Dimensions of design: a comparison of professional development in two on-line learning communities

The paper is a comparison of the design of two on-line learning communities, one situated in Finland and one situated in Australia. In this paper, the word 'design' refers to the organizational structures of learning communities thus our scope is the design of social processes. In particular, the focus is on the opportunities for professional development for the participating teacher. However, our main aim is to display how two different on-line projects can be compared by applying a model of design that derives from the theoretical framework of communities of practice by Etienne Wenger. Our research shows that Wenger's model provides a useful metalanguage that facilitates analyses of different learning communities.