Communities of practice as professional and organizational development strategy in local public health organizations in Québec, Canada : an evaluation model

Communities of practice (CoPs) are among the professional development strategies most widely used in such fields as management and education. Though the approach has elicited keen interest, knowledge pertaining to its conceptual underpinnings is still limited, thus hindering proper assessment of CoPs' effects and the processes generating the latter. To address this shortcoming, this paper presents a conceptual model that was developed to evaluate an initiative based on a CoP strategy: Health Promotion Laboratories are a professional development intervention that was implemented in local public health organizations in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). The model is based on latest theories on work-group effectiveness and organizational learning and can be usefully adopted by evaluators who are increasingly called upon to illuminate decision-making about CoPs. Ultimately, validation of this conceptual model will help advance knowledge and practice pertaining to CoPs as well as professional and organizational development strategies in public health.

Communities of practice as professional and organizational development strategy in local public health organizations in Québec, Canada : an evaluation model

Communities of practice (CoPs) are among the professional development strategies most widely used in such fields as management and education. Though the approach has elicited keen interest, knowledge pertaining to its conceptual underpinnings is still limited, thus hindering proper assessment of CoPs' effects and the processes generating the latter. To address this shortcoming, this paper presents a conceptual model that was developed to evaluate an initiative based on a CoP strategy: Health Promotion Laboratories are a professional development intervention that was implemented in local public health organizations in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). The model is based on latest theories on work-group effectiveness and organizational learning and can be usefully adopted by evaluators who are increasingly called upon to illuminate decision-making about CoPs. Ultimately, validation of this conceptual model will help advance knowledge and practice pertaining to CoPs as well as professional and organizational development strategies in public health.

Virtual communities of practice: investigating motivations and constraints in the processes of knowledge creation and transfer

With accelerated market volatility, faster response times and increased globalization, business environments are going through a major transformation and firms have intensified their search for strategies which can give them competitive advantage. This requires that companies continuously innovate, to think of new ideas that can be transformed or implemented as products, processes or services, generating value for the firm. Innovative solutions and processes are usually developed by a group of people, working together. A grouping of people that share and create new knowledge can be considered as a Community of Practice (CoP). CoP’s are places which provide a sound basis for organizational learning and encourage knowledge creation and acquisition. Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP's) can perform a central role in promoting communication and collaboration between members who are dispersed in both time and space. Nevertheless, it is known that not all CoP's and VCoP's share the same levels of performance or produce the same results. This means that there are factors that enable or constrain the process of knowledge creation. With this in mind, we developed a case study in order to identify both the motivations and the constraints that members of an organization experience when taking part in the knowledge creating processes of VCoP's. Results show that organizational culture and professional and personal development play an important role in these processes. No interviewee referred to direct financial rewards as a motivation factor for participation in VCoPs. Most identified the difficulty in aligning objectives established by the management with justification for the time spent in the VCoP. The interviewees also said that technology is not a constraint.

Conditions for EFL learning and professional development : Finland-Swedish learner and teacher perspectives

Engelskans dominerande roll som internationellt språk och andra globaliseringstrender påverkar också Svenskfinland. Dessa trender påverkar i sin tur förutsättningarna för lärande och undervisning i engelska som främmande språk, det vill säga undervisningsmålen, de förväntade elev- och lärarroller, materialens ändamålsenlighet, lärares och elevers initiala erfarenheter av engelska och engelskspråkiga länder. Denna studie undersöker förutsättningarna för lärande och professionell utveckling i det svenskspråkiga nybörjarklassrummet i engelska som främmande språk. Utgångsläget för 351 nybörjare i engelska som främmande språk och 19 av deras lärare beskrivs och analyseras. Resultaten tyder på att engelska håller på att bli ett andraspråk snarare än ett traditionellt främmande språk för många unga elever. Dessa elever har också goda förutsättningar att lära sig engelska utanför skolan. Sådan var dock inte situationen för alla elever, vilket tyder på att det finns en anmärkningsvärd heterogenitet och även regional variation i det finlandssvenska klassrummet i engelska som främmande språk. Lärarresultaten tyder på att vissa lärare har klarat av att på ett konstruktivt sätt att tackla de förutsättningar de möter. Andra lärare uttrycker frustration över sin arbetssituation, läroplanen, undervisningsmaterialen och andra aktörer som kommer är av betydelse för skolmiljön. Studien påvisar att förutsättningarna för lärande och undervisning i engelska som främmande språk varierar i Svenskfinland. För att stöda elevers och lärares utveckling föreslås att dialogen mellan aktörer på olika nivå i samhället bör förbättras och systematiseras.

Professional development among educators pursuing a B.Ed. program in special education in Tanzania : a study of motives and perceived outcomes

Implementation of different policies and plans aiming at providing education for all is a challenge in Tanzania. The need for educators and professionals with relevant knowledge and qualifications in special education is substantial. Teacher education does not equip educators with sufficient knowledge and skills in special education and professional development programs in special education are few in number. Up to 2005 no degree programs in special education at university level were available in Tanzania. The B.Ed. Special Education program offered by the Open University of Tanzania in collaboration with Åbo Akademi University in Finland was one of the efforts aimed at addressing the big national need for teachers and other professionals with degree qualifications in special education. This pilot program offered unique possibilities to study professional development in Tanzania. The research group in this study consisted of the group of students who participated in the degree program 2005-2007. The study is guided by three theoretical perspectives: individual, social and societal. The individual perspective emphasizes psychological factors as motives, motivation, achievement, self-directed behavior and personal growth. Within social perspective, professional development is viewed as situated within the social and cultural context. The third perspective, the societal, focuses on change, reforms, innovations and transformation of school systems and societies. Accordingly, professional development is viewed as an individual, social and societal phenomenon. The overall aim of the study is to explore the participants’ motives for participating in a B.Ed. Special Education program and the perceived outcomes of the program in terms of professional development. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a case study approach was adopted. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were administered in three waves between January 2007 and February 2009 to the 35 educators participating in the B.Ed. Special Education program. The findings of the study reveal that the participants expressed motives which were related to job performance, knowledge, skills, academic degree and career. Also altruistic motives were expressed by the participants in terms of helping and supporting students with special needs and their communities. The perceived outcomes of the program were in line with the expressed motives. However, the results indicate that the participants also learned new skills, as interaction skills and guidance and counseling skills. Increased self-confidence was also mentioned as an outcome. The participants also got deepened understanding of disability issues. In addition, they learned strategies for creating awareness of persons with disability in the communities. Thus the findings of the study indicate positive outcomes of the program in terms of professional development. The conclusion of the study is that individual, social and societal factors interact when it comes to explaining why Tanzanian educators in special education choose to pursue a degree program in special education. The individual motives, as increased knowledge and better prospects of career development interact with the social and societal motives to help and support vulnerable student groups. The study contributes to increased understanding of the complexity of professional development and of the realities educators meet when educational reforms are implemented in a developing country.

Sport-based corporate social responsibility in European professional football

In the past few decades, sport has become a major business with remarkable international reach. As part of the commercial sector of sport, professional sport is said to be intrinsically different from other businesses due to its unique characteristics, such as the peculiar economics and the intense loyalty of fans. Simultaneously with the growing business aspect, sport continues to have great social and cultural impacts on our society. Sport has also become an increasingly popular means of attending social problems due to its alleged suitability for such purposes and its popular appeal. A great number of actors in the professional sport industry have long been involved in socially responsible activities, many of which have been sport-related. While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been extensively studied in general, its role in the professional sport industry has received less attention in the academic research until recently. It has been argued that due to the unique characteristics of professional sport, CSR should also be studied in this particular context. The objective of this study was to contribute to filling the research gap and increase the understanding of CSR in the context of professional sport by examining sport-related CSR realized by professional football clubs in Europe. The theoretical part of this study leaned on previous literature about using sport as a means of attending social issues and the role of CSR in professional sport industry. The empirical part of the study was carried out through web site analyses and interviews. The clubs to be examined were chosen by using purposive sampling technique and taking into consideration the accessibility and suitability of information the clubs could offer. The method used for analyzing the data was qualitative content analysis. The empirical findings were largely in line with the theoretical framework of the study. The sportrelated CSR of the clubs was concentrated on teaching the participants diverse skills and values, improving their health, encouraging social inclusion, supporting disabled people, and promoting overall participation in sport. The clubs also emphasized the importance of local communities as targets of their CSR. CSR had been an integral part of the clubs’ activities from the beginning, but there were remarkable differences between large and small clubs in terms of structured organization and realization of their CSR. Measuring and evaluation of CSR appeared to be a challenge for most clubs regardless of their size and resources. The motives for the clubs to engage in CSR seemed to be related to the clubs’ values or to their stakeholders’ interests. In general, the clubs’ CSR went beyond what the society is likely to expect from them in legal or ethical sense.

Virtual communities : a virtual treasure trove for end-user developers

End-user development is a very common but often largely overlooked phenomenon in information systems research and practice. End-user development means that regular people, the end-users of software, and not professional developers are doing software development. A large number of people are directly or indirectly impacted by the results of these non-professional development activities. The numbers of users performing end-user development activities are difficult to ascertain precisely. But it is very large, and still growing. Computer adoption is growing towards 100% and many new types of computational devices are continually introduced. In addition, other devices not previously programmable are becoming so. This means that, at this very moment, hundreds of millions of people are likely struggling with development problems. Furthermore, software itself is continually being adapted for more flexibility, enabling users to change the behaviour of their software themselves. New software and services are helping to transform users from consumers to producers. Much of this is now found on-line. The problem for the end-user developer is that little of this development is supported by anyone. Often organisations do not notice end-user development and consequently neither provide support for it, nor are equipped to be able to do so. Many end-user developers do not belong to any organisation at all. Also, the end-user development process may be aggravating the problem. End-users are usually not really committed to the development process, which tends to be more iterative and ad hoc. This means support becomes a distant third behind getting the job done and figuring out the development issues to get the job done. Sometimes the software itself may exacerbate the issue by simplifying the development process, deemphasising the difficulty of the task being undertaken. On-line support could be the lifeline the end-user developer needs. Going online one can find all the knowledge one could ever need. However, that does still not help the end-user apply this information or knowledge in practice. A virtual community, through its ability to adopt the end-user’s specific context, could surmount this final obstacle. This thesis explores the concept of end-user development and how it could be supported through on-line sources, in particular virtual communities, which it is argued here, seem to fit the end-user developer’s needs very well. The experiences of real end-user developers and prior literature were used in this process. Emphasis has been on those end-user developers, e.g. small business owners, who may have literally nowhere to turn to for support. Adopting the viewpoint of the end-user developer, the thesis examines the question of how an end-user could use a virtual community effectively, improving the results of the support process. Assuming the common situation where the demand for support outstrips the supply.

The expression and development of teachers' capacities within two learning communities : a participant-observer case study

The learning community model has been an integral component of teacher development in Ontarian schools and beyond. This research was conducted to understand how teachers' personal capacity and professional, interpersonal, and organizational competencies are developed and expressed within this context. Nineteen elementary teachers and administrators participated in the study from November through January 2007. A qualitative case study methodology was used to investigate the role ofteachers' capacities and competencies in learning communities. Combined data sources from semistructured interviews, research journals, and document review were used to gather data about teachers' capacities and competencies. The study included 3 phases of analysis. In the final phase the analysis provided 3 qualities of the teachers at Jude and Mountain Schools (pseudonyms): identification as professionals, investment in others, and institutional affiliation that may explain how they differed from other educators. The data revealed these three themes, which provided an understanding of educators at Jude and Mountain Schools as dedicated professionals pushing practices to contribute to school life and address student learning needs, and as teachers who reflected on practices to continue expanding their skills. Teachers were heavily invested in creating a caring culture and in students' and team members' learning. Educators actively participated in solving problems and coplanning throughout the school levels and beyond, assumed collective responsibility for all pupils, and focused on generating school-wide consistent practices. These qualities and action patterns revealed teachers who invested time and effort in their colleagues, who committed to develop as professionals, and who affiliated closely with every aspect of school living.

Who am I? An identity crisis Identity in the new museologies and the role of the museum professional

Whilst the title of this essay suggests more than one “new museology”, it was rather a licence poétique to emphasize the two major theoretical movements that have evolved in the second half of the 20th Century[1]. As a result of the place(s)/contexts where they originated, and for clarity purposes, they have been labelled in this essay as the “Latin new museology” and the “Anglo-Saxon new museology”; however they both identify themselves by just the name of “New Museology”. Even though they both shared similar ideas on participation and inclusion, the language barriers were probably the cause for many ideas not to be fully shared by both groups. The “Latin New museology” was the outcome of a specific context that started in the 1960s (de Varine 1996); being a product of the “Second Museum Revolution”(1970s)[2], it provided new perceptions of heritage, such as “common heritage”. In 1972 ICOM organized the Santiago Round Table, which advocated for museums to engage with the communities they serve, assigning them a role of “problem solvers” within the community (Primo 1999:66). These ideas lead to the concept of the Integral Museum. The Quebec Declaration in 1984 declared that a museum’s aim should be community development and not only “the preservation of past civilisations’ material artefacts”, followed by the Oaxtepec Declaration that claimed for the relationship between territory-heritage-community to be indissoluble (Primo 1999: 69). Finally, in 1992, the Caracas Declaration argued for the museum to “take the responsibility as a social manager reflecting the community’s interests”(Primo 1999: 71). [1] There have been at least three different applications of the term ( Peter van Mensch cited in Mason: 23) [2] According to Santos Primo, this Second Museum Revolution was the result of the Santiago Round Table in Chile, 1972, and furthered by the 1st New Museology International Workshop (Quebec, 1984), Oaxtepec Meeting (Mexico, 1984) and the Caracas Meeting (Venezuela, 1992) (Santos Primo : 63-64)

Relationship of Coca-Cola Brazil and the communities participant of the social projects: (im) possibilities

Five years ago, Coca-Cola Brasil launched a program named “Coletivo Project”, with the purpose to enjoy an opportunity of increase on the potential consumption power of the low-income pyramid population that lived on the “favelas”. At the same time, it had the objective to offer to them a social and financial impact, which is a trust on the future, the first job for the young adults’ participant of this program and an increase on their family source of revenues, through salaries. This was possible because through Coletivo Project, Coca-Cola identified the assets they have through its value chain, focusing on its competencies, such as retail, merchandising and logistics to apply them on courses to teach the young people of the communities and, as a result, form them to be able to find their new jobs. Internal indicators followed in a monthly basis by Coca-Cola demonstrated that the communities that had the presence of Coletivos, in comparison to those without Coletivos, had social and financial impacts. The social was the fact that the young formed started to have more confidence on their future and felt with a higher self-stem to apply for and obtain their first job. On the financial aspect, they were benefit through the increasing of their revenues and also their families and Coca-Cola had an increase on sales, when compared to a community without a Coletivo Project installed. This dissertation seeks to identify the current relationship between Coca-Cola and the communities, through the Coletivo Project classes performed on the NGOs located at this places, in order to identify opportunities for improvement the benefits and the impacts (financial and social) on the NGOs, communities and all stakeholders of this project. This dissertation examines this relationship, through presence interviews performed on four NGOs selected, and located on four of the twenty communities, that are participants of the Coletivo Project on Rio de Janeiro city. These interviews performed with the students, representatives and educators of these NGOs. The covered period of the interviews ranges from April 2014 to August 2014. This dissertation draws on first-hand qualitative empirical evidence gathered through extensive fieldwork. The main findings among possibilities for improvement by Coca-Cola are: • Implement new courses, beyond those existent at Coca-Cola (Retail, Logistics, etc.). • Increase the content of the employment module of Coletivo classes, focusing on improving educational, cultural, economic, political, social and professional life. • Increase the scale, through the quantity of positions on the Retail Coletivo classes. • Develop cultural and sports events with the communities. • Support the points of sales, participant of the practical classes of the Coletivo Retail, with refrigerators and furniture with the Coca-Cola logo. • Provide coffee breaks and meals during the Coletivo classes, using Coca-Cola beverages and partners for food items, developing the nutrition platform of the company and filling a need of the students. • Perform a research with all stakeholders related to this Project, including those students and mothers that are not participant of the Coletivo, in order to listen to them, understand their needs, and offer solutions to fulfill these gaps. and on the side of the • Perform partnerships with educational institutions to make viable other type of courses, more technical, but that have a relation with the core business of Coca-Cola Brasil, such as marketing. • Implement the Coca-Cola University, already existed at the Company. • Create courses or activities focused on the children. Regarding the impossibilities, the findings are: • Improve the basic sanitation of the communities. • Improve the safety on the communities. • Provide a home to those do not have. • Implement courses that have no relationship with Coca-Cola business and expertise, such as gastronomy. However, Coca-Cola can influence stakeholders on that. The results suggest to executives of Coca-Cola that a deep and a qualitative research on the communities of Brazil, in order to listen young people, educators, mothers, partners that offer jobs, from Coletivo and out of the project, is mandatory, to understand their needs, dreams, complains and offer valuable solutions to all.