Communities of Practice for System Education Leaders

Resources to Support Communities of Practice

(Introduced at 2024 CASS/ASBOA Summer Learning Conference) 

Purpose

  • To support system education leaders in demonstrating professional competence and engaging in ongoing reflection about their own professional practice through participation in a professional Community of Practice.
  • To support system education leaders with leveraging the Community of Practice model within their school authorities for a variety of purposes, including engaging staff in professional growth and reflection, advancing initiatives, implementing change, gathering feedback, and generating new knowledge.

Background

The concept of a community of practice comes from learning theory where the term was coined to describe the dynamic and living learning communities that exist in organizations and communities (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Lave and Wenger (1991) are credited with first using the phrase “community of practice” which they defined as a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.

The concept is now being applied across organizations and sectors as a strategy to create new knowledge, solve problems, advance professional learning and growth, and achieve organizational goals. Communities of practice allow for groups of people who share a common interest or have common goals to come together “to learn, share information, and reach their individual and group objectives” (Research Impact Canada, n.d.). These communities of practice can become “drivers of knowledge exchange, problem-solving and innovation”(Goncalves, 2024).

Cambridge et al. (2005) stated that communities of practice are important because they:

  • Connect people who might not otherwise connect.
  • Provide a shared context for people to share ideas and experiences to build understanding.
  • Enable dialogue so that people can explore new possibilities, solve problems, and create new learning.
  • Stimulate learning by creating opportunities for mentoring, coaching and reflection.
  • Capture and diffuse existing knowledge so that people can enhance and improve their practice.
  • Introduce collaborative processes to encourage the flow of ideas and information.
  • Help people organize and purposefully plan actions to achieve desired results.
  • Generate new knowledge to help people adapt to changes and new ideas.

Characteristics of Communities of Practice

 

 

Communities of practice are unique and different from regular teams or collaborative structures that might exist within an organization. Social learning and “thinking together” are key characteristics of a community of practice (Goodhue & Seriamlu, 2021, p. 3). Members of a community of practice come together to learn from and with each other. They are united by a common area of interest or role, they may share problems of practice, and they may have common or complementary expertise and experience. According to Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner (2015) there are three characteristics of a community of practice that are crucial to its success. See Figure 1.0.

When planning for the implementation of a community of practice it is important to thoughtfully consider the characteristics that will make up your unique community. Each community of practice is different and should reflect the goals and intentions of your organization.

CASS Pilot Project Timeline

 

References

Cambridge, D., Kaplan, S., & Suter, V. (2005). Community of practice design guide: A step-by-step guide for designing and cultivating communities of practice in higher education. Educause Learning Initiative. https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2005/1/nli0531-pdf.pdf

Goodhue, R., & Seriamlu, S. (2021). A quick guide to establishing a community of practice. ARACY.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.

Wenger-Trayner, E. & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015) An introduction to communities of practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses. https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-tocommunities-of-practice.