Ethos and Practice of a Connected Learning Movement: Interpreting Virtually Connecting Through Alignment with Theory and Survey Results

Abstract

Virtually Connecting (VC) is a connected learning volunteer movement that enlivens virtual conference experiences by partnering those that are at the conference with virtual participants that cannot attend. In looking to articulate the ethos and intentions of VC, a manifesto was developed by a group of core members and presented at the Digital Learning Research Network in 2015. This paper connects the group's ethos, as defined in this manifesto, to various learning theories including Connectivism, connected learning, and the practice of online communities. The paper reports on both quantitative and qualitative results from a survey sent to members of the community over February and March of 2016, as well as some information obtained from blogs and other forms of social media, and ties these results to the manifesto items. This alignment of theory and participant feedback shows continuity between the stated ethos of the community and the impressions of those living the volunteer experience.

#DigPed Narratives in Education: Critical Perspectives on Power and Pedagogy

“…Watters, using her own resources, published the transcript of her DPL keynote talk on her site, which enabled others to access, amplify, and build on her arguments regardless of the extent of their engagement with #DigPed or DPL events. Another example for enhancing pedagogic and narrative capacities is Virtually Connecting (see Bali, Caines, deWaard, & Houge, 2016)-informal online meetings bridging onsite and offsite experiences-as it opens up a space of dialogue that is independent, inclusive, and organically developed. Effective use of hashtags might also increase the pedagogic capacity of a narrative, as hashtags are important outlets for connecting different communities with one another.…”

A call for promoting ownership, equity, and agency in faculty development via connected learning

“…In a previous paper (Bali, Caines, DeWaard, & Hogue, 2016), we explored how the informal conversations in VC mapped to connected and connectivist learning, and we reported survey results showing that, for the most part, VC met its values (written in the manifesto, Virtually Connecting n.d.) of improving the virtual conference experience by providing access to spontaneous conference conversations, and aiming towards inclusion.…”

“…Critiques of Virtually Connecting mentioned in Bali et al (2016) and presented in Bali et al (2017) include the fact that the supposedly open and hospitable community may appear cliquish to those outside the community, that it may reproduce some of the power dynamic of conferences by re-centering those already in power(e.g. keynote speakers), and that it may meet some people's needs but be intimidating or uncomfortable for people who are shy or do not like appearing on video, or even do not really have access to technical infrastructure or digital literacy thresholds required to participate.…”