What does the future of communication and learning look like?

As the people on earth prepare for what the future might bring we often look to space travel to give us a glimpse into the future. In the article “Tweet me, message me, like me: using social media to facilitate pedagogical change within an emerging community of practice” By Victoria Goodyear we look not to space but current times to see what the future might hold.

We all know how Facebook has changed the world and communication forever but did you know that “Facebook on May 2013 reported 665 million active daily users.” (Goodyear 2014) It’s a phenomenon not to take lightly. People enjoy social media because it allows people to free themselves of time and financial restraints. People are more likely to do things on their terms and when with this option available we can see the excitement at which it is used.

It’s getting to the point with mobile technologies that teachers no longer have to worry about technical limitations. Accessing computers is becoming less expensive and more accessible. Teachers are finding ways to stream line their work and make time to engage with students on discussion boards where the action is. It is here that a “community of practice exists for knowledge” and “knowledge and practice are socially constructed through a ‘set of relations among persons’ within the community.” (Goodyear 2014) Teachers and students are seamlessly melding their personal lives with their school lives.

In the online format, we find that there are three dimensions that make up a CoP that are “mutual engagement, a shared repertoire, and joint enterprise.” (Goodyear 2014) It is in these places people are developing their own ways of collaborating and giving meaning to their environments. They are creating a place of trust and sharing in social web that had not existed outside the classroom. They find in the article that “tweets, retweets, and likes worked to re-enforce the teachers so they could feel comfortable in their new space.” (Goodyear 2014)