This reflection will be upon online community’s vs online network in an educational setting. Listening to Kay Oddone lecture on the ONL202 homepage the community is a known set of people who do not change too often. At the opposite the Network is in constantly changing depending on who you decide to follow (and who decides to follow you) on different digital platforms. In a learning setting one could really feel it would be safer and therefore more productive to learn in a known community, but is it?
In a learning community you as a learner have the opportunity to get to know your group members. You can easily get information about the group members earlier experiences and in what setting they are speaking from. The setting could for example show which country or city the person come from, what academic field, which age group e t c. After some time in the same community you all know each other which often give a safe environment to learn within. In such environment you do not feel afraid of making mistakes or misunderstandings which hopefully give you the courage to be creative and think outside the box, together. At the same time, if you only learn inside the same community, it is a risk that the same knowledge and thoughts roll around in the group and you get isolated.
On the contrary is the networked learning. In this setting you do not belong to a single community but to a network of persons you find interesting to follow and that find you interesting to follow. This set of people is in constant change where after you find new interesting persons to follow and they find new interesting persons to follow who find new interesting persons to follow and so on. This builds up a huge learning network where you never know from where or from whom a new idea or a new angle to your learning material will come from. This is extremely good for your learning situation because, if you ask, you´ll get a wide spread of knowledge to your learning topic. You might just find a solution that no one close to you could have solved in that perfect way. Also, in the assumed discussion in the network, the others involved in your question will probably learn from you and the others. A network of knowledge in the subject is set. But, as a learner, you set yourself into risk. A risk to show how little you actually know. A risk to unintentionally step on someone’s toe. A risk you will be attacked by trolls.
How can you build a safe and developing learning environment online when communities are safe but closed and networks are open and unsafe? As Alastair Creelman discuss on the same webpage about network you have to be careful both who you follow, for example on Twitter, and what you write. Make sure the ones you decide to follow is serious about what they post and discuss. This because it is very common the ones you follow will follow you. Since the once following you can read everything you post they can also react. If you have followers who´s not serious you might have things written about you or commenting your posts that will not broaden the subject for discussion but to kill it. That will not build a learning environment for you nor your followers.
A final idea on how to solve the community’s closed environment and the network´s too open environment for learning could be for the community to arrange discussions together online where others outside the community also can contribute with there perspectives and knowledge. Then the known community can help each other if a stalker or a problematic person gets into the discussion and help them to get out or to join in a serious way instead of destroying. Doing so the networks knowledge making can continue in a safe way and new perspectives can come into the community.
