Developing Communities of Practice: The Role of
a Centre for Excellence in Fostering Staff and
Student Communities
Centre for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning
Promoting Learner Autonomy
Ivan Moore, Director
Dr Jo Elfving-Hwang, Researcher/developer
What do we mean by a Community of Practice?
What do we mean by a Community of Practice?
• Communities of practice are groups of people who share
a concern or a passion for something they do and learn
how to do it better as they interact regularly.
• (Wenger 2002; 2009: 1)
What do we mean by a Community of Practice?
• A community of practice (sometimes referred to as a
'learning community') emerges from a common desire
among its members to achieve change (i.e., improve
existing practices); it provides regular opportunities for
collaborative reflection and inquiry through dialogue; and
ultimately, it develops common tools, language, images,
roles, assumptions, understandings, and a shared world
view.
• (Wesley & Buysse, 2001: 118)
What do we mean by a Community of Practice?
• groups of people who share their knowledge and
experience of a certain theme or professional field and
learn together in order to cope better with problems and
challenges in practice…. almost always, they wish to
improve their functioning in practice
• (Cremers and Valkenburg, 2008
CPLA CETL communities
• Communities of those interested in empowering students
to acquire responsibility for their leaning and to work in
partnership with tutors and other students…
• … and who work together in sharing knowledge and good
practice to that shared goal
Centre for Promoting Learner Autonomy
• What do we mean by Learner Autonomy?
A definition of learner autonomy
• An autonomous learner takes responsibility for
his/her own learning
• They can identify:
– their learning goals (what they need to learn)
– their learning processes (how they will learn it)
– how they will evaluate and use their learning
Characteristics of ‘effective’ autonomous learners
•
•
•
•
•
they have well-founded conceptions of learning
they have a range of learning approaches and skills
they can organize their learning
they have good information processing skills
they are well motivated to learn
STANCE TOWARDS LEARNING
WILLINGNESS TO LEARN
Orientation to learning
Appropriate conceptions of learning
Deep approach to learning
A range of appropriate learning
strategies
Balance of vocational, academic,
personal and social motivations to learn
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Goals
Short - Medium - Long
Confidence
INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
Information handling
Access to resources:
On line and Paper-based
Role models (people, exemplars,
designs)
Equipment
Other learners
Contexts
Study Skills
Planning and problem solving
Evaluation & Metacognition
Self-assessment
Focus & ‘stickability’
Time and project management
Balancing social, work and learning
needs
Assessment
STANCE TOWARDS LEARNING
WILLINGNESS TO LEARN
Orientation to learning
Appropriate conceptions of learning
Deep approach to learning
A range of appropriate learning
strategies
Balance of vocational, academic,
personal and social motivations to learn
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation
Goals
Short - Medium - Long
Confidence
INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
Information handling
Access to resources:
On line and Paper-based
Role models (people, exemplars,
designs)
Equipment
Other learners
Contexts
Study Skills
Planning and problem solving
Evaluation & Metacognition
Self-assessment
Focus & ‘stickability’
Time and project management
Balancing social, work and learning
needs
Assessment
Factors that can influence the development of autonomy
• The potential for autonomy in learning (Fazey and Fazey,
2001)
– Autonomous people are intrinsically-motivated,
perceive themselves to be in control of their decision
making, take responsibility for the outcomes of their
actions and have confidence in themselves
The CPLA CETL strategy
Faculty Development
Initiatives
Small Scale Projects
Are these
communities of
practice?
Retrospective
reconstruction
Scholarship Team for
Autonomy Research
(STARs)
Research and resource
development
Herrington et. al.
(2008)
What do Communities of Practice do?
Requests for information
Seeking experience
Faculty Development
teams
Coordination and synergy
Small Scale Project
leaders
Discuss developments
Documentation of projects
Mapping knowledge and
identifying gaps
Scholarship Team for
Autonomy Research
(STARs)
CPLA Core Team
Reusing assets
Problem solving
(Adapted from Wenger (2002;
2009))
What are the Characteristics of these CoPs?
• Great enthusiasm to engage with principles of active, student centred
teaching and learning practices that enhance autonomy.
– (albeit the idea or definition of autonomy may fluctuate depending
on the context and discipline);
• Overlapping boundaries of 'membership' within various domains,
which complement each other because of the shared domain of
interest.
– e.g. FP participants may also collaborate/meet with SSP
participants, STAR scholars may be heavily involved in FPs/SSPs;
• Shared domain of interest.
– learner autonomy, enhancing student learning experience through
actively engaging with students
Staff learning communities
• Fostered through cross-institutional project schemes
• Overlapping membership and interacting communities
• CPLA encourages inter-connection
• But different from a network
• A CoP produces a shared practice as members engage in
a collective process of learning. (Wenger, 1998)
• These communities of practice 'engage in joint activities
and discussions, help each other, and share information
through regular workshops, symposia, structured and
informal meetings' (Wenger, 2002; 2009: 2)
levels of engagement in communities
working independently
part of a network
working in collaboration
part of a community
Student learning communities
• Learning is an inherently social process
– autonomous students do not (necessarily)work on their
own
• Social and dialogic learning with the focus of interest on
the subject
– collaborative learning
– fixed term; temporary communities
– similar to staff communities
Staff-student communities
• The learning is enquiry-based or research-led.
• May be in the domain of research interest of the staff.
• Students often report how they feel they are working in a
collaborative partnership with staff.
Lessons learned
• Factors that encourage communities of practice
– non-hierarchical
• informal
– group (community) interests are closely aligned with
personal interests (pre-existing work)
– shared domain of interest (enquiry) is clearly defined
and shared between participants
How have the communities facilitated learning?
• through social interaction and action learning, members
learn fast and learn complex concepts
• 'working as a community of practice increases the level of
knowledge of the participants and the quality of their
working practice' (concurring with Cremer and
Valkenburg)
What does this tell us about the characteristics of a
dynamic, 21st century HEI?
• Three inter-linking
communities
staff
student
staff-student
• Communities of
practice (more than
networks) seem to
emerge as a positive
influence and
facilitator of deep,
autonomous, learning
Concerns for development
• Not all domains are emerging as communities of practice
– networks
• Not everyone in a domain joins the community
– networks
• Attitudes seem to be based on previous experience(s)
• To develop communities:
– How can we change these attitudes?
– How do we break down hierarchies and maintain
informality whilst also providing leadership and focus?