Talking about talking...

The last few weeks have been about my last tutor marked assignment. In this I had to reflect on the way I have interacted in the forums. Although this should have been fairly easy, I found it particularly difficult, and it took a while for me to find the direction I wanted to go in.

It was interesting to analyse my own participation and think about how others may view this and this may well inform how I approach the final block. Overwhelmingly I felt that I behave in much the way that I do in normal life, if I was attending a course etc. I also felt more affinity with those who do get involve with discussions and share something of them. I did recognise however, others may see that getting involved differently, and I really hope that others have also had a chance to reflect and we renew so vigour within the forums, especially as Block 3 is all about practice ready for our examinable component.

Part of my musings included looking at different theories of group formation and trying to decide which were appropriate to the situation. In work we use the Tuckman model frequently (forming, storming, norming, performing) so it was interesting to look at a few other theories, and particular Waltonen- Moore discussions.

Waltonen–Moore breaks online community building as follows:

Introduction – developing the community, disclosure  and more affective discussions (expressing emotion like fear or excitedness,  more ‘I’ statements)

Identification – identify and relate to each other. Similar feelings. More ‘like many of you’ statements. Increasing sense of openness and comfort. The identification then helps with the process of talking about course content

Interaction – evolving community. Posts are reflective of course content. Still some tentativeness. Not necessarily discussions that branch off others. Recognition that listening to others.

Involvement – engagement with one another. More sense of cohesion, and enthusiasm, comments evidences an individual’s knowledge and comprehension. Seek advice and guidance from each other  to create value and respect  and more sense of conversation/ flow learners wrestle with ideas and questions

Inquiry – reflect application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, putting what has been learned into practice. Often involves asking more questions – dialogue and sharing.