Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

30 – Supporting E-learning through Communities of Practice
than forcing it to conform to a static, predefined structure.
As interests are identified with the growth of the
community, the evolving design permitted by the
LearningTimes platform allows members to quickly
access and participate in matters of their direct interest.
For example, a conference was held in Kamloops,
British Columbia, called “Artist Statement Workshop”.
One of the requirements of the workshop was to submit
presentations ahead of time, which could only be viewed
by workshop participants. This was to facilitate meaningful
discussion at the conference. The LearningTimes
platform enabled creation of a group with appropriate
folders that only those participating in the workshop
could see and access.
As the community grows, new groups can be easily
added with a range of different privileges. This enables
private space within public space, much as one can do in
the physical world.
they may take advantage of the lull to take a vacation.
This does not mean that your CoP must be so engaging
that people participate from Internet cafes near Macchu
Picchu, Peru. It does mean that a community may need
to adjust its goals to accommodate common fast or slow
periods.
As Kim (2000) and others have stated, each community
should be built from the start with eventual change
in mind. Factors that might precipitate changes include
changes for the community members themselves, external
events, value changes within the supporting agency,
and changes in technology. Whether the community
functions in educational or business-related circles,
graduation, retirement, relocation, and similar life
events may prompt community members to drop out
for a while, or indefinitely. Equally important, we need
to watch for resistance to a change that might otherwise
drive the community forward.
MAINTAINING MOMENTUM
Creating a community is only the beginning. To maintain
a CoP over time, everyone must keep an eye on
common goals or shared themes. Community leaders
need to keep the participants’ focus on both short-term
and long-term objectives and also need to re-energize the
community, when needed, through new postings and
events. The entire community also bears responsibility for
watching particular dynamics that affect any momentum
or growth that a CoP has developed. Foremost among
these issues are how people feel about the community,
how much time they devote to community activity, and
how the community was designed for evolution.
People who participate in a CoP must feel that the
community is engaging, responsive, and useful in
meeting their needs. The participants must also respect
and trust each other and others’ contributions. Otherwise,
they are likely to leave the community, never to
return.
Members’ time demands can weaken a CoP by restricting
their participation. It becomes difficult to
deepen knowledge and expertise in an area, as Wenger
defines community of practice activity, if members are
not interacting on an ongoing basis. Production schedules
and academic calendars affect community momentum
in different ways. People who are scrambling to
meet tight deadlines do not always have time to participate
in a community. Conversely, people who work
nine-, ten-, or eleven-month contracts have less incentive
to continue contributing to a community during the
remaining part of the year. They may have to take another
job during the down period to make ends meet, or
Case Study: Maintaining the Co-op Program
Community (Simon Fraser University)
A key element for creating a successful community of
practice is to design for evolution. In this case, it is vital
to implement design principles that allow for the Co-op
Community’s own direction, personality, and enthusiasm
to lead the way. The design is non-traditional in the
sense that the community’s organization and structure
were not predetermined, nor dictated by the developers.
Rather than an out-of-the-box vendor solution or onesize-fits-all
software product, many of the community’s
features are custom-built, based on the needs indicated
by the stakeholders.
To ensure the community remains vibrant, a fulltime
community coordinator and a community host (a
Co-op student) work together to address the emergent
needs of the members and to stimulate and encourage
interaction. This largely involves open and ongoing
communication as well as offering support for those Coop
staff members (i.e., Co-op coordinators) who frequently
engage with Co-op students.
In this way, the community’s social support systems
are designed to create room for growth and cultivation
of the online space that allows members to play active
roles in shaping its features.
Recommendations
To help you begin to create your own community of
practice, here are useful recommendations taken from
the preceding case studies.
484 Education for a Digital World