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Online Communities of Practice in Practice
What is an Online Community of Practice (CoP)?
Online communities of practice can strengthen traditional face-to-face professional development and connections, leveraging advanced technologies that K–12 schools are putting into place to engage and inspire students. Whether offered by external organizations or built in-house, online communities can be an efficient and effective way to improve professional excellence and the excellence of the profession.
Online communities of practice have three core elements (Wenger et al., 2002):
- A domain—A shared area of interest (e.g., science instruction or inquiry-based learning or autism spectrum disorder) to which members are committed and in which they have a shared competence that distinguishes them from other people.
- A community— In pursuing the domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other and share information. This social dimension is a hallmark of true communities of practice.
- A practice—As a result of pursuing the domain together, members develop a repertoire of resources—experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—that together define the practice of their profession or area of shared interest.
Get up to speed with CoSN's work on online CoPs for epic-ed, Closing the Gap, and Leading Edge School District Cadre.
Learn more about Online CoPs at http://connectededucators.org/, an initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Education with CoSN and others.
Read CoSN's member-only EdTechNext report, Online Communities of Practice: Ecosystems for Professional Growth.
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