Participation in online communities

After a long hiatus, I'm back - hoping to post on a more frequent basis. I just read a post by Derek It's an old post - but new to me. He talks about the different levels of participation in an online community. Yesterday I worked with a group of teachers to help them become part of the online community. We're setting up ways for them to be connected to share their learning and to support each other as they get their students involved in online work. I talked about the fact that lurking is an acceptable beginnning step to becoming part of a community. I liked Derek's four categories: consumer (my lurker), commenter, contributor and commentator.

I think any of these levels are acceptable entry points - much depends on the person's personality. I hope to help the teachers see the value of online communities. I know I have gained and grown so much by being part of the online world in education.