About the community

The Australian Flexible Learning Community grew out of the earlier LearnScope Virtual Learning Community (1998 - 2001) and in 2001 was funded to become a separate project within the Australian Flexible Learning Framework 2000 - 2004.  You can read a much longer article about the Community in the Professional Development section of this site. 

As the home page of the Community indicated,"The Australian Flexible Learning Community is a place for vocational education and training practitioners to collaborate and learn about the applications of technology for quality teaching and learning." This fairly open brief allowed us to design and facilitate an online professional development environment which included a range of public groups, special events each month, competitions, news and views from around the world, postcards and presentations from other Framework projects, original learning resources from a range of authors, "opinion pieces" from industry leaders, special guests, member polls and so on. We aimed to find a balance between centrally coordinated content and events and an environment that would encourage people to direct their own professional development, contribute to the professional development of others and become a cohort of "creative, capable people".

Between 2001 and 2004 the Community grew from 1,200 to 7,078 members which included 37 private groups as well as LearnScope teams around the country each year who, over time, shared hundreds of stories about their progress and experiences. (The Community project continued to provide support to the national coordination of LearnScope between 2001 - 2004 including the provision of web services and other support).  During this time the Community did indeed grow from a place where people mainly came to "get stuff" to a place where members came to speak with others they knew and/or met through the Community, collaborate and contribute resources, ideas, time and talent. Others continued to quietly visit once a month to collect new resources and most people fell somewhere between the two.

In managing the project I discovered that everything I had read about online communities was true - the way they grow, the way elders and other roles emerge, the generosity shown, the storms in teacups, the grace and humour, the conundrums and the daily thrills and spills. Over the years there have been many, many members who stand out for their consistent voluntary contributions, generosity and services to the Community and you'll find many of their voices and personalities reflected in articles, contributions and comments on this legacy site.

For those of you who are more mathematically inclined, I have compiled membership statistics and activity summary statistics below: 

For those of you who prefer pictures, check out this gallery of people who worked in various formal roles (paid and unpaid) during the period to achieve the "effortless" outcomes we achieved in the Community. This, of course, includes our closest "cousins", the LearnScope managers.

Funding for the project ceased at the end of 2004 to make way for the Networks of the Australian Flexible Learning Community which reflects the national Flexible Learning Advisory Group's (FLAG) vision for 2005 and beyond. This is where you'll be able to access the next generation of online discussions and professional development opportunities.  LearnScope as a project has continued in 2005 and created a new purpose-built website.

This "Best of" site, jointly sponsored by FLAG and the TAFE NSW International Centre for VET Teaching and Learning (also the managing agent for the Community 1998 - 2004), contains the bulk of the resources generated in the Community during its 2001 - 2004 incarnation.

Congratulations and thanks to the many individuals and groups out there who were part of the journey that was the Community (and who are continuing their journeys along the multiple pathways that exist beyond it). I hope this legacy site does justice to the time and place we shared.

Rose Grozdanic
Project Manager 2001 - 2004
Australian Flexible Learning Community