Communities of Practice - Effective Techniques to Enhance Student and Faculty Learning
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Room 1220B
Proposal
Technology continues to transform the way educators teach and students learn. In fact, one key trend noted in the 2012 Horizon Report is that individuals “expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to” (Johnson, Adams, and Cummins, 2012, p. 4). To this end, the challenge for educators is to stay current with Web 2.0 technologies that allow for more interactive and mobile learning. One way to learn about new technologies is by instituting on-going programs that enable faculty to share new and emerging methods with colleagues. While we all have our own methods and techniques to present course information and engage students, we can be even more successful by a continued open dialogue with other educators. According to Wenger (2006), individuals become a Community of Practice (CoP) when they come together for the purpose of “collective learning in a shared domain” (para. 3).
We will share with our audience a few methods that we employ to provide faculty an opportunity to share best practices college wide, as well as on a smaller scale in our student writing center and Composition Department.
Presentation Description
Educators can be more successful by keeping a continued open dialogue with other educators, creating effective Communities of Practice (CoP). Our presentation provides the research behind COPs and demonstrates how they function and can be created at any level, maximizing collaboration, teaching and learning.
Keywords
collaboration, Communities of Practice, best practices for collaborating
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Manning, Ellen C. Dr. and Clements, Kurtis Prof, "Communities of Practice - Effective Techniques to Enhance Student and Faculty Learning" (2014). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 71.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2014/2014/71
Communities of Practice - Effective Techniques to Enhance Student and Faculty Learning
Room 1220B
Technology continues to transform the way educators teach and students learn. In fact, one key trend noted in the 2012 Horizon Report is that individuals “expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to” (Johnson, Adams, and Cummins, 2012, p. 4). To this end, the challenge for educators is to stay current with Web 2.0 technologies that allow for more interactive and mobile learning. One way to learn about new technologies is by instituting on-going programs that enable faculty to share new and emerging methods with colleagues. While we all have our own methods and techniques to present course information and engage students, we can be even more successful by a continued open dialogue with other educators. According to Wenger (2006), individuals become a Community of Practice (CoP) when they come together for the purpose of “collective learning in a shared domain” (para. 3).
We will share with our audience a few methods that we employ to provide faculty an opportunity to share best practices college wide, as well as on a smaller scale in our student writing center and Composition Department.
