A couple of comments on this and other thoughts so far in this discussion. It’s been a fascinating read.

Firstly, I looked into wikis recently as part of a study into whether Salmon’s e-tivities framework and 5-stage model apply in that environment.

There are enough reports about wikis now to see that they are another learning environment. Each time a group of learners moves into a new learning environment they need to go through the 5 stages – probably abbreviated if they already know one another and are comfortable with working online, but they still need to deal with issues of access, and be socialized, and develop collaborative activity etc. Several early wiki projects have been reported as failed. From the literature, presentations at the last ALT conference and personal contacts it would seem that some kind of structure and scaffolding are essential for effective wiki working. Clear instructions and staged activities have been found to be useful - and the 5-stages and the e-tivities framework work in exactly that way. (There’s a little more information in my blog on this - [www.helenwhitehead.com]).

Secondly, the 5-stage model was never intended to be a model of online community – it is about a learners moving through a series of online (or blended) learning activities at the same time. I believe it does have some application to communities of practice, particularly in the start-up stage, but that is an extension of the original context. It’s really interesting to see the adaptations of the 5-stage model as well as other community models that practitioners have developed. For a community of practice it may be that a cyclical rather than a linear step model is most useful.

I look forward to reading more comments.
Helen
Helen Whitehead Researcher and E-Learning consultant www.reachfurther.com helen@helenwhitehead.com

H

i Helen and everyone else,
I think you are quite right to identify wikis as another important and useful learning environment in its own right. As with blogs, podcasts - they are an important tool that require an investment of time in order to make effective use of them as a learning tool.

Leading an Oracle project which uses www.think.com as the web-medium/virtual learning enviromnment - I encourage students and their teachers to create web-pages to enhance every area of the curriculum - I have gradually recognised the many positive strands to the learning environment I have been working in.
Gilly Salmon's framework, however, provides me with a clearer structure and rationale behind what I have already noted - but until now - not really categorised or recognised as significant evidence of learning taking place.
Thus I can also identify with each of Gilly's 5 stages eg:

1.Individual access and motivation to use computer–mediated communication
Using think.com - students have their own individual user name and password protected web-pages which are attractive, interactive, multi-media areas where they can message friends form their own school as well as other schools both in the UK and across the world. They quickly become engaged with sending messages - and get a real buzz from receiving messages from friends and anyone else sending them a message.

2. Online socialization and formulation of online identities
I have found that students love being able to use their learning environment during lessons, at break, lunch and/or at after school clubs - as well as at home in the evenings/weekends/holidays - and once engaged prefer to use think.com to have fun and message friends as a safer alternative to Face Book, My Space and MSN Messenger. I have found the environment encourages all students from the most able to the most disaffected students to become engaged, interested and inspired.

3. Information exchange among learners relevant to the courses
Perhaps where using think.com really comes into its own is the potential to create attractive, interactive, multi-media pages that can enhance any area of the curriculum. Thus for a teacher to learn with his/her children how to create podcasts, animations and videos is good in itself - but to then create a podcast as an activity within a lesson - and then to download onto their own web-pages to share, compare and celebrate - both in school and at home - creates fun, enjoyment and a thirst for further leaning!!

4. Knowledge construction through collaborative discussion and interaction
I would like to think that some of the teachers and students (not all - by any means) using the web-medium of think.com have started to spend time looking at various aspects of the virtual learning environment - outside of the project focus and have been able to report back to the group, their teacher - and ME(!!) - about how to improve their own pages, making them more interesting/attractive to visitors to their web-sites - and recognising the importance of sharing that knowledge with others so that in return they can learn from other students!!

5. Development of meta–thinking and application of knowledge and online skills to learners’ goals and purposes that are often exam related.
Perhaps one of the many positive strands to think.com is that it is a cooperative, collaborative and virtual web-medium - and because students are continually improving their ICT awareness and confidence - they - almost without knowing it improve their skills in reading, writing and following instructions. There are no exams to restrict/limit what students do!

6. Braided Learning
As a new concept for me - perhaps the many positive strands that the think.com virtual environment possesses - is the nearest analogy I can identify with from working with students.

As an example of the work above - tomorrow - I have arranged with Andrew Steele (GB 400 metre Olympic athlete competing in Beijing 2008) to go into one of the project schools I am working with. He will introduce himself, take the children through a warm up and teach them how to sprint start.

From the schools he has already visited - there is already a buzz of excitement at the prospect of the visit. Children will have already - in preparation for the visit - found out on-line about Andrew, his diet, training schedule, successes etc, already started their own web-page about him and have a string of searching questions to pose for him on their interactive pages.

The teacher I am working with in the school I am going into tomorrow came out with the quote that she had never before seen a project where children generate their own homework!! We now have children from a school that was previously in Special Measures in one of Manchester's most deprived areas (Wythenshawe) looking forward to coming to school - loving their teacher and - having fun and enjoying learning!!

Perhaps I think I now need to look more closely at how both students and teachers are responding to the Oracle project - in terms of the braided learning strands being used!!

Paul paulvalev@yahoo.co.uk

Paul
That's a really interesting description of your uses of Think.com. If you decide to look into it further, you might be interested in the article about work done across schools in Australia using Think .com at [www.inderscience.com]
Elizabeth Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young Learning Sciences Research Institute The University of Nottingham Tel +44 0115 8466561 Mob +44 7795802294 www.nottingham.ac.uk/lsri/ehy
Elizabeth.Hartnell-young@nottingham.ac.uk