Today, I’m pleased to launch my new ebook, and offer it as a free download. You can download it from http://edmac.usask.ca/rick/ebookflyer
Connections: Virtual Learning Communities is an eBook that explores how online communities form, who joins them, and how they operate in learning environments. This book is available as an .epub document, suitable for viewing on most mobile devices and desktops. If you aren’t sure how to handle .epub files, check out this excellent review of software for desktop and mobile devices: http://www.jedisaber.com/ebooks/Readers.asp
In the Virtual Learning Communities (VLC) Research Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan we have been investigating the shape of online learning networks for more than a decade. We’ve conducted research and written a bunch of papers, chapters, articles and reports on the topic.
This ebook pulls together the big ideas from our work for educators who might actually be able to put what we have learned to good use. That’s what this book is about—making sense of online learning communities. In a sense it isn’t original; it is rewritten out of material the VLC Research Lab already created along with a healthy dose of my own speculations. So it is selective rather than comprehensive. It doesn’t attempt to pull together all of the excellent work and writing about online learning.
This is also an experiment with this digital form of a book. The ebook format offers a number of fresh affordances and imposes some really difficult layout restrictions. The book includes a number of links to resources and examples. Every chapter has a video introduction that you can jump to if you want to get the big idea without combing through an entire chapter to dig it out. And by the time I release the next edition, I hope to discover a reasonable way to embed videos into the document, instead of having to link to external files.
And I hope to make this an evergreen book that changes as we learn more about how groups of people gather online to learn together. I invite you to add your own ideas to the next edition of the book at http://vlcbook.wikispaces.com/
So download a copy of Connections for yourself, and tell your friends (or enemies, if you don’t like the book). This is the first time I have been able to guarantee that a book of mine will be worth every penny! ☺
Congratulations on the new publication, Rick, and thanks for continuing to push the boundaries of academic writing! I’ve downloaded it to my iPad and can’t wait to read it!
By: courosa on June 1, 2011
at 12:41 pm
Thanks, Alec, and also for tweeting about this to your network. You’ve got your finger on the pulse!
By: Richard Schwier on June 1, 2011
at 5:34 pm
[...] released his new free eBook titled Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. Read about the book here, or download directly from this link. The book is in .epub format, so if you are unfamiliar with [...]
By: Connections: A Free eBook » open thinking on June 1, 2011
at 12:51 pm
[...] “Connections: Virtual Learning Communities” ebook launch « Rick's … Read more from Ebook Book, eBook, virtual Click here to cancel [...]
By: “Connections: Virtual Learning Communities” ebook launch « Rick's … | Coupon Codes on June 1, 2011
at 5:07 pm
Congrats, Rick. It is loaded on my iPad and is in the top three for my summer reading list. I’m with Alec – you are pushing boundaries and maybe even blurring them with your multimedia and evergreen format. And creative commons on top of all that! I hope you are setting a trend that many other writers will follow.
By: Rob Wall on June 1, 2011
at 10:10 pm
Thanks, Rob! So you’re reading Stieg Larsson’s stuff first?
It was a hoot. I’m putting together a post on the process of writing an ebook (well, what I ended up learning, anyway), and maybe even designing a workshop on it. Kind of tricky stuff.
By: Richard Schwier on June 1, 2011
at 10:52 pm
I have browsed through the book, an excellent piece of work!! I will give it a close read. Congrats. Rick!!!!
By: Ben Daniel on June 2, 2011
at 9:27 am
Thanks, Ben! It was good fun to write, but of course I don’t deserve the credit. Most of the content is from stuff we worked on together!
By: Richard Schwier on June 2, 2011
at 9:34 am
[...] Summer e-Pub reading: Connections [...]
By: MacReach Show #16: Summer Kicks Off With the iCloud! | EdReach on June 2, 2011
at 11:39 pm
[...] has recently announced the publication of his new book [Connections: Virtual Learning Communities](http://rickscafe.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/connections-virtual-learning-commun…. Rick describes it as … > … an eBook that explores how online communities form, who [...]
By: Connections – new book (and more) from Rick Schwier | Open Monologue on June 3, 2011
at 3:52 pm
[...] friend and mentor (frientor?) Rick Schwier has recently announced the publication of his new book Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. Rick describes it as … … an eBook that explores how online communities form, who [...]
By: Connections – new book (and more) from Rick Schwier | Open Monologue on June 3, 2011
at 4:14 pm
[...] “Connections: Virtual Learning Communities” ebook launch « Rick's Café Canadien Another free e-book that seems worth a closer look. (tags: usqict elearning) [...]
By: links for 2011-06-06 : DrAlb on June 6, 2011
at 6:12 pm
[...] is Rick Schvier’s recently released epub Connections: Virtual Learning Communities and like Rick himself, it is full of insight, but also, his genial personality. Connections: [...]
By: Real Virtual Connections - CogDogBlog on June 12, 2011
at 12:21 pm
Congrats Rick! I’m downloading it now. Can’t wait to start reading/listening/watching.
By: Darren Kuropatwa on June 15, 2011
at 9:48 pm
Thanks, Darren. Let me know what you think!
By: Richard Schwier on June 15, 2011
at 10:09 pm
[..] thanks a lot Darren can you inform me what you think about [...]
By: downloads free ebooks on September 27, 2011
at 9:59 am
Hi, I have tried to download this book onto my computer but it doesn’t recognise the file (do not have ipad, ipod and anything else “i” ). Do you have the book in any other format I can download? thanks a lot, Sarah
By: sarah stewart on June 17, 2011
at 2:09 pm
Hi Sarah. Thanks for downloading the book. It is in .epub format, so you probably haven’t yet installed software that can open it. There are a bunch of programs you can download and try. The book will look and act a little differently in each, but they should work. Here’s a piece from http://www.jedisaber.com/ebooks/Readers.asp that should solve the problem for you.
I’ve tested the book on Adobe Digital Editions on my desktop, and it works. I don’t like it as much as on my iPad using iBooks, but that may be personal preference.
By: Richard Schwier on June 17, 2011
at 2:21 pm
Thanks Richard, that did the trick. It is most fortuitous fining this link – I am presenting a session to my colleagues in a week or two on social media and learning communities so I’ll enjoy reading what you have to say.
By: sarah stewart on June 17, 2011
at 3:04 pm
Great, Sarah. Hope you like it. And please pass along the link to folks in your workshop. The more the merrier.
By: Richard Schwier on June 17, 2011
at 5:10 pm
[...] talk about Rick's book, my appearance on John Gormley, the Saskatchewan Teacher's contract negotiations and civil [...]
By: Ed Tech Posse 7.1 « Ideas and Thoughts on June 17, 2011
at 8:42 pm
[...] about his experience there, as well as Rick’s publishing his (highly recommended by me!) ebook on Connections: Virtual Learning Communities (there you go rick, maybe I can generate a CogDog Bump?, but I am no Courehski…), likely [...]
By: Two More Towns, Two More ds106 Radio Broadcasts - CogDogBlog on August 17, 2011
at 8:05 am
[...] June about virtual learning communities that should be part of your back to school reading. Called Connections, available as a free download on his site, and chock full of edu – [...]
By: Need More Information? | Remote Access on September 5, 2011
at 6:53 am
[...] It is people who are making efforts to act as humans by self publishing, the attitude that Rick Schwier adopted in his eBook on Connections: Virtual Learning Communities published for free [...]
By: What’s Wrong / What’s Right About Publishing - CogDogBlog on September 6, 2011
at 1:58 pm
[...] to use the notes for anything, feel free, but please credit him. He also has a free ebook found here.) We discussed how communities are either formal (organized by an external party and operated [...]
By: Thoughts Regarding Community « Chelsi's Educational Musings on September 28, 2011
at 10:53 pm
[...] more deliberate and intentional when trying to foster a community with my students. In his ebook Connections: Virtual Learning Communities Schwier discusses how “communities cannot be created; rather, they emerge when conditions [...]
By: The Feel of a Community | Aspiring to Higher Tech on October 14, 2011
at 3:52 pm
[...] titled Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. For more information about the book, visit: http://rickscafe.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/connections-virtual-learning-communities-ebook-launch/. To get your free copy of the ebook (epub file): [...]
By: POT Newsletter #38 (January 2012) « Program for Online Teaching on January 28, 2012
at 5:22 pm
[...] titled Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. For more information about the book, visit:http://rickscafe.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/connections-virtual-learning-communities-ebook-launch/. To get your free copy of the ebook (epub [...]
By: POT activities for Spring 2012 « Program for Online Teaching on January 28, 2012
at 8:29 pm
[...] is a free e-book by Richard Schwier, titled Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. You can get more information about the book, and get your free copy of the ebook as an epub [...]
By: POT Newsletter #39 (Feb 2012) « Program for Online Teaching on February 29, 2012
at 3:12 pm
[...] and Death of Online Learning Communities"- Richard A. Schwier, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Canada (Blog) An interesting presentation:Connections and Contexts: The Birth, Growth and Death of Online [...]
By: 21st Century Teaching Blog: E-Learn 2011 (Thursday, October 20) on March 2, 2012
at 3:43 pm
[...] titled Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. For more information about the book, visit:http://rickscafe.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/connections-virtual-learning-communities-ebook-launch/. To get your free copy of the ebook (epub [...]
By: POT Newsletter #41 (April 2012) « Program for Online Teaching on April 29, 2012
at 10:16 pm
[...] from this work. The book is in epub format, and can be downloaded for free. Check it out! (Source: http://rickscafe.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/connections-virtual-learning-communities-ebook-launch/) Tags: ebook, education, free, learning, online learning, research, virtual learning communities, [...]
By: | Pay Attention on August 3, 2012
at 8:03 pm
“Connections: Virtual Learning Communities ebook launch Rick’s Café Canadien” ended up being quite enjoyable and enlightening! Within modern universe honestly, that is very difficult to manage. Thanks a lot, Tobias
By: http://yahoo.com on February 10, 2013
at 4:36 pm