Adding connectivity and losing context with ICT: Contrasting learning situations from a community of practice perspective

The promise of information and communication technologies is that it increases connectivity. By providing a spectrum of technologies such as email, web conferencing, telephones, and chat, ICTs bring people who are geographically dispersed together in community. Such communities can provide a new context for learning; at the same time, the social, physical, and technical context of the community's members risks getting lost through computer-mediated communication. Design for online communities, especially design for learning in online environments, tries to find ways of re-inviting participants' contexts, as context has a great bearing on learning, in fact is inextricably linked to learning. In this paper we investigate the complex relationship of context, technologies and community design issues. We present three case studies of online learning communities and analyze the interplay of context and technology for each situation, using a community of practice perspective. Each case balances the demands of time, the need for context, and the demands of practice in a unique way. The insights gained can inform both educational design and design of community technologies.