Some argue they are two separate things others believe they are one and the same. For me they individual.
A network (of persons) to me is a bunch of people that are connected together by one or more commonality. For example most of the people I follow on Twitter have some interest in elearning, instructive design, and/or social media. (Except of course for the several UFC fighters I follow – #guiltypleasure).
These people in the network come and go in and out of “daily twitter existence” with various bits of information. The thing here to note is that even though we are all connected, we are not all present every day contributing to the network of info. The network more so has and ebb and flow to its existence and I think even usefulness to the participants. We go to it when we have information to share and when we seek information, collaboration, review, etc.
I see a group as coming together or being formed for some specific purpose. If I think of and online class, then this is a group of people who may not participate daily, but mostly likely have a set of tasks that they have to perform weekly. That is there is a task or tasks within the group (a purpose) and there is a time line to perform such tasks.
This is not to say that once the class is finished that members of the group may no longer connect with one another. However, once the purpose has been fulfilled the connection of people now become a network or people with a commonality. They were all part of the class.
My conundrum now however, is what is CCK11? This is technically a course even through there is no concrete collaborative space or learning platform. There is a group of people within the overall enrollment of participants that are doing the course for credit. So I refer to them as a group because they have a purpose and a time frame in which to accomplish the purpose.
The other participants have a purpose, which is to learn about connectivism. The course runs for a certain amount of time, so there is a set time to complete this learning in. However, these participants come and go in and out of the “class”. They can seek as much info as they wish. They can contribute as much as they wish. However, they don’t need to do either.
So are these particular participants a network or a group? Of this I’m still unsure. I think if they participate regularly and set themselves time frames or goals to accomplish. Even if those goals are the tasks of the course. Then yes they are a group. If they participate only here and there and “check in” to the material or discussion occasionally, then they are part of the overall network of CCK. This would includes those participants that have joined in from previous sessions of CCK.
I’d be more than happy to hear any thoughts that others have on my position of groups versus networks. Do you think I’m correct in my outline above or way off? Feel free to comment.
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Comments 0
Nice blogpost with interesting question. The network of cck11 members as I see it is not a group.
Because a social group is any number of people who share common goals and norms. A true group exhibits some degree of social cohesion and is more than a simple collection or aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop.
Social cohesion is low, common goals are nearly absent, every member has goals and some of them share goals. my blogpost on groups. The definition of a group is a citation from Wikipedia. Of course sociologists do not agree on the definition.
Steven Downes has a different definition as he adds leadership to the qualities of a group