Week 19 - Community of Practice

Using Jay and Johnson’s (2002) critical reflection model, I examine proposed inquiry topics within my Community of Practice (CoP).

Description:

I am currently part of many CoP; working collaboratively with a shared purpose and vision in mind, building our understanding and identity as we go, often morphing into elements no one individual could have determined from the outset (Wenger, 1998). The CoP I turn to, to guide my inquiry of choice, is my Mindlab support group consisting of past, current and future (hopefully) Mindlab students. The key difference between this CoP and the Community of Learning (CoL) I am part of leading, is choice. We are part of a CoL due to geographic location, however, the members of my Mindlab CoP freely participate in the joint enterprise of leading the educational change required to build learners for the future through their combined drive, passion and collective resources (Wenger, 2000). We meet regularly to discuss, share, reflect and move our collective thinking forward, often daily for some of us and as required for others.

With a strong focus on the needs of my CoP, I have highlighted a few areas where I believe deeper inquiry and reflection are needed:

1. 21st Century Skills: How can increased collaborative learning, support skilled communication development in ESOL students?
2. Blended Learning: How can the In-class Flip further develop collaborative learning strategies for students with 1:1 device access?

Comparison:

The participants in the Mindlab CoP differ in their

• levels of understanding of the 21st Century Skills
• digital technology skills
• confidence in trialling new digital initiatives

Our commonality is the understanding that the way we’ve always done things in education needs to change and our willingness to try. Since the end of last year, we have been building our collective understanding of collaboration and what this looks like at varying levels. A clear understanding of collaboration is emerging and being incorporated into the classrooms of CoP members; this then may be a good foundation upon which to develop the first inquiry suggested. However, one of our members who has been key to our success in achieving 1:1 devices in our classes is strongly in favour of a focus on Blended Learning. This makes sense to CoP members who want to better utilise the tools we have to hand.

Given the varying degrees of confidence and competency, it may benefit our CoP to look to Rogers Diffusion of Innovations Theory (2003) to determine the Early Adopters and build from there. For our CoP to be sustainable and maintain momentum we need to ensure we bring the whole team on the journey, driving the change together (Robertson, 2016).

Critical Reflection:

According to Our Code, Our Standards, teachers are required to ‘teach in ways that enable learners to learn from one another, to collaborate, to self-regulate and to develop agency over their learning’  (Education Council of New Zealand, 2017, p.22). Collaboration is referred to here alongside self-regulation and learner agency; whilst the first inquiry suggestion touches upon collaboration, the second, the In-class Flip, actually covers all three.

Both areas are important to our CoP; the 21st Century Skills are the basis of what drives us and Blended Learning is one way we can utilise the digital technology at our fingertips to develop these skills. Nevertheless, I am personally drawn to option two as I believe that using the In-class Flip to develop collaboration skills may ultimately improve communication skills in ESOL students...two birds, one stone...perhaps?

References:

Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2017). Our code our standards: Code of professional responsibility and standards for the teaching profession: Ngā tikanga matatika ngā paerewa: Ngā tikanga matatika mō te haepapa ngaiotanga me ngā paerewa mō te umanga whakaakoranga. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002). Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.

Robertson, J. (2016). Coaching Leadership: Building Educational Leadership Capacity Through Partnership. NZCER Press.

Rogers, E.M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York: Free Press.  

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.