COMMUNITIES OF LEARNING: EXTENDING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE THROUGH CROSS-INSTITUTIONAL COLLABORATION

This short paper describes work in progress on the C2 Learn project intended to create a Virtual Community of Learning (CoL) in two European Universities in different countries (United Kingdom and Portugal) and then to develop its use. The teams are conducting literature reviews on virtual CoLs in general and on their respective countries in particular. In addition the teams are researching and exchanging information about each others’ institutions, facilitated by prior collaborative work and independent research discussing aspects of e-learning within their respective establishments. As a result of previous collaborative work (Gannon-Leary & Fontainha 2008) the teams have identified and examined the benefits, barriers and critical success factors relating to Communities of Practice (CoPs). Now they are revisiting these in the context of CoLs.

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