Virtual Communities of Practice to Promote Digital Agriculturists’ Learning Competencies and Learning Engagement: Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs) are networks of people who share a common interest and a desire to learn together in the same domain via ICT. The limitations of the existing concepts for developing VCoPs in general contexts are not explained in terms of the integration between virtual learning technologies and digital learning strategies used to promote expected learning outcomes in the agricultural sector. This research aims to propose the conceptual framework for developing the Virtual Communities of Practice through Digital Inquiry (VCoPs-DI Model) to promote digital agriculturists' learning competencies and engagement. The research methodology was divided into three stages: the first stage involves a literature review for document analysis and synthesis, the second stage involves constructing the conceptual framework, and the third stage involves evaluating the content validity index. The key results showed that the developed conceptual framework has three parts: (1) The fundamentals of concept formation were divided into four concept bases: (1.1) Communities of Practice (CoPs), (1.2) Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), (1.3) Digital Learning Resources (DLRs), and (1.4) Critical Inquiry Method; (2) The identification of the manipulated variable was divided into two compositions: (2.1) VCoPs and (2.2) Digital Inquiry (DI); (3) The identification of the dependent variable was divided into two compositions: (3.1) Digital agriculturists' learning competencies, and (3.2) learning engagement. Findings from an expert's review show that the scale levels of the content validity index (SCVI) were 0.958. We anticipate that our conceptual framework could be used for reference as part of the design and development of the VCoPs model to promote learning in the agricultural sector.

The Inquiry-Driven VCoP Model to Promote Digital Agriculturalists’ Learning Competencies in the Agriculture 4.0 Era

“…In the future directions of EdTech research in order to promote digital agriculturalists' learning competencies [1,[23][24][25][26], it will still be challenging to integrate strategies (e.g., pedagogy, andragogy, heutagogy, and cybergogy) with emerging technology to help agriculturalists gain access to learning and gain an appropriate learning process that affects productivity and improves the quality of life and well-being.…”

“…Manyuen et al [19] propose that the conceptual framework will lead to practical ways to incorporate agricultural communication to increase participation in the VCoPs among the agricultural workforce, including for all ages in the digital transmedia era, towards the digital agriculturalists' learning competencies, which include six expected learning outcomes: 1) Seeking opportunities for lifelong learning; 2) a self-concept of being an effective digital learner; 3) initiative, creativity, and independent learning concerning digital agriculture learning issues; 4) self-responsibility in digital agriculture occupations; 5) optimistic about agriculture's evolution in the digital era; and 6) problem-solving and decision-making concerning agriculture practices in the digital era.…”

“…The four concepts were incorporated into the conceptual framework of this study to develop the learning model. This conceptual framework, adapted from Manyuen and Boonlue et al [19], aims to promote digital agriculturalists' learning competencies towards the agriculture 4.0 era. As shown in Fig.…”

“…Each of these sub-elements has the following key attributes:  Learning achievement: This subcomponent is a representation of the digital agriculturalists' assessment of their learning achievement using the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy [20].  Digital agriculturalists' learning competencies: This subcomponent symbolizes the learning competencies assessment applied to the OECD learning framework [16] and digital agriculturalists' learning competencies, which include six expected learning outcomes [19]: 1) Seeking opportunities for lifelong learning; 2) self-concept of being an effective digital learner; 3) initiative, creativity, and independent learning concerning digital agriculture learning issues; 4) self-responsibility in digital agriculture occupations; 5) optimistic about agriculture's evolution in the digital era; and 6) problem-solving and decision-making concerning agriculture practices in the digital era.  Learning satisfaction: This subcomponent symbolizes the learning satisfaction survey based on input factors (purpose, people, perspective, platform, and policy).…”