Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators

Editors, Chris Kimble, Paul Hildreth and Isabelle Bourdon
Publisher, Information Age Publishing

As a two volume set:
Hard cover ISBN: 1593118678 , Soft cover ISBN: 159311866X

As separate volumes:
Hard Cover - Vol 1 ISBN: 1593118635 , Vol 2 ISBN: 1593118651
Soft Cover - Vol 1 ISBN: 1593118627 , Vol 2 ISBN: 1593118643

---

Volume 1, Chapter 6 - Teaching with Technology': A Multifaceted Staff Development Strategy

Abstract

In this chapter, we consider the development of an emerging 'Teaching with Technology' staff development model dedicated to growing active educator Communities of Practice (CoPs). This work is led by a team at the Centre for Educational Technology at the University of Cape Town. The activities organised to grow the community include workshops, seminars, teaching and research partnerships. The project extends across several faculties to grow a cross-faculty community of educators who teach with technology. By August 2006 over 240 educators had attended one or more of the workshops and seminars. The multifaceted combination of activities and staff support systems has yielded growth in the domain, community and practices largely through the effective facilitation of boundary experiences. In this context, the staff development professionals and several educators who are also consummate boundary professionals have been acting as brokers. Three boundary vignettes from interactions with educators who have learnt new practices serve as illustrations of these processes.

Authors

Tony Carr
Andrew Deacon
Glenda Cox
Andrew Morrison

---