Proposed phases

The Project Plan called for a four-phase approach which would occur over a 12-month period culminating in a public launch:

1. Research

This phase involves forming a development and advisory team, a literature review, comparative analysis of existing educator communities, review of software to support community activities, and consultation with prospective participants in the project. This phase helps to define the design phase.

2. Design

Phase 2 focuses on the design of the community environment, selection and integration of community tools, and the selection of activities for the pilot and implementation phases.

3. Pilot

During the pilot selected members from SFU participate in a scheduled activity. Throughout this phase we will continue to refine the community environment.

4. Marketing and Implementation

The final phase for the first year of development begins with the community launch. It involves finalizing a schedule of activities for the upcoming months, announcing the community launch through Internet mailing lists and personal invitations, and working with volunteer moderators to prepare for seminars.

Planning overkill?

In comparison to the quick launch of GEN, the phased approach to SCoPE seemed very elaborate. Why were we being so methodical and cautious? How would the benefits of our careful research and planning play out in the actual design of the community? The literature and our experiences have informed us that it is important to facilitate opportunities for members to shape the environment and participate in planning for future activities, calling for a minimalist design (Wenger, 1998), and a tentative platform (Barab, MaKinster, & Scheckler, 2004). How much design work can be accomplished in advance?

My concerns over the extended planning process were shared by members of the eLINC management team. On July 30, 2004 I was asked what I thought about an earlier launch:

Me again! I'm quite comfortable with the plan to launch earlier. It makes sense to involve the members in the design as much as possible from the beginning. We would need to decide on some of the basic communication tools to get us going, and work out a member management system. The community environment at launch time doesn't need to be terribly elaborate; we just need to design it so that it can evolve easily. I'll work on adjusting the timeline, and the library, along with the rest.

This provided an opportunity to revise the plan, but unfortunately it didn’t result in a faster launch. The stages of this plan were followed, and the various exercises we engaged in were instrumental in guiding our community design work. However, there were some unexpected delays, particularly in making a decision about a community platform. The next sections outlines the activities for Phases 1 and 2: Research and Design.