User:CSCLgroup4/sandbox

Virtual Community of Practice A virtual community of practice (VCoP), also known as an online community of practice (OCoP), is a community of practice utilizing the Internet and evolving technologies to extend traditional learning and working communities in geographic and cultural ways, crossing borders and languages to include participants from around the world in shared learning experiences. To qualify as an VCoP, the characteristics of a community of practice (CoP) as described by Lave and Wenger [1] must be met. Lave and Wenger define CoPs as having three characteristics: shared knowledge in a specific field, mutual trust and information sharing, and a community repository of resources (experiences, stories, tools, etc…). Communities of practice provide a critical resource to participants who want and need recommendations, pointers, tips and tricks, best practices, insights and innovations for both personal and professional areas of interest. Research indicates relocating traditional CoPs into VCoPs improves community scope, interaction efficiency, and sharing of critical information and knowledge in fields such as education, business and medicine [2]. VCoPs use social networking tools to extend community reach, store shared resources, and communicate synchronously and asynchronously. Within VCoPs, the use of virtual worlds enables people to exchange resources, collaborate for knowledge building, and make decisions related to their fields. VCoPs are also used for group voting and decision making. By using the Internet and other technologies, each member of a VCoP is actively engaged in the decision making process, regardless of time and location constraints. Even as the use and participation in VCoPs continues to expand internationally, challenges persist in terms of technology resources, Internet availability and reliability, and the ability of participants to effectively build communities in a virtual setting. As people traverse the diversity of cultures, ages, and levels of expertise in each VCoP, tensions may arise impeding the learning of or, in severe cases, actually disbanding the community.

Communities of Practice and Virtual Communities of Practice
Lave and Wenger [1] define communities of practice as groups of people with mutual interests, either personal or professional, who learn through shared experiences. Communities of practice (CoPs) revolve around the needs of participants for connections, information, identity, and sense of belonging in professional or vocational pursuits. Research indicates a shift from employer-provided professional learning to individuals independently pursuing learning opportunities [3]. With the evolution of digital conferencing tools, social media networks, and online forums, opportunities for shared learning experiences are no longer limited to face-to-face environments. Thus, CoPs are often found online, as virtual communities of practice (VCoPs). Whereas traditional CoPs are geographically bounded, VCoPs expand the CoP by removing time and location boundaries. VCoPs provide a virtual space in which people who might normally never meet can come together, share stories and experiences, and solve problems pertaining to the domain interest. The evolving technologies of the Internet allow for an extension of traditional communities in geographic and cultural ways, crossing borders and languages to include experts from around the world.

Education
VCoPs have had a positive impact in education by supporting engagement, imagination, and alignment of learning goals through common virtual learning environments, experiences, and shared knowledge [4]. Educators use VCoPs for professional development through activities such as shared videoconferencing, webinars, and online learning communities hosted by social networking sites dedicated to education, such as Edmodo and TeacherTube.

K-12
Research shows teachers use VCoP for content area professional development(PD) and general pedagogy enhancement.VCoPs have proven to increase student motivation and participation [5][6], differentiate instruction [7], improve writing skills of English Language Learners[8], and provide immersive learning environments based on historical locations[9]. Administrators and other education stakeholders also use VCoPs to share resources and improved collaboration.

Content Area PD Examples:
Science teachers using Moodle to increase creativity [10] Mathematics teachers using a VCoP to create student-centered lessons based on real world applications [11] Social science teachers crowdsourcing to create community-based teaching materials [12]

Pedagogy Examples:
Customized educator PD based on learner needs [13] Open Educational Resource (OER) creation and sharing [14] Professional Learning Networks (PLN) to reduce isolation [15]

Administrative Examples:
Principals collaborate with teacher leaders [16] Counselor communication with parents [17] Virtual technology coaches assisting with technology integration [18] Librarians creating PLNs via social media [19]

Online Learning
Instructors and students with Internet access via technological devices may choose to participate in Online Education courses in virtual learning spaces instead of face-to-face environments. Online learning can be synchronous or asynchronous. The asynchronous feature of online learning provides students the flexibility of participation, removing barriers of time and physical location [20]. The synchronous nature of online learning enables prompt feedback to students [21]. Online learning integrates society, education, virtual training, teachers,students, and assessment of student learning in virtual learning spaces [22].

MOOCs
VCoPs provide avenues for individuals to independently pursue knowledge in any domain via Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). MOOCs create a dynamic and engaging learning environment by using a combination of pre-made instructional materials and learner-generated discussion. Participants give and receive feedback through discussion forums and peer reviews to enhance the learning progress of their community. Examples of MOOCs include: EdX -nonprofit enterprise with MIT and Harvard universities Coursera-A for profit, venture-backed company founded by professors from Stanford University Udacity-an outgrowth of a Stanford University experiment Futurelearn-The first UK-led multi-institutional platform

3D Virtual Learning
VCoPs are often applied in a 3-dimensional virtual learning environment (3D-VLE). The immersion and high interactivity features of 3D virtual learning promote students' participation. Second Life, a virtual world in which students create a personalized avatar and interact with other avatars, has been widely used as a virtual classroom, especially in higher education. Many universities have established their own islands in Second Life to implement various instructions, such as second language learning and lifelong learning [25].

Higher Education
VCoPs in higher education are expanding rapidly. VCoPs offer the possibility of studying an undergraduate or graduate degree program at the local, national or international level utilizing virtual or distance methodology [24]. VCoPs in higher education are used as vehicles to spur collaborative learning and innovation, and they are especially effective within the STEM disciplines [25].Research indicates VCoP use in higher education increases student participation [26], collaboration among instructors [27], sharing of participant-created resources [28], and virtual clinical experiences for medical and health-related students [29]. Examples of VCoPs in Higher Education include: The Neighborhood - Nursing students get clinical experiences with virtual patients experiencing a variety of health issues [30] The Pan-Africa project - Providing higher education courses across African regional universities and universities in India (http://panafricaproject.com/site/) [31]

Social networking
Several online platforms offer social networking services, offering the availability to specialize into specific working groups, or VCops.. There are three components to a social networking site: individual public profiles, sharable lists of personal connections, and searches of other users’ connections. Through this system of creating and searching common connections, participants are able to locate people with similar interests and career paths and create new or join existing VCoPs via the social networking tools. Examples of social networking platforms include: Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Virtual worlds
Virtual worlds, at times referred to as massively multiplayer online world (MMOW), could be used in various domains. In education, these virtual worlds are being used to communicate information, share and create resources, and allow for virtual interaction between students and teachers. A growing number of educational studies are applying virtual worlds with problem-based learning or game-based learning to enhance student motivation and engagement, facilitate collaboration, gain conceptual understanding and practical skills by experiencing learning content directly [32][33][34]. Examples of virtual worlds include the following: Second Life Minecraft Quest Atlantis

Virtual reality
In a virtual reality, participants become immersed in a computer-generated simulation of a real environment. The features of forced first person view, less distractions, and telepresence enhance users' audiovisual immersion experiences [35]. In professional environments,virtual reality is used to visit remote company locations virtually and provide training simulations for hazardous situations. In education, virtual reality is used for students to experience field trips and science experiments. Reporters are also using virtual reality for readers to experience current events from locations around the world. Examples of VR software are as follows: Commonwealth Bank of Australia - Virtual innovation lab for brainstorming and collaboration with project teams (https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/innovation-lab.html) Sentient Safety Training - Virtual 3D training program to simulate a Working at Heights environment (http://sencom.com.au/case-studies/safety-training-virtual-reality/) Amnesty International - Virtual tour of Syria showing the devastation caused by war (http://360syria.com/intro)

Knowledge building
Online collaborative tools are available for knowledge building within a VCoP. Through the process of sharing or exchanging information, discussing and negotiating, new thoughts or ideas can be generated [36]. Activities associated with these tools can be integrated into the presentation of online classroom and/or training materials. Examples of collaborative knowledge-building tools include: Google Docs Wikis

Decision making and voting
Utilizing tools and platforms forParticipative Decision-making (PDM), VCoP participants exchange ideas and deliberate in an effort to find solutions to shared concerns and problems. To reach consensus, community members have the option of using virtual voting tools. Thus allowing for maximum participation by eliminating time and geography barriers via asynchronous participation. Examples of decision making tools and platforms include: Loomio D-Sight Survey Monkey