Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Promoting Learner AutonomyIvan Moore, Director

Dr Jo Elfving-Hwang, Researcher/developer

Developing Communities of Practice: The Role of a Centre for Excellence in Fostering Staff and

Student Communities

What do we mean by a Community of Practice?

What do we mean by a Community of Practice?

• Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

• (Wenger 2002; 2009: 1)

What do we mean by a Community of Practice?

• A community of practice (sometimes referred to as a 'learning community') emerges from a common desire among its members to achieve change (i.e., improve existing practices); it provides regular opportunities for collaborative reflection and inquiry through dialogue; and ultimately, it develops common tools, language, images, roles, assumptions, understandings, and a shared world view.

• (Wesley & Buysse, 2001: 118)

What do we mean by a Community of Practice?

• groups of people who share their knowledge and experience of a certain theme or professional field and learn together in order to cope better with problems and challenges in practice…. almost always, they wish to improve their functioning in practice

• (Cremers and Valkenburg, 2008

CPLA CETL communities

• Communities of those interested in empowering students to acquire responsibility for their leaning and to work in partnership with tutors and other students…

• … and who work together in sharing knowledge and good practice to that shared goal

Centre for Promoting Learner Autonomy

• What do we mean by Learner Autonomy?

A definition of learner autonomy

• An autonomous learner takes responsibility for his/her own learning

• They can identify:– their learning goals (what they need to learn)– their learning processes (how they will learn it)– how they will evaluate and use their learning

Characteristics of ‘effective’ autonomous learners

• they have well-founded conceptions of learning• they have a range of learning approaches and skills• they can organize their learning• they have good information processing skills• they are well motivated to learn

WILLINGNESS TO LEARN Balance of vocational, academic,

personal and social motivations to learnIntrinsic motivationExtrinsic motivation

GoalsShort - Medium - Long

Confidence

MANAGEMENTStudy Skills

Planning and problem solvingEvaluation & Metacognition

Self-assessmentFocus & ‘stickability’

Time and project managementBalancing social, work and learning

needsAssessment

INFORMATIONInformation handlingAccess to resources:

On line and Paper-basedRole models (people, exemplars,

designs)Equipment

Other learnersContexts

STANCE TOWARDS LEARNING

Orientation to learningAppropriate conceptions of learning

Deep approach to learningA range of appropriate learning

strategies

WILLINGNESS TO LEARN Balance of vocational, academic,

personal and social motivations to learnIntrinsic motivationExtrinsic motivation

GoalsShort - Medium - Long

Confidence

MANAGEMENTStudy Skills

Planning and problem solvingEvaluation & Metacognition

Self-assessmentFocus & ‘stickability’

Time and project managementBalancing social, work and learning

needsAssessment

INFORMATIONInformation handlingAccess to resources:

On line and Paper-basedRole models (people, exemplars,

designs)Equipment

Other learnersContexts

STANCE TOWARDS LEARNING

Orientation to learningAppropriate conceptions of learning

Deep approach to learningA range of appropriate learning

strategies

Factors that can influence the development of autonomy

• The potential for autonomy in learning (Fazey and Fazey, 2001)– Autonomous people are intrinsically-motivated,

perceive themselves to be in control of their decision making, take responsibility for the outcomes of their actions and have confidence in themselves

The CPLA CETL strategy

Research and resource development

Small Scale ProjectsFaculty Development Initiatives

Scholarship Team for Autonomy Research

(STARs)

Are these communities of practice?

Retrospective reconstruction

Herrington et. al. (2008)

What do Communities of Practice do?

CPLA Core Team

Small Scale Project leaders

Faculty Development teams

Scholarship Team for Autonomy Research

(STARs)

Requests for information

Seeking experience

Coordination and synergy

Discuss developments

Documentation of projects

Mapping knowledge and identifying gaps

Reusing assets

Problem solving

(Adapted from Wenger (2002; 2009))

What are the Characteristics of these CoPs?

• Great enthusiasm to engage with principles of active, student centred teaching and learning practices that enhance autonomy.– (albeit the idea or definition of autonomy may fluctuate depending

on the context and discipline);

• Overlapping boundaries of 'membership' within various domains, which complement each other because of the shared domain of interest.– e.g. FP participants may also collaborate/meet with SSP

participants, STAR scholars may be heavily involved in FPs/SSPs;

• Shared domain of interest.– learner autonomy, enhancing student learning experience through

actively engaging with students

Staff learning communities

• Fostered through cross-institutional project schemes• Overlapping membership and interacting communities• CPLA encourages inter-connection

• But different from a network• A CoP produces a shared practice as members engage in

a collective process of learning. (Wenger, 1998)• These communities of practice 'engage in joint activities

and discussions, help each other, and share information through regular workshops, symposia, structured and informal meetings' (Wenger, 2002; 2009: 2)

levels of engagement in communities

working independentlyworking in collaboration

part of a network part of a community

Student learning communities

• Learning is an inherently social process– autonomous students do not (necessarily)work on their

own• Social and dialogic learning with the focus of interest on

the subject– collaborative learning– fixed term; temporary communities– similar to staff communities

Staff-student communities

• The learning is enquiry-based or research-led.

• May be in the domain of research interest of the staff.

• Students often report how they feel they are working in a collaborative partnership with staff.

Lessons learned

• Factors that encourage communities of practice– non-hierarchical

• informal– group (community) interests are closely aligned with

personal interests (pre-existing work)– shared domain of interest (enquiry) is clearly defined

and shared between participants

How have the communities facilitated learning?

• through social interaction and action learning, members learn fast and learn complex concepts

• 'working as a community of practice increases the level of knowledge of the participants and the quality of their working practice' (concurring with Cremer and Valkenburg)

What does this tell us about the characteristics of a dynamic, 21st century HEI?

• Three inter-linking communities

• Communities of practice (more than networks) seem to emerge as a positive influence and facilitator of deep, autonomous, learning

student staff

staff-student

Concerns for development

• Not all domains are emerging as communities of practice– networks

• Not everyone in a domain joins the community– networks

• Attitudes seem to be based on previous experience(s)

• To develop communities:– How can we change these attitudes?– How do we break down hierarchies and maintain informality

whilst also providing leadership and focus?