A Distributed Community of Practice to Facilitate Communication, Collaboration, and Learning among Faculty

Recent research suggests that professional development initiatives within the framework of a community of practice are more likely to have an effective result than traditional forms of professional development. The overall objective of this chapter is to present a study that aims to improve the understanding of how a distributed community of practice approach affects communication, collaboration, and professional development of faculty, and whether this leads to promote a transformation in teaching practices. The results indicate that a community approach to professional development in higher education is feasible but requires careful design if it is to work with a wide range of faculty staff. Findings also show that while the approach has been successful in many areas, there are aspects that require further work and research.

[1]  Wajeeh M. Daher,et al.  From Social Communication to Mathematical Discourse in Social Networking: The Case of Facebook , 2012, Int. J. Cyber Ethics Educ..

[2]  Chris Jones,et al.  Analysing networked learning practices in higher education and continuing professional development , 2009 .

[3]  Alyson Simpson,et al.  Dimensions of design: a comparison of professional development in two on-line learning communities , 2004, IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2004. Proceedings..

[4]  Diana Laurillard,et al.  Rethinking Teaching for the Knowledge Society , 2002 .

[5]  Graham Gibbs,et al.  The Impact Of Training Of University Teachers on their Teaching Skills, their Approach to Teaching and the Approach to Learning of their Students , 2004 .

[6]  David Hung,et al.  Conceptualizing a Framework for Design of Online Communities , 2003 .

[7]  E. Wenger.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[8]  P. Lawler,et al.  Teachers as Adult Learners: A New Perspective , 2003 .

[9]  Zheng Yan,et al.  Encyclopedia of Cyber Behavior , 2012 .

[10]  Mark S. Schlager,et al.  Building Virtual Communities: Evolution of an Online Education Community of Practice , 2002 .

[11]  Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld,et al.  Facilitating Communities of Practice in Teacher Professional Development , 2008 .

[12]  R. Warhurst,et al.  “We Really Felt Part of Something”: Participatory learning among peers within a university teaching‐development community of practice , 2006 .

[13]  Michael Barnett,et al.  Developing an Empirical Account of a Community of Practice: Characterizing the Essential Tensions , 2002 .

[14]  Mantz Yorke,et al.  The professional learning of teachers in higher education , 2006 .

[15]  Margaret M. Lloyd,et al.  Celtic Knots: Interweaving the Elements of Effective Teacher Professional Development in ICT , 2006 .

[16]  Amy S. C. Leh.  Computer-Mediated Communication and Social Presence in a Distance Learning Environment , 2001 .

[17]  Genevieve M. Gallant.  Professional Development for Web-Based Teaching: Overcoming Innocence and Resistance , 2000 .

[18]  Gilly Salmon,et al.  E-moderating: the key to teaching and learning online , 2003 .

[19]  W. Sandoval,et al.  Design-Based Research Methods for Studying Learning in Context: Introduction , 2004 .

[20]  Susanna C Calkins,et al.  The experience of faculty 1 development: patterns of variation in conceptions of teaching , 2008 .

[21]  B. Hunter.  Building Virtual Communities: Learning in the Virtual Community Depends upon Changes in Local Communities , 2002 .

[22]  A. P. Rovai.  Building Sense of Community at a Distance , 2002, Distances et médiations des savoirs.

[23]  Timothy Shea,et al.  Online Communities of Practice: A Catalyst for Faculty Development , 2003 .

[24]  Jane Hurry,et al.  The Moderating Role of Video Game Play in the Relationship Between Stress and Externalising Behaviours in Adolescent Males , 2013, Int. J. Cyber Behav. Psychol. Learn..

[25]  T. Guskey.  Does It Make a Difference? Evaluating Professional Development , 2002 .

[26]  Rosemary S. Caffarella,et al.  Professional Development for Faculty: A Conceptual Framework of Barriers and Supports , 1999 .

[27]  Line Dubé,et al.  Towards a Typology of Virtual Communities of Practice , 2006 .

[28]  S. Barab,et al.  Designing system dualities: Characterizing an online professional development community , 2004 .

[29]  Jörgen Sandberg,et al.  Unveiling Professional Development: A Critical Review of Stage Models , 2006 .

[30]  Kathleen P. King,et al.  Learning the New Technologies: Strategies for Success. , 2003 .

[31]  B Lisewski.  The professional development of new higher education teachers from a communities of practice perspective: the challenge of 'accounting for change' in 'situated pedagogy' , 2006 .

[32]  Jennifer Lock,et al.  A New Image: Online Communities to Facilitate Teacher Professional Development , 2006 .

[33]  Ayse Kok.  Integration of Web 2.0 Tools into Non-Formal Learning Practices: Exploring IBM's Digital Spaces , 2014, Int. J. Digit. Lit. Digit. Competence.

[34]  James H. Gray,et al.  Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning: COMING TO TERMS WITH COMMUNITY , 2004 .

[35]  Margaret M. Lloyd,et al.  Towards a model of effective professional development in ICT for Queensland teachers , 2006 .

[36]  Daniel Suthers,et al.  Supporting and changing practices of nested and overlapping educational communities , 2003, SIGG.

[37]  Kathleen P. King,et al.  Changes, Challenges, and the Future , 2003 .

[38]  Miguel A. Zabalza,et al.  Innovación en la enseñanza universitaria , 2004 .

[39]  R. Bashshur,et al.  Telemedicine as a Modality of Health Care Delivery and its Implications , 2012 .

[40]  K. Squire,et al.  Design-Based Research: Putting a Stake in the Ground , 2004 .

[41]  Mark S. Schlager,et al.  Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning: Teacher Professional Development, Technology, and Communities of Practice , 2004 .

[42]  Robyn Smyth,et al.  Concepts of change: enhancing the practice of academic staff development in higher education , 2003 .

[43]  Kate Magsamen-Conrad,et al.  Disclosure Decisions in Existing Relationships Online: Exploring Motivations for CMC Channel Choice , 2010 .

[44]  Noriko Hara,et al.  IT Supports for Communities of Practice: An Empirically-based Framework , 2002 .

[45]  J. Layne,et al.  Understanding and improving faculty professional development in teaching , 2004, 34th Annual Frontiers in Education, 2004. FIE 2004..

[46]  Louis T. Parker,et al.  Faculty development , 1972, SIGUCCS '72.

[47]  A. P. Rovai.  Building and sustaining community in asynchronous learning networks , 2000, Internet High. Educ..

[48]  P. Cranton,et al.  Transformative Learning as a Professional Development Goal , 2003 .

[49]  Zheng Yan,et al.  Mobile Phones in Data Collection: A Systematic Review , 2013, Int. J. Cyber Behav. Psychol. Learn..

[50]  Karin Crawford,et al.  Continuing professional development in higher education: the academic perspective , 2008 .

[51]  Jennifer Preece,et al.  The top five reasons for lurking: improving community experiences for everyone , 2004, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[52]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Digital Habitats : Stewarding technology for communities , 2009 .

[53]  Ralph T. Putnam,et al.  What Do New Views of Knowledge and Thinking Have to Say About Research on Teacher Learning? , 2000 .

[54]  David Kember,et al.  Lecturers’ Approaches to Teaching and their Relationship to Conceptions of Good Teaching , 2000 .

[55]  Kevin Brosnan,et al.  Web based continuing professional development – a learning architecture approach , 2003 .

[56]  Christopher M. Johnson,et al.  Communities of Practice , 2001 .