A Cross-organizational Ecology for Virtual Communities of Practice in Higher Education

Abstract

This work investigates Communities of Practice (CoPs) that support social learning in higher education. While most CoP research has taken place in single-stream contexts (e.g. in a university), this study reports on the ecology of a cross-organizational community (university and industry stakeholders) in the context of the formal curriculum. The work examines the role of technology configurations in supporting CoPs in Design and related studies. It also reports on the type and level of technology adoption, focusing on the learner perspective. This study's CoP is made up of 21 third-year university students and ten external stakeholders (mentors, clients and industrial experts). The study concludes with a set of guidelines for the design and evaluation of similar CoP technology configurations. Key guidelines suggest a) supporting enhanced awareness of identity, space and time, b) enabling roles and permissions on-demand according to the requirements of the activities carried out in shared spaces and c) facilitating fluid interoperability between the domain-specific and mainstream/generic productivity tools used by the community. The outcomes of this work can assist instructors, researchers and practitioners in the design of similar technology configurations for CoPs in the formal curricula of their respective Design or relevant fields.

The Journey to G.R.A.C.E: Creating an International Community of Practice

“…The findings and discussion presented in this paper build on existing research that supports the benefits of applying a CoP methodology, whether in person or virtually (Mavri et al 2019;McLoughlin et al 2018). The adaptability of the G.R.A.C.E steering committee, their innovation in times of the pandemic and their strong drive to develop and share knowledge and practice align with the key features of an effective CoP approach.…”

Collaboration and interaction with smart mechanisms in flipped classrooms

“…For example, learners need a platform in which they can review the learning materials, discuss the learning materials and collaborate with group members in different settings (Chen et al , 2014). These can be fulfilled by using cloud services integration, such as Google Slides, to facilitate group discussions (Mavri et al , 2019). In the pre-class activity, learners can prepare their presentation slides by collaborating with their group.…”

Ecological models in higher education research: Overview and synthesis

“…These approaches treat the postsecondary organization as the central organism of interest, unlike developmental ecology models that treat the organization as context for the individual. Scholars have used organizational ecology as a framework for studies of, for example, college affordability (Eaton et al., 2019), state support for public flagship universities (Weerts, 2021), virtual communities of practice (Mavri et al., 2020), and curriculum adoption (Brint et al., 2011).…”