Proposed activities

Community activities will focus on teaching and learning practices, research, development, and technologies related to elearning. It will operate on a basis of shared goals and experiences, with activity ideas and directions emerging through participation by its members. The following is a list of proposed activities that would serve the intended audience.

Seminars

Scheduled seminars facilitated by volunteer moderators will provide the foundation of the community. These seminars will be free and open to the public.

Exchange Centre

Designated areas for ongoing dialogue, sharing resources, and posting announcements, etc.

Research

Graduate Student Research: The community will provide a venue for students who are interested in sharing and obtaining feedback on their elearning research, or who are interested in studying online communities of practice.

Software Research and Development

There are many ways in which the community can leverage elearning software design and development work, such as organized focus groups and software release announcements.

Enhancement to campus-based activities

Opportunities to support existing campus-based activities will be explored. For example, Faculty Learning Communities, and workshops that are supported through the Learning and Instructional Development Centre (LIDC) could be promoted and supported by the community.

Teaching enhancement courses and programs

Online programs that are currently offered by SFU could be offered to the public.

Exchange of expertise and services with other communities

Several established online communites share the same basic goal with the Community of eLearning Practitioners  – to bring together individuals who share an interest in elearning research and practice. Each community has a unique format and would benefit from an exchange of expertise and services. For example a core activity of LearningTimes.org is webcasts, and Edusource.ca exists to facilitate the sharing of learning objects. Liaising with these and other communities would be value added.

Continue to investigate ideas for activities

As stated in the introduction, the purpose of the preliminary design is to help the community develop, rather than impose a rigid structure. A major activity  will be to continually investigate ideas for enhancing the community.