Symposium 11: A Theoretical Framework for Designing Online Master Communities of Practice

Abstract

The introduction of the master (MS) format on the European market of education and the emphasis on its format as suited for international collaboration in education has spawned the birth of many master educations, founded and unfolding in virtual learning environments on the web. But not all of these master educations have proved to be equally successful in terms of continuously attracting waves of learners, thus many of them are likely to have only a short lifetime. There may be several reasons for this, one of them being related to the design of the online learning environment used as context for the networked e-learning master community.

But the term “design” is a broad one. What exactly are those design features in the implementation of such master communities, which seems essential in terms of determining the level of success of a given online master program?

Based theoretically on key notions from Etienne Wenger’s learning theory (Wenger, 1998), this paper sets out, analytically and holistically, to explore and capture the pedagogic-didactic features of design of a networked e[1]learning master community, Master in ICT and Learning (MIL), designed from and within a Danish educational culture and context. The aim of the paper is, through an analysis of MIL, to understand and document the specific features of the design of the networked e-learning master community, which seem pertinent to the forming of well functioning networked e-learning master communities. The paper concludes, on the basis of the findings from our analysis, with a tentatively suggested framework for design of well functioning networked e[1]learning master communities. Our perspective as researchers is one combined by our multiple roles as managers, designers and teachers of the program.