Wilfred Rubens TE-learning centrum: technology enhanced learning: Weblogs and professional development

Despite saying to me it is too much work, Wilfred keeps up the English language bogging, discussing "an interesting blog by Ann Davis. She quotes Clarence Fisher who really beliefs that blogging is powerful for learning". Al these quoting other - hope you are keeping up.

Anyway the upshot to all this is that Wilfred has a rare pessimistic moment agreeing with Anne that there are limitations to the use of blogging for professional development and that participation is likely to be limited to a few highly motivated employees.

This is a welcome breath of realism compared to the hype we have seen lately over the use of new technologies for supporting communities of practice etc.. "build it and they will come' is not a real strategy.

But I am not so pessimistic as Wilfred concerning the use of ICt for informal learning and to develop communities of practice. I think the key issue here is the nature and practice of the communities. I think that as researchers we sometimes have an overly organisational view of what these communities look like. I believe many workers in organisation are using ICT now for professional development albeit in an informal and above all episodic pattern - driven primarily by either the need to solve a problem or by personal interest. If they use their favorite learning tool - which is probably Google - and find a discussion board which is of relevance to them and if they regularly visit that discussion board over a period of time, occasionally adding ideas of their own - is that not involvement in a dispersed community of practice?

Of course they may participate in more than one community. We should talk about multiple communities and not a single one. And the membership of those communities will be constantly in flux. Communities of practice are always emergent.

Coming back to the practice - in the case I have advanced here, the use of ICT is a normal and integral part of the work practice. It does not require extra time. It does not appear as a task outside normal practice - in the way blogging does at most people at the moment.

One of the problems with weblogs is the format. What do they all look the same? What on earth is the point of the calendar on the top right side? The strength of blogs is the standards which allow for rich communication and potentially the development of communication within communities. But the technology needs further development to make it really useful for communities of practice

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic.

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