions of quality (with the exception of the economic dimension). Each expresses a concern for theoretical and methodological robustness, value‐for‐use (by teachers), and building capacity amongst teachers as potential agents of educationally worthwhile change. These universal dimensions of quality may be discerned in the formulation of the criteria illustrated in the vignettes. However, he contends that Furlong and Oancea's dimensions are too abstract and distanced from concrete experiences of action research to serve as meaningful criteria for judgement. Nevertheless, he claims that they can offer a broad orientation to reflecting about quality‐as‐experienced. This is illustrated by the author discussing the value‐for‐use dimension in the light of his experience of a particular action research project aimed at overcoming disaffection from learning.

Investigating patterns of interaction in networked learning and computer-supported collaborative learning: A role for Social Network Analysis

The focus of this study is to explore the advances that Social Network Analysis (SNA) can bring, in combination with other methods, when studying Networked Learning/Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (NL/CSCL). We present a general overview of how SNA is applied in NL/CSCL research; we then go on to illustrate how this research method can be integrated with existing studies on NL/CSCL, using an example from our own data, as a way to synthesize and extend our understanding of teaching and learning processes in NLCs. The example study reports empirical work using content analysis (CA), critical event recall (CER) and social network analysis (SNA). The aim is to use these methods to study the nature of the interaction patterns within a networked learning community (NLC), and the way its members share and construct knowledge. The paper also examines some of the current findings of SNA analysis work elsewhere in the literature, and discusses future prospects for SNA. This paper is part of a continuing international study that is investigating NL/CSCL among a community of learners engaged in a master’s program in e-learning.

Recognizing student leadership: schools and networks as sites of opportunity

Against the wider background of increasing interest in pupil voice, this article gives examples of the student involvement activity in the largest of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) development and enquiry initiatives: the Networked Learning Communities project. In programme-level research, student voice and participation were commonly reported as a significant dimension of network development. Recognizing and conceptualizing such involvement as leadership is discussed in relation to students’ roles as active agents in improving learning in schools and networks of schools. A study for NCSL indicated generally low levels of discourse among those in schools around what leadership might be, particularly among students, but indicated a preference for people-based, relational forms. It is argued that a perception of leadership as a relational process of influence rather than of hierarchical power strengthens the possibility of recognizing the potential of students as leaders. Schools and networks of schools are suggested as important sites for the enactment of leadership as influence through lateral modalities of power such as negotiation and persuasion which may contest and change existing structures.

Implementing cooperative learning in a Networked Learning Community

This article presents research findings of work undertaken by a Networked Learning Community in the north of England on implementing cooperative learning in primary and secondary schools. In twelve primary and two secondary schools, in a social and economically deprived area, cooperative learning is becoming embedded. How this has been supported by sharing good practice and working collaboratively between primary and secondary schools and with a higher education institution is examined. A crucial feature emerging from this is the role of a dedicated member of staff, as facilitator, to support and monitor the use of cooperative learning.

Innovative Models of Web-Supported University-School Partnerships [Abstract

This study explored how the Internet bridges theory and practice. Teacher educators, teachers, and prospective teachers used collaborative technologies to design networked communities embedded in three distinct perspectives: the networked learning community, the networked community of practice, and the knowledge building community. Networked communities prompted the development of solutions for integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the elementary, secondary, and post‐secondary levels. These communities provide opportunities for sustained theory‐practice dialogue between teachers at different stages of their professional development and opportunities for ‘boundary spanning’ between courses, practica, pre‐ and in‐service education, graduate seminars, and collaborative research activities.

Learning networks for schools: keeping up with the times or a leap into the unknown?

This article seeks to explore the ‘fit’ of ‘the network’ as an organizational form being implemented in schools in England. It considers current trends within education policy, pedagogy and educational technology in the context of these new service delivery models and relates these to the current interest in learning networks. The article draws upon the experience of school networks as it has been discussed in evaluation research and literature surveys, to highlight the issues around their implementation. The purpose, typology and potential tensions of educational networks are reviewed, with a particular focus on the Networked Learning Communities (NLCs) pioneered by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). Although, on the face of things, the position of the ‘school network’ as a structural model seems logical, there are significant tensions which suggest that the implementation and development of meaningful and high quality networks is far more challenging than the government may appreciate.

Online teaching in networked learning communities: A multi-method approach to studying the role of the teacher

The aim of this paper is to study the online teaching styles of two teachers who each tutor a networked learning community (NLC), within the same workshop. The study is undertaking empirical work using a multi-method approach in order to triangulate and contextualise our findings and enrich our understanding of the teacher participation in these NLCs. We apply social network analysis (SNA) to visualise the social structure of the NLC, content analysis (CA) to identify learning and teaching processes, critical event recall (CER) to gather the teacher’s personal experiences and intentions. This paper reports some of the current findings of our work and discusses future prospects. This study is part of a continuing international study that is investigating networked collaborative learning as a way to develop a rich descriptive body of evidence of tutoring and learning processes in e-learning.

Practitioner research or descriptions of classroom practice? A discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms

This article outlines how a group of primary school teachers from a cluster of nine schools in a networked learning community enquired into their classroom teaching. The teachers each identified an area of practice that they were developing in their classroom and wanted to evaluate, such as the benefits of pupils working in teams, or the creation of role‐play areas. They decided what evidence they needed to collect and how to collect it. They met as a group and also individually with a mentor several times to share experiences and to discuss progress. At the end of their projects they presented findings and their analysis to each other. Their evidence and conclusions were also presented to other teachers at their school and sometimes at other schools within the cluster. The article considers whether, in the light of critiques of other similar teacher researcher projects, these data gathering and analytical activities may be legitimately described as research. The authors conclude by suggesting that the investigative processes carried out by these teachers constitute an effective form of professional learning. The authors contend that it is the systematic collection of evidence and the critical examination of the teachers’ own practice that characterise such enquiry as research notwithstanding the emergent, rather than well‐developed, use of traditional research conventions.

Leadership in School Networks: findings from the Networked Learning Communities programme

Leadership in School Networks: findings from the Networked Learning Communities programme

A community of practice approach to the development of non‐traditional learners through networked learning

Abstract This paper analyses a sample of online discussions to evaluate the development of adult learners as reflective practitioners within a networked learning community. The context for our study is a blended learning course offering post‐experience professional training to non‐traditional university students. These students are parents and carers of people with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). We use Lave and Wenger's ‘communities of practice’ as a theoretical framework for establishing how students develop a learning community based upon mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoires. Those three aspects are analysed according to two measures. The first focuses on learner appropriation of the professional discourse, values and goals of the ASD carer through the network. The second relates to changes in the quality of collaborative activity over time. Our analysis demonstrates that students belong to an overarching community of practice, with different subsets who work at sharing and co‐constructing common understandings. This shared discourse and common notions of what constitutes good practice help create a safe interaction space for the students. Once group identity is consolidated, more challenging questions emerge and the group are able to define further common values, understandings and goals through processes of resolution.

Analysing student engagement with learning and tutoring activities in networked learning communities: a multi-method approach

The aim of this paper is to study the nature of teaching and learning processes in two Networked Learning Communities (NLCs). The study undertakes empirical work using a multi-method approach in order to triangulate and contextualise our findings and enrich our understanding of the student participation in these NLCs. We apply Social Network Analysis (SNA) to visualise the social structure of the NLC, Content Analysis (CA) to identify learning and teaching processes and Context Analysis (CxA) to study students' personal experiences and intentions. The paper reports some of the current findings of this work and discusses future prospects. This paper is part of a continuing international study that is investigating networked collaborative learning among a community of learners engaged in a master's programme in e-learning.

Implementing Wireless, Networked Learning Communities

Implementing Wireless, Networked Learning Communities

Working with Children, Working for Children: a review of Networked Learning Communities

Working with Children, Working for Children: a review of Networked Learning Communities

Working at community boundaries: A micro-analysis of the activist's role in participatory learning networks

The interaction of agency and context in workplace learning is explored through a micro-analysis of the implementation of networked learning communities in schools in England. Interviews with local activists show evidence of co-participation between individuals' responses and their workplace roles and experience as they take up the opportunity to create a networked learning community for their schools. The paper raises issues about the community of practice model as promoted for workplace learning, with its emphasis on group participation rather than individual agency. Activists make strategic use of existing power relationships in order to facilitate networked learning, and develop skills in influencing and communicating across existing practice communities. Sustaining the network also depends on continuing intervention and strong support from activists' personal communities of trusted peers and colleagues with whom values and goals are shared. The opportunities, challenges and risks of using a networked approach to foster workplace learning are explored.

Examining the dynamics of networked e-learning groups and communities

The organisation of students into groups (or communities) for learning purposes is an established pedagogic method in higher education. Teachers are now using group methods in networked e‐learning contexts, albeit without a full understanding of the dynamics of group work in these settings. This is a new and evolving arena in higher education. In this article, the learning dynamics of three collaborative, networked e‐learning groups are examined in an attempt to understand how students work in them. A detailed ethnography indicates that two of the groups worked harmoniously, and successfully produced a collective end product. The other group exhibited extreme anxiety and division, and required extra resources from its members in order to sustain itself and produce its collective end product. Anxiety became a major focus for this group, which had the effect of diverting it from effective collective production. The ethnography shows that the place of identity, control, ontological security and guilt in collaborative e‐learning groups can be central to the effective work of the groups. The difference between the groups with respect to these categories is used as a point of departure in order to show how an understanding of the dynamics of networked learning groups and communities may be of benefit to teachers and students working in these new environments.

The political economy of networked learning communities in higher education

This article uses the example of the recent (ill‐fated) experiment in the creation of a global education product—the UKeU—to explore how the concept of community in learning changes in this context. It uses a framework borrowed from the literature on changes in the welfare state to explain how the new economies of on line education distort the traditional ideas of learning communities. The article argues that ignoring the underpinning structural and economic institutions in the global economy (or assuming that they will somehow be overcome) is naïve, and runs the risks of allowing the more extreme forms of the ‘new’ economic model of networked learning to colonise discourses of democracy and student‐centredness.

Reflections on the NCSL from a Historical Perspective

This article reviews three historical phases of leadership development in England and Wales, together with parallel changes in in-service training and the broader professional infrastructure, in order to show how the idea of a national college developed and became viable. It argues that, as a policy innovation, the NCSL has built on earlier practice but also has several innovative features, including networked learning communities and its use of IT. It suggests that the transformational perspective should be interpreted in the framework of situational or pluralist theories of leadership. Finally, it considers some strategic issues affecting the college’s longer-term sustainability.

Nuts, bolts, levers and cranks: designing enquiry-based learning in Hartlepool

The Hartlepool Networked Learning Community has focused on promoting teacher enquiry as a vehicle for professional learning and raising standards of achievement in schools. This article highlights how the enquiry programme was designed and managed. It describes the ways that teachers have approached their enquiry work, including how some of the obstacles they faced were met and overcome. The enquiry programme has generated real enthusiasm among teachers and has demonstrated considerable potential to deliver on the school improvement agenda. The article offers some insights into the impact that enquiry has made in this programme which is sponsored and facilitated by the National College for School Leadership.

Networked Learning Communities and Out of School Hours Learning: two portraits

Networked Learning Communities and Out of School Hours Learning: two portraits