A community of practice is a group of professionals who have a common interest and learn from each other to build a best practice (1, 2). University teachers can gain from building their community of practice to develop teaching practice and support each other. A community of practice can also be seen as a combination or fusion of each member’s own Personal learning network related to teaching. A Personal Learning Network comprises all the individuals and sources that you turn to for your learning (3).
During the covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020 when universities had to suddenly switch from campus based teaching to on-line distance teaching the demands on the teachers are huge. The well designed teaching and learning activities based on face-to-face teaching in lecture halls and group rooms had to move to online activities using video conference tools such as Zoom and learning management systems such as Canvas. Even more demanding is the transition from written exams in exam halls to open book take-home exams.
How can one during this crisis build a community of practice that can support the teachers? In my function as departmental director of education I initiated a number of activities. All course directors and teachers at the department were invited to three webinars on distance teaching. At the webinars we discussed how to use Zoom for teaching, how to design group work online, how to record lectures and how students can use Google drive. We focused on the immediate needs of the teachers to quickly transfer from campus teaching to online. But we also discussed how one would redesign a course from campus based to online in case one would have some more time for this transition. Teachers with a long experience of distance education could share their knowledge with all the ones who now had to learn. After the initial webinars we continued with weekly “coffee breaks” on Zoom where we discuss and share the experience that now is built. We have also created a Canvas room for the teachers where we can share material, guides and discuss online teaching, such as this guide on collaborative online learning (4). Less serious material is also shared, such as this link to a clip for teachers struggling with the transition to online teaching (5).
Our Community of Practice for distance teaching during the covid-19 pandemic has been initiated during a time defined by uncertainty and urgency. This is probably not the best circumstances for sharing, building trust and learning together, but we have still managed a lot and been able to transform 15 courses at bachelor, master and doctoral level from campus to online. The work will continue and we will continue to learn together.
References
1. http://www.communityofpractice.ca/background/what-is-a-community-of-practice/ cited April 26, 2020
2. Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a concept. In Social learning systems and communities of practice (pp. 179-198). Springer London. https://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/09-10-27-CoPs-and-systems-v2.01.pdf
3. Kay Oddone. Personal learning networks: Theory and practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8mJX5n3IEg&feature=youtu.be cited April 26, 2020
4. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-tFwVs-RhkqdF3mwANW5qMps6gtXWLr7/view?usp=sharing cited April 26, 20205. https://youtu.be/CCe5PaeAeew cited April 26, 2020
