1

Creating Communities of Practice for Higher Education Transformation

NMC Annual Meeting 2004

2

Speakers

Soren Kaplan, co-founder of iCohere (http://www.icohere.com)

Vicki Suter, Director of NLII Projects

(http://www.educause.edu/nlii)

3

Overview of key questions

What is a “community of practice?” What is a “virtual community of practice?”Why is this an NLII key theme?How can VCOPs facilitate and foster knowledge sharing, collaborative learning and institutional change?What are some underlying theories, models and principles involved in cultivating communities of practice for these purposes? What are the functional requirements for selecting tools

4

What is a “community of practice?”

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion for a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” (Wenger 2002)

5

What is a “community of practice?”

“Communities of Practice are groups of people who come together to share and to learn from one another face-to-face and virtually. They are held together by a common interest in a body of knowledge and are driven by a desire and need to share problems, experiences, insights, templates, tools, and best practices” (American Productivity & Quality Center)

6

What is a “virtual community of practice”

a group of people (and the “place” that they collectively create) that relies primarily (though not necessarily exclusively) on electronic communication media to communicate, connect and carry out community activities

7

Why is this an NLII Key Theme?

VCOPs serve as one strategy to achieve the NLII mission (use technology to enable higher education that is active and learner-centered, dynamic and lifelong, collaborative, cost-effective, accessible and high quality)

8

NLII’s Approach

Involve all stakeholders necessary to achieve this transformation of higher educationprovide learning and knowledge creation environments for NLII members, and leverage their collective energy and imagination

9

Underlying AssumptionsKnowledge is constructed socially.Learning (at the individual, institutional, and collective levels) is the basis for transformation of practiceFace to face experiences are: important, ANDBounded by space, time, and

money.

10

Underlying Assumptions about Technology

Technology can provide an environment in which learners (students, faculty, staff, association members) can build their understanding and construct knowledge Web-based collaborative technologies can be used to overcome other barriers in the creation of broad-based, vibrant, and engaged academic communities

11

Our Assertion

VCOPs can facilitate and foster knowledge sharing, collaborative learning and institutional change

12

Elements of a set of social processes for change

A complex set of social processes leads to learning, to the creation of knowledge, and to positive change for individuals, groups and organizationsVCOPs can facilitate these processes by supporting: Activities Social Structures Integration**The process of bringing all parts

together into a whole.

13

VCOP FrameworkActivities Structures Integration

ConnectionCommunicationInteractionReflectionShared context

creationCollaborationKnowledge

sharing & diffusion Knowledge

creation

IndividualTeamWork groupCommunity of

practiceLearning

communityInstitution or

OrganizationProfession

Integrated environment facilitates social processes and provides container for social structures Creates sense of

place & identity through integrated experiencesBridges time,

distance and differences for persistent presence of ideas, individuals, groups & community

14

A brief shared inquiry

Pair up, and take the next 20 minutes or so to interview each other, asking the questions in Sections 1 and 2 of the handout, and taking brief notes in the summary section.We’ll do some sharing of the three themes that stood out the most during the interviews.

15

Case # 1: Catalyst for Change (Individual & Organization)

“…within a month or so Robert began to change his attitude and style in our weekly face-to-face meetings. Somehow, participating in our online dialogue helped him realize that there could be some exciting benefit to sharing his ideas more widely before asking us to act on them – and listening to our responses to his ideas. Before long he even began to do that in his personal interactions with us as well as in our online interactions. The online interactions opened the door and he was willing to walk right through it! It was amazing to see that happen so quickly.” (From forthcoming chapter, Technology and OD in Practicing Organizational Development)

16

Underlying Principles for Case #1

CommunicationInteractionShared Context CreationReflection

17

Case # 2: Collective Practice

Background & challenge:Emerging Technology (Electronic

portfolios) - 2001Technical development needed to

be informed by pedagogy (reflection)

Implications on practice for use of e-portfolios needed to be explored

18

BackgroundLong, elegant and well-documented history and well-established community of practice for portfoliosNot enough interaction between tool-makers and tool-usersJohn Ittelson, 2001 Fellow, took on eportfolios as his research topic

19

E-PAC

E-PAC developed into a community of communitiesBrings together technologists –

the tool-makers - and practitioners (faculty and instructional designers) – the tool usersin structured activities

http://www.educause.edu/vcop/e_port.asp

20

Results (Case #2)Vibrant community that connects various communities across institutions, conferences and meetings, professions, marketsShared conceptual framework (definition, pedagogical purposes, taxonomy)Knowledge sharing (project briefings) Knowledge creation (IMS technical specifications)

21

Results (Case #2, cont)

Facilitated the formation of sub-groups of members with similar interests (OSPI) and the ePortConsortium Organized a meeting at the AAHE Assessment Conference where members expert on assessment advised the OSPI developers on assessment-related functionality. Publicized and increased access to the products of events such as the Clemson Digital Portfolio Institutes and the ePortfolios 2003 international conference (three of the five keynote speakers were E-PAC members)

22

Underlying Principles for Case #2

BridgingPersistent presence of ideas, individuals, communitiesSimultaneitySynchronicity

23

Life Cycle - Communities of Practice (Adapted from: McDermott, 2002)

Time

Energy, Commitment & Visibility

InquireDesign

Launch

Grow

Institutionalize

24

Functional RequirementsFunctional requirements shift slightly depending on the community’s purpose and lifecycle phase. Specific requirements are based on:

Social Structures Core Features Integrating Mechanisms

Levels of opennessSubgroupsRole distinctionsPresence

Synchronous CommunicationAsynchronous

CommunicationResource/File

SharingStructured Data

SharingScheduling &

CoordinationFinding &

Searching

User InterfacePush-Pull OptionsSystem CompatibilitySustained continuity of

action and activityAccessibility and

representations of relationships among resources

25

Discussion Questions

With regard to the VCOP framework (slide 13), and the Functional Requirements matrix (slide 24) – What technology features and functionality Create an integrated environment &

integrated experiences for community members?

Sustain continuity of action/activity? Bridge time, distance and differences for

persistent presence of ideas, individuals, groups & community?

26

Contacts & URLs

Soren Kaplan, iCohere (http://www.icohere.com)

Vicki Suter, Director of NLII Projectsvsuter@educause.edu)

(http://www.educause.edu/nlii)

More on NLII VCOPs – see http://www.educause.edu/vcop