Facilitating the introductory conversations & individual participation

As mentioned previously the Learning Concierge Society has been active for only 2 months, therefore the community is still in its developing stages or the 'forming stage' as cited by McInnerney & Roberts (2004 p79) as presented by Tuckman 1965 as cited in Kemery 2000. 

The facilitator posts regularly (every second day) in the initial days of the society to encourage community members to share their thoughts and ideas, specifically as they relate to their role as a Learning Concierge

The general posts generate no responses, however when the facilitator posts are more direct in a request for response, she received comments from members and respective conversations followed.

As would be expected by a facilitator, she responds to comments/replies to her initial postings in recognition of the members' comments aswell as to continue the conversation by prompting with relevant questions. By being responsive to comments/replies or member postings the facilitator is encouraging comments or postings from other members, in an effort to open the community to wider participation. 

Currently, of the 11 members (excluding myself and the facilitator) I have categorised the following in an effort to observe the ongoing trends of participation.

My Observations of the individual participation shows  5 members posted once or twice in the initial days of the community, 4 members participated actively for the first week, 2 members post or comment fortnightly.

I will continue to observe the group as it grows, which will also allow me to determine  how members participate going forward and to note if once early active members return to the group. 

Setting myself up in my learning community For EDIT517

The eLearning community I am interacting in is Learning Concierge Society which is a group recently initiated by Jane Hart. I discovered this community when Hart posted a blogpost http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/2013/07/03/learning-concierge/ introducing the concept of learning concierge. 

Jane is somewhat of an identity within corporate training as she has a very active online presence, having established the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (C4LPT) http://c4lpt.co.uk/ You can check this link for more info about Jane http://c4lpt.co.uk/jane-hart/

As with anything that targets a corporate audience, there is something to 'purchase'; from consulting services, participation in a workshop or e-books, however there are also many items on offer at no charge such as presentations of information and lists of Top 100 technologies with reviews. The workshops and publications on offer are also very reasonably priced and whilst I have not yet participated I am keen to involve myself in future workshops. 

Relevance to who I am and what I do. 

As a trainer in a corporate setting I find the concepts and issues that are raised by Hart, in her writings (blog) and her followers' (in comments) are most relevant to my circumstances. I was therefore keen to understand more about this concept of learning concierge. I submitted my request to join the group and within a few days I received the email invitation.

There are currently only 47 members, as the group was initiated 2 months ago.

The main platform for communication is Yammer which is a Social Media platform that I am familiar with, as this is used within my organisation for colleagues across Suncorp to share information. From my initial investigations there are many topics that are relevant to me. I will share more over the coming days as I immerse myself in the community and develop my own sense of self within the group.

I will also send Hart an email as a courtesy to verify that she is agreeable to having me discuss issues that relate to the community within this blog. As it is a closed community there may be certain restrictions that I have not considered.