Contexts and communities

Beverly Trayner

	I have been a lecturer at ESCE - a Business School in Setúbal, Portugal for seven years and am currently invovlved in the inter-institution Bolonha working group. During my thirteen years in Portugal I've worked for the British Council, Lisbon, Universidade Independente (Lisbon) and Universidade Autonoma (Lisbon).
Qualifications	A Business Studies degree from what is now the University of Brighton, UK; a Masters degree in Development Studies from the University of Bath, UK; the Certificate in Online Education and Training from the University of London; and the Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults (DELTA). I hope to finish my doctorate before August 2006.
	Active member of CPsquare. In 2002 we held a Dialogue in SetÃºbal. After presenting a workshop at Communities and Technologies 2003 we wrote "Phase change in a community of practice". We are currently updating guidelines developed for international communities, possibly presenting them at the WEBIST conference in Setï¿½bal, 2006. There are plans for another Dialogue in Prato, November 2006 before the Prato 2006 Community Informatics Conference.
	A member of the Centre for Community Networking Research which "aims to understand how communities and community organisations are using new technologies". I'm also a member of the Prato 2006 Community Informatics Conference advisory committee, the theme of which is: "Constructing and sharing memory: community informatics, identity and empowerment "(Oct 9-11, 2006).
	I keep a series of blogs, the most regular of which is Em duas lÃnguas and a teaching portfolio blog. I was a panel participant at Blogher in Santa Clara, USA in July 2005 on a discussion entitled When globalisation is good for women. I'm contributing to the planning Wiki on the Portuguese blogopedia of a possible "BlogHer em Portugal" conference in 2006.
	I have (co-)designed and run a number of online and face-to-face workshops including Narrative and Context in Online Settings - a Communities of Practice Perspective in Milan (2005) and Facilitating learning projects in communities of practice for Portuguese participants (2004).
	I am the technology steward for Agï¿½ncia CIARIS Portugal apoiando o combate ï¿½ pobreza e exclusï¿½o social em Portugal. CIARIS Portugal is part of CIARIS international of the International Labour Organisation for whom I have designed a distnace course about "Strategies for combating exclusion on the local level".
	I was the regional tutor for Portugal in the London Online Education and Training course and was the designer and facilitator on a module of Multiliteracies for Online Learning. I also designed a module on intercultural communication for online communities for the University of Bocconi OET.
Learning partners	My inspiration comes from partners in writing, thinking and doing together: John Smith of Learning Alliances, Nancy White of Full Circle Associates, Peter Putz, research scientist at Nasa; Patricia Arnold, professor at Hamburg University; Marco Betonni, Research Director of Fernfachhochschule Schweiz. Etienne Wenger is the writer and person who most influences my thinking and practice.
	Everything I write is dedicated to Sally Mavor, my best friend and co-author whose son I adopted when she died. We sowed and watered so many seeds of thought, learning and inspiration together that every flower blooms for us both.
Publications include:	Arnold, P., Smith, J., Trayner, B. ï¿½Narrative: designing for context in virtual settingsï¿½. In Figueiredo, A.D. & Afonso, A.P (Eds.) Managing Learning in Virtual Settings: The Role of Context, Hershey, PA:Idea Group, Inc. Trayner, B. ï¿½The international cafï¿½: a respectful critiqueï¿½. In Wulf, V. et al (Eds.) Communities and Technologies, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Mavor, S. & Trayner, B. ï¿½Exclusion in International Online Learning Communitiesï¿½. In Reisman, S. (Ed.) Electronic Learning Communities: issues and practices, Greenwich,CT:Information Age Publishing, Inc. Trayner, B. Matos, J.P., Silva, A.F. ï¿½Comunidades de Pratica: Partilha de Experiï¿½ncias e Saberesï¿½ in S@bER+, Revista para o Desenvolvimento da Educaï¿½ï¿½o e Formaï¿½ï¿½o de Adultos No 15, Dezembro. Mavor S., & Trayner, B. ï¿½Aligning Genre with Practice: an Interdisciplinary Perspective for Course Design and Teaching in Higher Educationï¿½. In International Journal of Languages for Specific Purposes, Vol 20, nï¿½ 4, April, Pergamon Press, Elsevier Science.
Presentations include:	Weaving together online and face-to-face learning: a design from a communities of practice perspective. Presented under "best practices" at the E-learn conference, Vancouver (2005) with John Smith. Context, Learning and Narrative in Online Settings presented at the School of Technology, Barreiro, Portugal - 22nd January, 2005 Babel in the International Cafï¿½: a Respectful Critique presented at the Communities and Technologies 2003 conference, Amsterdam, Holland - 21st September, 2003 An Introduction to International Communication Online presented at a seminar at the University of Bocconi, Milano, Italy - 7th March 2003 The impact of global changes on the English language and accompanying paper presented at Kaunus University, Lithuania - 26th May, 2003 An overview of Hofstede's National Cultural Dimensions presented at Universidade Catolica, Lisboa, Portugal - 8th February 2003.
	When Iï¿½m not at my computer Iï¿½m doing BTT (cross-country cycling) in the hills of Arrabida near my appartment.
	Departamento de Economia e Gestão: Reflexão sobre as nossas práticas pedagï¿½gicasï¿½, 16th April 2004. A documentaï¿½ï¿½o estï¿½ aqui.
	A pedagogy workshop that took place at Escola Superior de Tecnologia, Barreiro in July 2004.

Beverly Trayner, PhD reflections. Last updated: 30th October, 2005