Use following as separate hand-out at end of talk so Gilbert can refer to list of questions!

“Community” is a term that is especially important, and especially problematic, in education today.  

We are finding it both provocative and helpful to collect stories about incidents where the boundaries between professional and personal interactions are stretched or torn. Recognizing how those boundaries differ for many of us is often a good basis for sharpening our understanding of how differently we identify and experience various dimensions of community.

We do not expect ever to reach unanimity about the meaning and appropriate use of the term "community." Rather, we find it useful to articulate the important characteristics and dimensions of affiliation that are possible and desirable for different kinds of groups under different circumstances. We hope to identify or develop ways to support efforts to achieve and sustain those community-like affiliations, especially using new options made possible by new information technologies, information resources, and telecommunications media. 

Here, I offer questions for articulating important elements of community:

·        Where are the comfortable boundaries for you between professional and personal interactions?

·        Within a course?

·        Within your office or department?

·        Within your institution?

·        Within your academic field or profession?

·        Which other elements of community and collaboration are most important to you (i.e., in addition to person-professional boundary; e.g., duration of mutual commitment)?

·        Within a course?

·        Within your office or department?

·        Within your institution?

·        Within your academic field or profession?

• Which applications of information technology and which approaches to teaching, learning, and research support these important elements?