Managing communities

The community should build the community. The members should have a say about how it is set up, what options are made available, how information is presented and shared. That way, interest will remain high and members will own their community.

There must be a reason or purpose for the community so that members take time out of their busy days to share their ideas and resources. A community has to value add to what people already do – then they will use it. If it becomes out of date and of little use to people then they will stop using the community. That's why ownership is so important - the members decide on direction, content and discussion.

Open or Closed - it is about purpose

Consider whether you want your community to be 'open' or 'closed'. Open means anyone with a Learning Place login could join your community. People with learning Place logins are Education Queensland employees. There is a small number of non EQ employees but they are all in the field of education, for example from universities or catholic/independent schools. Open communities are listed on the Learning Place.

Closed communities are by invitation only. The manager will send the joining link to potential members. This can be done via email.

If the purpose of your community is to share resource and ideas with teachers across Queensland, choose an open community. If the purpose of your community is to discuss issues and resources around a project that is pertinent only to a restricted group, choose a closed community.

Some hints for beginning communities

• Find out the interest level of potential members. You could do this through an email listserv or at a meeting.
  
  
• Show the members an example of how Blackboard has been used. Read the full case study …
  
  
• Once your community has been setup, the manager will be given 'Instructor' status. This means the manager has access to a control panel where he/she can set up groups, add members to groups, add folders and items (content for example pages or word docs). The manager can allocate 'instructor' status to other community members. Choose members that can help build content for others to use.
  
  
• Make sure your community has worthwhile material and activities before your members are provided with their logins. Nothing worse than going to an empty community - like going to a party and no one turns up.
  
  
• Prior to setting up the content and activities, discuss with members what types of information they would like to share. Many communities storyboard their content so that the sections when setup are intuitive and it is easy to find relevant information.
  
  
• Make sure your community content and activities (discussions) are current and timely. Use email to remind members about latest resources or discussions or surveys.
  
  
• As a manager, explore the control panel. You have quite a lot of options that can value add to your community - surveys, quizzes, group properties, staff information pages, member profile homepage, emailing, digital drop box and more.
  
  
• It is recommended that managers participate in the Mentoring online courses.