http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NLI0531.pdf

 I stumbled across this guide for designing online communities of practice while doing an e-Portfolio search on Educase. One of the themes that I have been exploring through the practicum and my entire graduate degree is the concept of online community. The e-Portfolio project as conceived by the TEO at the University of British Columbia requires that the participants engage in social interaction throughout the process and this interaction seems to rest on the notion of community. This Educase guide provides some guidelines for building communities online. In this reflection I will explore the applicability of designing online community during the e-Portfolio process I am contributing to.

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          The lifecycle begins with an analysis of the characteristics and context of the community, the activities and technologies are designed; the community is piloted through a prototype; the community is launched; members are engaged in collaborative learning activities in order to grow the community and engender more interaction and the community is sustained and the knowledge that is generated in the community is used to guide new directions in the organization or institutions.          To what extent do these steps describe the process that occurs in the development of online communities? I see them as important guideline but community does not necessarily develop through a particular process. Online community has existed as long as the Internet. This community has at times sprung up suddenly around a common purpose and at others incrementally developed. However the steps do offer important aspects of community to consider in attempting to develop communities of practice.             I find the authors description of the role of purpose in community development more compelling. They suggest that common purpose grows and sustains community and that without this online communities will not be successful. In my own life and teaching practice I see purpose as the one of the keys too community. In every workplace I have joined there has been community, when I have completed projects on and offline with people community has developed and when learners in my classes need to work together to achieve common goals community seems enhanced.            I have found community elusive in my e-Portfolio coordination. I believe the central reason for this is not principally the process I followed but the lack of a common purpose. Although all of the teacher candidates have a similar final goal they have no reason to collaborate and work together. Although this development of community is one of the goals of the TEO project there has been little consideration for establishing a common purpose.