E. Communities of Practice

Appendix E. Communities of Practice Chapter 4, Adult Learning

As a coach, you might support the program leader to create a CoP, or you might even create one yourself. Cambridge, Kaplan, and Suter (2005) offer the following suggestions for building a CoP:

• Determine who the audience will be. Decide who will be in the community and for what purpose. Spend time learning about the specific needs of the individuals and organizations. “Effective communities of practice balance members’ diversity with a sense of shared purpose” (Curtis et al., 2013). • Design the CoP. Work with the group to identify how members will communicate with each other, define the group’s learning goals, and decide what knowledge to share. The group should also lay out a schedule and define the facilitator role. • Launch the CoP. Build relationships and trust so people are comfortable to share fully. Continue to reflect on how you can keep the group motivated and engaged. Identify how the CoP’s success will be measured and how members will be recognized for their contributions. • Promote meaningful conversations. CoP facilitators can promote meaningful conversation through these six norms of collaboration (WestEd, 2012): • Pause. Provide time for people to think before responding to a question or to reflect on what they heard the last person say. • Paraphrase. “I hear you saying” is a way to check for understanding and convey that you are listening. • Probe. Use inquiry to make sure you understand the point being made. Make no inferences. • Presume positive intentions. Make no judgments. • Put ideas on and off the table. Explicitly identify when a new idea is up for discussion; be equally explicit when an individual or group decides the idea isn’t right for now. • Pay attention to self and others. Watch body language and other nonverbal cues to see how the group is doing. • Sustain the CoP. The role of the facilitator may change over time.

Eventually the group may be ready to continue on its own.

Online CoPs have their advantages and challenges. Face-to-face meetings are preferable, but virtual CoPs address travel barriers. To facilitate successful online participation:

• Have a strong technology person on the CoP team. • Use a meeting platform that enables participants to see one another. • Make sure every participant gets an orientation to the platform. • Build relationships through a warm-up activity. • Ask people to state their name before they talk, at least at first. • Keep sessions interactive. • Encourage participants to communicate between sessions for peer support. The National Professional Development Center on Inclusion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a Communities of Practice Indicators Worksheet (http://fpg.unc.edu/node/4468, 2008) you can use to assess your CoP approach.

Cambridge, D., Kaplan, S., & Suter, V., (2005). Community of Practice Design Guide: Step-by-Step Guide for Designing and Cultivating Communities of Practice in Higher Education. National Learning Infrastructure Initiative at EDUCAUSE. https://net.educause.edu/ir/ library/pdf/NLI0531.pdf Rhode Island Department of Education (WestEd 2012). Becoming a Successful Community of Practice Facilitator. http://www.ride.ri.gov/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Instruction-andAssessment-World-Class-Standards/ Assessment/Formative-Assessment-PD-Online-Modules/ Becoming_a_Successful_CoP_Facilitator.pdf