October 19, 2004 - Communities
I have spent the past two weeks locating and find resources related to the creation of communities of practice. This has been very eye opening for me as I’ve come to realize how very unique a true community of practice is. The literature points out quite clearly that creating a community of practice is a challenging task. In actuality, the review of literature has made me jittery—what makes me think that I could possibly create something as challenging as this. Experts acknowledge that it is difficult, and I am by no means an expert. Timeframe—one year. Do I really think that I can create a community of practice in one year? No! Does that matter? No, I think that this is a project that I would continually work and tweak over many years. In fact, I think that communities of practice are fluid entities that cannot be forgotten and must constantly be nurtured. So, where is my concern coming from? As much as I hate to say it, it’s from the Action Research assignment itself. How can I produce a good research paper if the timeframe isn’t long enough. So, in the end, it’s the idea of a grade and a good product that is intimidating to me—not the challenge. Added to this, is the fact that the community members are dispersed over locations and direct contact is extremely limited. I will need to look closely at this and determine ways to get members to “buy-in” by offering something worthwhile and meaningful to them. Back to timeframe—finding the right mix will take time, but time is something that I think will be short for me for the production of this product.
Interesting enough, I’ve been watching myself as I move through the current community of practice. Before OMET, I would probably have been alarmed that I hadn’t accomplished more related to my technology duties. However, I’ve realized limited peripheral participation is at work and I hope to continue to watch this process so that I have a better understanding of how to help others move through the process. In two years, our division will experience a large number of our staff retiring. A large number of new staff members will be joining the ranks and I feel it will be very important to have a support system in place to assist these new employees in reaching their professional identity. The community of practice that I will attempt to create will function as a zone of proximal development for not only new members, but a way to bring together expertise, innovation, imagination, collaboration, creativity, and socialization—all supported both virtually and when possible, physically.