Building Sustainable Communities of Practice

Abstract

The authors have both been involved as designers, producers and facilitators of CPsquare’s Foundations of Communities of Practice Workshop (www.cpsquare.com). Through that ongoing exposure to learning and leading in Communities of Practice (CoPs), they became convinced that stories about CoPs play a crucial role in motivation and learning for community leaders. Within communities, the swapping of stories is a means by which local theories of cause and effect are developed and contextualized. These stories provide powerful ways of invoking context, of framing choices and actions and of constructing identity (Bruner, 2002). From the context of a Community of Practice (CoP) concerned with the cultivation of CoPs, (i.e., the Foundations workshop) there is strong anecdotal evidence that stories are of equal value to practitioners and researchers alike. As part of an extended research activity, and parallel to this growing conviction about stories, Stuckey analysed the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) raised over six iterations of the workshop. The ten most frequently asked questions became the basis of semi-structured interviews held with the developers and managers of the communities described in this chapter. The chapter presents the essence of seven community cases and is intended as an enticement to explore the full case descriptions and community stories (which are beyond the limitations of this printed publication) at http://www.cpsquare.org/cases/.

Design processes of a citizen inquiry community

“…Although there are suggestions available at every stage of the lifecycle for sustaining the community, the communities never 'run themselves' even if the fundamental design has been set in motion from the early stage of their development. Community leaders interviewed argue that a community is never completely 'built' (Stuckey & Smith, 2004) and research shows that ongoing design and development depends on the individual community and its own community life (Fischer, 2002;Aristeidou, Scanlon, & Sharples, 2015b).…”

Identifying success factors of ICT in developing a learning community

“…In the reality of the GDMOB this did not prove to be the case for a range of reasons discussed later. Stuckey and Smith (2004), through their study of several existing communities, argue that there are identifiable features to a successful community of practice, and most importantly the ability to sustain the community. They identify these as;…”

“…Stuckey and Smith (2004), through their study of several existing communities, argue that there are identifiable features to a successful community of practice, and most importantly the ability to sustain the community. They identify these as: leadership: “communities do not run themselves, regardless of how well the fundamental dynamics of a community may have been set in motion”; participation: “sensitively and systematically gathering feedback from members at the centre and periphery is a key activity described by all community leaders”; distinguishable boundaries: “maintaining appropriate boundaries is a key leadership task … communities need to be open and closed at the same time”; and nourishment and an ability to respond to environmental change: “both the community and its leaders need resources to sustain the community's work”, “a community's ongoing life seems to be a delicate balance between stability and change: if there is too much change, its sense of identity dissipates”.McMillan (1996) argues that for a community to survive the members of the community must share a security to speak the truth, where truth is defined as the personal realities that shape who we are including our failings.…”

“…Within the context of an organisation it is evident that strong leadership and the availability of resources are imperative to the successful development of a community. As the community becomes more distributed the need these becomes more important, especially the driving leadership and accessible technological resources (Gibson and Manuel, 2003; Stuckey and Smith, 2004)…”

The Model for Implementing Learning and Knowledge Building in the Extended Professional Community:A Case Study of Teachers’ Accreditation

“…As schools, universities, and teacher‐accreditation bodies may have different LKB cultures and the technological abilities of the planned professional community members may vary, the need for facilitation and training should be analysed and the facilitation plan should be prepared that particularly focuses on how to create the ownership of new cross‐organizational LKB practices by translating the LKB vision into the everyday activities with the technology in the specific context such as teacher accreditation. To sustain the community, the need for establishing the ‘leadership’ is important, which, in the case of online communities, might be a moderator, facilitator or list owner (Stuckey & Smith, ). Niazi, Wilson & Zowghi () have claimed that training is a success factor in the implementation of software processes and they likewise believe that learning appears as an important factor in the success of implementing technology.…”