Adult learners in the workplace: online learning and communities of practice

Seven in-employment postgraduate Master's level students in an e-learning unit participated in this research, designed to identify tensions between participation in a community of learning that was part of their studies, and participation in the communities of practice that they were engaged in at their workplaces. It was hypothesised that participation in both these forms of community in their different contexts may enhance each other, or could potentially have a disrupting effect on each. The research employed an interviewing technique. The students' perceptions of the impact of participation in the one form of community on their participation in the other was mixed, with some suggesting that it was enhancing, and others suggesting the contrary, or that there was no impact. The findings indicate that the enhancing effect of participation in communities of learning relevant to a learner's workplace community of practice occur when the learning tasks are designed to enable negotiation of tasks and collaboration with learners who have similar workplace issues.

The potential for communities of practice to underpin the National Training Framework

This report is an evaluation of the sixteen pilot projects that were funded to form Communities of Practice in the VET sector in 2001, as part of the Reframing the Future program. The major theme emerging from this evaluation study is that Communities of Practice in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia have the potential to accelerate, intensify, enrich and enhance the implementation of the national training system.

Virtual communities of enterprise value creation potential for regional clusters

The research examines regionally networked small business practices. A new concept Virtual Communities of Enterprise is proferred to explain the nature of knowledge sharing both interpersonally and online, and its potential for creating value for small businesses and their regions. Social capital emerges as an essential pre-requisite for accessing value.

Communities of practice in Academe (CoP-iA) : understanding academic work practices to enable knowledge building capacities in corporate universities

A form of voluntary workplace engagement, communities of practice are characterised in literature as providing entities with the potential to harness the multiplier effects of collaborative processes by building on informal networks within entities. As knowledge building and sharing institutions it would be reasonable to presume that communities of practice activities have been embraced to facilitate a level of connectedness and engagement in a university context. However, evidence from the Australian higher education environment suggests that the enlistment of communities of practice processes by universities faces a number of challenges that are peculiar to academe. We suggest that academic knowledge work practices are significantly different from the business/industry related applications of communities of practice and that an understanding of the unique aspects of such practices, together with the impediments posed by a 'corporate university' model, require acknowledgment before the knowledge building and sharing aspects of communities of practice activities in academia can emerge.

Sustainability in online communities of practice : the case study of a group of Secondary School Educators in Victoria

This paper reports on Information Technology (IT) secondary school educators in Victoria and their involvement in an online community of practice. It examined the social effects of the online mailing list technology on their participation and factors that influenced their collaboration with other colleagues. In mapping these elements, the motivations of educators and the effects on online communities of practice can be distilled and then used to build and sustain other architectures of participation. It was found that mailing list subscribers seem to trade a currency of support, thoughts, ideas and answers, which helped them in their day-to-day teaching. Online communities of practice provide a convenient way to keep up professional networks while continuing to stay abreast with subject specific knowledge and skills. The findings of this case study may be generalised to other educational mailing lists to guide designers and managers and inspire educators to join and ultimately benefit from these text based online environments.

Exploring online communities of practice for biology teachers in Botswana

This study, which sought to determine the potential of an online community of practice among biology teachers in Botswana, has identified teacher level, school level and systemic influences as shaping the process and outcome of an online intervention into a teacher professional development programme run by the University of Botswana.

Exploring online learning for intersecting communities of practice

The article reports on some research from a larger project into the connections between online learning communities and communities of practice for teachers’ professional learning. The research was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand within a university graduate diploma programme on ICT education that is provided entirely online. The research reported here explores the experiences of 15 teachers as they studied the GradDipICTEd programme while working as professionals in their school contexts. The findings indicate that online educators working on professional development courses need to work imaginatively in their curricula and pedagogies to enable learners’ reflexive movements between their online and professional communities. This benefits, not only the students as professionals, but also their professional communities of practice. Furthermore, by so doing, the courses provide for productive relationships between educational institutions and related professional bodies.

Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning

This paper addresses the question of who is involved in learning in workplaces and the ways in which members of workgroups learn as part of their normal work. It draws on qualitative data from a study of multiple worksites with differentiated work within a large organisation. It examines the value of the notion of communities of practice in conceptualising such workplace learning and suggests that other forms of conceptualisation are also needed.

Leaning towards collegiality: narratives of university communities of practice

This study explored the relationship between professional learning, community, narrative and identity in strategic communities established to enhance teaching and learning at three Australian universities. It adds to the field by proposing an adaptive model for understanding and fostering future communities of practice in higher education.

In search of innovative capabilities of communities of practice : a systematic review and typology for future research

Peer reviewed