Communities in practice: A community dimension for the UNSW Learning & Teaching Exchange (2008) (original) (raw)

An online learning and teaching exchange, integrating a range of communities of practice with a showcase of good practice, and the tools to develop sound teaching approaches - it sounds a fine venture, but what should it encompass? How will it be framed and contextualised? How will it be managed? And – most importantly – whom is it for, and how will it engage users in a meaningful way, embedded into the context of their current practice? This is not an untrodden path, there are numerous examples of exchanges, repositories and communities developed on a grander scale than the one planned for UNSW, most recently the ALTC (formerly Carrick) Exchange, designed and developed under the auspices of ascilite. The designers of the UNSW Learning & Teaching Exchange have learned from and built on these developments, with an intention to eventually complement those wider initiatives. Our Exchange will provide an environment for UNSW academics to share their learning and teaching practice and develop their academic career in a local context, aiming to integrate local activities with wider initiatives in learning and internationally. This paper draws on the literature on communities of practice and the scholarship of teaching and learning, and reviews some recent online developments in higher education that informed the planning of the UNSW Learning & Teaching Exchange.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact