Independent Community Development and Learning Consultant
I am a consultant educational technologist and community of practice coach, developer and researcher. I consult to educational organisations and institutions such as the Indiana University's Quest Atlantis program, coach in a number of online educational programs and research issues of virtual worlds, games in learning and how we can cultivate identity, agency, leadership, and community for students and teachers in these environments.
I have been engaged in teacher professional development and educational community development for over 10 years from my doctoral study of 12 successful online communities through to designing and facilitating communities of practice and coaching with Etienne Wenger in communities of practice workshops. I host Community Capers, a blog to share case stories of, and develop dialog about, communities of practice. Most recently my focus has been on teacher learning in formal and informal professional communities and networks. Part of that focus has been with the a mashup of tools to support teachers in the global Quest Atlantis virtual world program . I also support student community and participatory design of virtual world spaces for student leadership, mentoring and collaborations. Aside from research I am convenor of the global Quest Atlantis Teacher Community and leader of the burgeoning Student Congress in the virtual world.
