Connecting learners with open resources

This is an OERu course that has been designed to contribute to the community service and outreach mission of the OERu.

In the Introductions theme (T1), we:

• Explored our approach to open sharing.
• Introduced people, perspectives, products and processes.
• Drew attention to the Informatik tradition and its links with sport informatics.
• Discussed the emergence of sport analytics.

The Audiences and Messages (T4) contained within it a discussion of personal learning.

One of our topics within the Introductions theme was Communities of Practice. We mentioned that Etienne Wenger^[1][2] has discussed the benefits of communities of practice for learning communities. We shared this quotation:

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

We noted too that his definition of communities of practice has three important characteristics:

• A domain that has an identity defined by a shared interest.
• A community in which “members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other.
• A shared practice that is developed through “a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems.^[3]

One of the issues that arises from your engagement with this cours is how you might become part of a vibrant community interested in and possibly passionate about sport informatics and analytics. Sharing ePortfolio content and alerting others through the use of a # such as #UCSIA16 (see also #UCSIA15) is a good way to do this.

References

1. ↑ Wenger, Etienne (1998). Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. ↑ Wenger, Etienne (June 2006). “Communities of practice a brief introduction”. http://www.linqed.net/media/15868/COPCommunities_of_practiceDefinedEWenger.pdf.
3. ↑ Wenger, Etienne (June 2006). “Communities of practice a brief introduction”. http://www.linqed.net/media/15868/COPCommunities_of_practiceDefinedEWenger.pdf.