Topical Interest Groups as Communities of Practice: Strategies

for Building a Community of Practice

Facilitated by: PK12 Educational Evaluation TIG

Evaluation 2011Anaheim, CA

Purpose of the Think Tank

Introductions

Overview of what we learned from other TIGs

Communities of Practice – Definitions / description

Small group discussion

Large group discussion

Agenda:

• Grow our CoP to improve support for members• Become more visible & communicate more

actively– Renewed mission, vision, values statement– Identified goals & action steps– Hosted week of AEA365

• Build on Strengths/Insights from other TIG leaders and members

The thinking behind the Think Tank

Background –The development of the Think Tank

• To learn from other TIGs’ experiences, we asked leaders what they do to support members

• Reached out to 6 TIGs’ chairs and co-chairs– TIGs with relatively large number of members or

TIGs formed around broad interest areas

Objectives of the Think Tank

• Think more broadly about TIG activities, membership & how it supports our CoPs

• Start thinking about action steps to support CoP s within our TIG

• Support your TIGs & the AEA leadership

What we asked TIG leaders…1. Do you have regular communication with your

members? If so, how do you maintain communication?

2. What is your TIG leadership working structure to make decisions and implement them effectively? How actively do you work outside the proposal review process?

3. What would you say is a strength of your TIG?

4. Will you be hosting any AEA events (e.g., webinars) during this year? If so, how did you decide?

5. Is there anything you like to do differently this year?

What we learned…

• TIG activity varied in terms of communicating with members, leadership team structure, & how actively they engage with their community.

• Committed membership and diversity is seen as the strength of the TIG.

• The majority of TIG leaders wanted to try out new strategies at the conference.

• All TIG leaders were open to the idea of increasing collaboration with our TIG and hosting events.

Community of Practice (CoP): Definition

• Groups of people who interact regularly to share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better.

• Term coined by Etienne Wenger & Jean Lave (1991)

• Growing concept in business, organizational design, government, education, professional associations, development projects, & civic life.

3 Elements of CoP

• The domain: An identity defined by a shared domain of interest.

• The community: Members engage in joint activities & discussions, help each other, share information, & build relationships that enable them to learn from each other.

• The practice: Members are practitioners who develop shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—shared practice.

What do CoPs look like?CoPs develop their practice through variety of activities:

• Problem solving– "Can we work on this design and brainstorm some ideas; I’m stuck."

• Requests for information– "Where can I find the code to connect to the server?"

• Seeking experience– "Has anyone dealt with a customer in this situation?"

• Reusing assets– "I have a proposal for a local area network I wrote for a client last

year. I can send it to you and you can easily tweak it for this new client."

What do CoPs look like?• Coordination and synergy

– "Can we combine our data for additional research? • Discussing developments

– "What do you think of the new system? Does it really help?"• Documentation projects

– "We have faced this problem five times now. Let us write it down once and for all."

• Visits– "Can we come and see the after-school program you have

evaluated as effective? • Mapping knowledge and identifying gaps

– "Who knows what, and what are we missing? What other groups should we connect with?"

Social LearningNetwork

• Connections among people to quickly solve problems, share knowledge, make connections.

• Aims to optimize connectivity among people.

• Shared identity around topic or set of challenges. • Requires sustained

identification & engagement. • Requires time & commitment. • Aims to develop the learning

partnership around a common agenda for learning.

Community

Small Group Discussion

1. How do we describe our TIGS that we participate in? Are they networks or communities?

2. Do we want to build strong networks or communities within our TIGs? Either way, what are some action steps that we can take in this next year?

3. How can we facilitate collaborations and communications across TIGs to facilitate Communities of practice?

Whole Group Discussion

1. Report discussion points to the larger group

2. What are some action steps to achieve our discussion points?

3. What are some facilitators and challenges to achieve these action steps?