Virtual Communities

Virtual Communities and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

ELI is no longer actively pursuing this topic. This page is provided as an historical resource; it is not being updated or actively managed.

Virtual communities of practice (VCOPs) function as persistent online forums in which people with common interests explore and address shared issues or problems. VCOPs provide their members with direct access to information and interaction at the time and place most convenient to them. Such access includes:

• Information resources and best practices / strategies
• Knowledge bases to which members can contribute their work and findings
• Colleagues engaged in similar work and tackling similar challenges
• Experts who may be able to clarify issues and provide references
• A forum for research and implementation questions, and
• Colleagues who might want to collaborate on a project.

Communities of practice also help to advance their fields through identifying effective practices, defining underlying principles, and helping to create common vocabularies and conceptual frameworks.

Horizon VCOP

The active Horizon Community page can now be found under the ELI Community Exchange page.

The ELI directly sponsors the Horizon VCOP in conjunction with its work on the Horizon Report. The Horizon community explores the emergence of new technologies and technology-based learning practices. Those interested in learning more about the Horizon community and possibly joining its work should visit the Horizon VCOP homepage.

Community Learning and Innovation Initiative

The ELI's work with communities of practice now primarily takes place through the Community Learning and Innovation Initiative sponsored by the Office of Innovation through Technology at Vanderbilt University, an ELI member institution. The Community Learning portal provides a home for online communities while encouraging collaboration to further develop the theory and practice of virtual communities. In addition to the Bridging Community, a former ELI pilot VCOP, the Community Learning portal invites interested parties to join the following communities:

• Student Technology Literacy
• Gaming and Simulations
• Learning Space Design
• Student Academic and Support Systems
• Applied Use of Technologies in Teaching and Learning

Note: those interested in the ELI's former Learning Objects community (LOVCOP) should consider joining the "Gaming and Simulations" and "Applied Use of Technologies" groups.

e-Portfolio Action Committee (EPAC)

Along with the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), ELI cosponsored the ePortfolio Action Committee (EPAC) during its pilot phase. With the closing of AAHE, EPAC is currently working to establish a new Web site for the community. As soon as EPAC notifies ELI of its new location, we will publish that information on our Web site

ELI Virtual Community of Practice (VCOP) Program

From 2002 through 2004, the ELI conducted or co-sponsored a number of VCOP pilot projects. These projects served to provide proof of concept for virtual communities as viable platforms for online communication and collaboration. At the end of the pilot phase, the ELI had four active VCOPs – two sponsored by the ELI, and two co-sponsored with other organizations:

• The Bridging VCOP: The ELI established this virtual community to bring together instructional technologists, faculty, instructional designers, and others interested in the intersection of learning science research, instructional design theory, and institutional change.
• The Learning Objects VCOP (LOVCOP): The ELI formed this community to provide a collaborative environment for supporting the development of learning objects and the evaluation of their application to learning and knowledge management.
• The Electronic Portfolio Action Committee (EPAC) VCOP: The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and the ELI jointly sponsored this community to support researchers, faculty members, assessment experts, and others engaged in the creation, publication, and evaluation of e-portfolio projects and tools.
• The Horizon VCOP: The New Media Consortium (NMC) partnered with the ELI to establish this virtual community, which focuses on the evaluation of emerging technologies in relation to their potential impact on students, learning, and institutions.

The ELI has a history and culture of identifying and supporting promising innovations in technology and practice from their emergence to maturity. Once a practice or technology has matured, the ELI works with member institutions and the greater EDUCAUSE community to encourage institutional adoption of the innovation and its continued development.

At the close of 2004, the ELI determined that its VCOP pilots were ready to transition to member leadership and operation. Vanderbilt University's Community Learning and Innovation Initiative stepped forward and offered its "Innovation by Design" virtual communities portal (http://www.fipp.net) as a home for the continued operation of ELI's VCOPs. After exploring this opportunity, the Bridging and Learning Objects VCOPs determined that migrating to the Community Learning site would best serve their members' interests.

From January – March, 2005, the two communities worked with the Community Learning leadership to migrate their content and members to Community Learning's "community of communities." The Bridging community decided to maintain itself as a distinct community within the Community Learning environment. The Learning Objects VCOP, however, determined that it had largely accomplished its agenda. Therefore, the LOVCOP facilitators decided to disband the community once its members and content had transitioned to the Community Learning site.

Archived Pages

• Previous VCOP HomePage
  (This page represents the ELI Virtual Communities of Practice (VCOP) homepage at the time the ELI completed its VCOP pilots. It is provided here for historical purposes only and does not represent the current state of the ELI's virtual community activities.)