User:Randyfisher/Presentations

Building Sustainable Projects & Communities
Many educators are using social media for project-based education as an important means of interdisciplinary collaboration, engagement and performance.

Educators in WikiEducator, a leading educational wiki for the global development of free and open education resources (OERs) are citing a strong community of support for their projects as an “enabler” for educators to realize the full range of benefits of peer-to-peer wiki collaboration across disciplines and boundaries. http://www.wikieducator.org

This presentation is designed to help educators address obstacles in building sustainable and collaborative communities (i.e., educational silos; lack of time and resources; anxiety about technology; power, resistance to change and culture; and lack of faculty/managerial buy-in to name a few). Participants will learn about successful wiki projects and communities and their benefits.

This presentation will discuss:


 * Great examples of wiki-community projects that have dealt successfully with challenges and opportunities.
 * Getting started: building your community; understanding people's motivations; working with technology; the wiki-way
 * Using practical tools, technologies, books blogs and other resources to accelerate your learning curve and performance.

Presenter

Randy Fisher (aka WikiRandy)

Presenter's Bio

Randy Fisher is an internationally-recognized facilitator and community-builder with experience in helping people and projects succeed and communities grow in complex, self-organizing ecosystems. He is passionate about building sustainable projects, communities and networks; facilitating dialogue to discover mutual interests and opportunities; designing processes to support stakeholder engagement, learning and performance during times of change, transition and renewal.

He is an elected member of WikiEducator's governing Community Council. He has a Masters in Organization Management and Development from Fielding Graduate University. (His MA thesis focused on educators' motivations in an open wiki environment.) He also holds a post-graduate degree in journalism; a certificate in advanced technology management and certificates in instructional design and training.

Theories / Approaches Randy Enjoys

 * Abilene Paradox (Thanks Jonathan Walker, Austin, TX)
 * Action Learning (Reg Revans); Participatory Action Learning
 * Adult Education (Knowles, and Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning)
 * Appreciative Inquiry / Strength-Based Approaches
 * Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning
 * Communities of Practice (Etienne Wenger)
 * Core Group Theory (Art Kleiner)
 * Complexity and Self-Organization (Wheatley, Stacey, Cilliers)
 * Metaphors: Organizations as Brains, Political Systems, Flux & Transformation, Psychic Prisons (Morgan)
 * Transitions, Development and Renewal (William Bridges)