Introduction

Welcome to the ‘Developing Communities of Practice for Education’ online resource. I am thrilled to be able to share it with you and hope you draw a lot of value from the content provided. This resource is the sequel to the University of Liverpool Champions Programme, and is one of the outputs of the Learning & Teaching Fellowship award by The Academy, with the support of the Centre for Innovation in Education at the University of Liverpool.

You have probably come to our online resource with the intention to make use of communities of practice to embed 'community' into a special cause, initiative or programme/module you are leading similar to that of the Champions Programme. It is my biggest wish that by going through the asynchronous content shared in this resource, colleagues will feel confident in deploying their own Champions Programme. In particular, I want to empower groups who perhaps do not have the resources or status/title, or that are at a disadvantage because of their race, gender or neurodiversity to lead change initiatives in their organisation.

Learning objectives

The Champions Programme is based on the 'Champions' Model', which I designed and implemented to influence the adoption of educational approaches and technologies for teaching in higher education in a collaborative project with Microsoft. The model consists of three elements: online community of practice, champions' or leaders' roles, and peer coaching. With this in mind, by the end of this short course, you will:

1. Recognise the three elements of the Champions' Model: community of practice, champions' roles and peer coaching.

2. Appreciate the interconnection between the three elements.

3. Be able to apply the principles of each of the elements into your own practice to influence teaching and learning.

Learning units

This online resource is made of three units:

01 Communities of Practice

02 Champions' Roles

03 Peer Coaching

Conclusion

Impact of the Champions' Model

Acknowledgements

Join Champions Online-an online space to innovate, share, and problem solve

Learning Activities

Each unit of the course has a learning activity related to the topic. Please choose those activities that support your learning and post your answers in the interactive wall for each unit.

I hope you enjoy this resource.

Dr Monica Chavez

Champions Programme Lead

University of Liverpool

Champions Programme Resources

Watch the 'conversation with the authors ’ Bev and Etienne Wenger -Tra yner

Bev and Etienne Wenger-Trayner, luminaries in the field of communities of practice (CoPs), share their expertise about developing and implementing CoPs.

14:20 - Their new book ‘Learning to Make a Difference: Value Creation in Social Learning Spaces’

19:45 - The role of leadership in CoPs.

31:30 - Artificial intelligence and the future of CoPs.

40:45 - Their top 3 tips for developing CoPs.

Champions Programme Roadmap

LinkedIn Article (sing in required)

The Academy Developing Academic Practice Podcast: E38: Dr Monica Chavez: Building communities of practice for educational development

Digital Case Study: Virtual Communities of Practice : A strategy to develop academic staff's digital capabilities.

In this digital case study I submitted as part of my PG Dip in Academic Practice, I address the academic leadership challenge of the use of digital technologies in academic staff by first referring to relevant theory, frameworks and policy. After collecting answers via a semi-structured focus group with six colleagues from across faculties, I identify the barriers to the use of digital technologies and suggest virtual communities of practice as a strategy to address this academic leadership challenge.

The Microsoft Teams Champions Series

A collection of video case studies illustrating the use of Microsoft Teams for Learning and Teaching by the Champions.

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