Yes, we’ll see how it all turns out. I do agree that not everyone is willing to put in the time or energy, but if it’s possible for us to make it easy, and as you say, rewarding, they might be just a little more likely. Even if they just end up communicating and collaborating across divisions, that would be enough for me. It’s always amazing to me how bad school’s are at tapping into internal expertise – we need to be connecting teachers locally as much as we try to connect them globally.

@Nancy,

I am really excited about the new staff piece – I think the frequent turnover of international school staff is a definite struggle, not just for the remaining teachers trying to keep some kind of consistency, but also for the new teachers coming in trying to figure out how the new school works. I hope this is a good tool for them, we’ll have to wait and see until next year to get any feedback, though!

@Carla,

I agree that many teachers may not want to make the effort. This is more about enabling those that do. We have a great group of enthusiastic teachers that are spending tons of free time connecting with others at our after-hours K12Online LAN parties, and quite a few others that are always looking for support. If we are able to connect those people on a regular basis, and in a way that doesn’t require them to leave their classroom or their house (or go through me or Jeff to find each other), they might connect even more frequently. Even if it is only a small group, our job is to service and support everyone at the school and the early adaptors are a critical important group – especially if we want the whole school to move in this direction.

I totally agree that a community is not created, that it grows. All we’re doing here is putting in the structure to allow the community to grow as needed and desired by the members. This was actually something that our community of LAN party attendees determined we needed at the school, so even though Jeff and I were the ones to create the group, the community members were the ones that decided we needed it.

I totally agree about opening channels and motivating teachers to be independent, in fact, that’s exactly exactly what we’re trying to do here!

@Jeff,

It’s been a productive weekend, what can I say?

This is why I like working with you, Jeff. You’re always willing to try something new, you’re not afraid to fail and you always embrace challenging ideas with a positive and enthusiastic approach. I really appreciate that!

@Carla,

Thanks for the details about Yammer – sounds like a great tool to test with our early adopters.

As for Yammer, I just wanted to point out that you can receive emails with the updates you choose in the setting. We’re going to try it now because of the emails possibility, keeping a record of our conversations, projects, the possibility to create private and public groups, and the desktop app it has. Also, because it’s really user-friendly. Let’s see where we all head to. I’ll keep following you guys!

I do think we’re on to something, although I like Carla’s idea of using a twitter like device to help them connect.

One thing I like about our Elgg as anytime someone posts to the group you get an e-mail saying that there is an update…much like Facebook. I think this will help people connect. E-mail is the center of our communication and by putting the link right there in front of them…some of them will click on it.

Here’s the thing…if we’re not willing to fail we’ll never know if it would work. So here’s to us…and our little experiment.

I’ve tried it in different ways, and as Michael pointed out, most of them still won’t connect for many different reasons, excuses, lack of time, fear, no interest…Once I created a YGroups when there weren’t still so many online collective spaces to create communities. What happened was that still teachers waited for me to “feed” the system.

Right now, I’m trying a totally different approach. First, a very small group is using “Yammer”, an institutional microblogging service. It’s fantastic. Worth giving it a try! So, we’re using it to communicate, share resources, talk. There you can even have private and public groups. OK. now we’re inviting motivated and engaged teachers to join and they can invite others. This time, we won’t invite everybody. I’ve read many times that a community is not created, it grows. So that’s the idea. We’re starting small, and maybe some who are out will feel the urge to join.

A second approach is the following, we’ll start next year a project for new teachers, the ones who were just hired. From the beginning, they will be part of an online group to share their first steps at school, ask questions, have a mentor, ask for help. If these start with a “collective” perspective, we have the hope that in the future it will have a bigger impact on the institutional teaching culture as well.

I don’t want to discourage you at all, and I follow what you do and your enthusiasm. We’re are optimistic, dreamers by nature, but what I’ve realized is that I can’t imagine that everybody will have my own passion and excitement and I can’t “provide” teachers with that. I can just open the channels to make change happen, but not imprint change in everybody’s mind. So, I learned that if I can motivate one to look for sustainable professional development, it’s good enough. If it’s a group, excellent!

Just my two Brazilian cents! Please, keep reporting how things go.

I also love the idea of establishing it for new staff coming in- what a great introduction to the school and a way to create bonds before arriving on campus.