Mega subjects often involve a large number of educators with diverse skills, ranging from early-career PhD personnel through to experienced educators. Coordinating such a large and diverse team presents opportunities for creating cohesive teaching practices and fostering a learning and sharing environment. This article provides three key areas for cultivating such benefits through adopting a Community of Practice (CoP) approach (Wenger, 1998; Wenger et al., 2002).
1. Creating a supportive teaching environment
We can think of the teaching cohort of a mega subject as one big community. Ultimately, this group is working towards the same objectives within a set period of time (i.e., to deliver the curriculum and support students during a particular semester). The opportunity is to create a supportive, integrated, and seamless environment for educators to share and learn from each other.
Seamless and integrated are key terms, as the CoP is not about adding layers to an already busy semester. Rather it is about creating an environment that provides ‘value’ to educators without being a burden. This environment starts with communication channels that facilitate real-time and multi-directional information sharing:
- Communication channels: Utilise online collaborative tools like MS Teams for timely and multi-directional communication. The teaching team can access, share and contribute at any time that is convenient to them.
- Drop-in sessions: Offer optional brief drop-in sessions (around 20 minutes) that are aligned with the weekly teaching topics. This provides an opportunity for educators to share information, raise suggestions, and support each other. The drop-in sessions are optional where educators decide when and how they participate. For example, some weeks, an educator might find the subject topic highly relevant to discuss, while other weeks might be less so. Additionally, there may be issues experienced at a certain point in the semester, but not at other times. This approach allows for flexibility, fostering a supportive and integrated community to share and learn from each other. Ultimately, these outcomes benefit students.
2. Adopting agile practices to the teaching curriculum
While each subject will have a schedule of topics and approaches for delivering the curriculum that are aligned to the objectives of the subject, not every semester will be the same. Therefore, an agile approach that embraces real-time learning is another outcome from the CoP. This includes:
- Real-time information sharing from the optional drop-in sessions and from the MS Teams site, which facilitates the tailoring of tutorial packs and lessons plans to the characteristics of the cohort.
- Utilising the timely feedback for continuous improvement throughout the semester.
This dynamic approach is possible due to the real-time sharing of information that occurs during the semester. The communication channels and information sharing mean that the subject coordinator can make timely adjustments to better meet the learning needs of their students. Ultimately, the learning experience is relevant and effective for each cohort.
3. Recognising the team’s efforts and accomplishments
The end of semester is an opportune time to recognise the team’s efforts and accomplishments. One way of doing this is planning a gathering to celebrate subject and teaching successes. It also fosters a sense of community and belonging, encouraging ongoing collaboration, support, and information sharing. Additionally, creating an environment for continuous development can help maintain the momentum and enthusiasm for future semesters.
Investing time in developing a CoP and adopting an agile mindset for real-time customisation of teaching activities can significantly enhance the learning experience. The benefits extend to students through improved information sharing and timely adjustments, while educators gain a sense of belonging and inclusivity. As tutors have noted:
I have been working with you continuously because of the sense of belonging…
The opportunity to use Microsoft Teams as a communication tool has been instrumental in how you have fostered the community of practice. The platform has been a robust exchange of ideas and sharing best practices, and it has proven to be a solid opportunity to learn from each other and ultimately benefit the students.
References
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Seven principles for cultivating communities of practice. Cultivating Communities of Practice: a guide to managing knowledge, 4, 1-19.