Connect and Inspire

This report is targeted to education leaders and stakeholders who are interested in exploring, starting, or strengthening online communities of practice for educators. It makes the case for broadening educators’ access to and participation in online communities of practice, which show strong potential to support professional learning and collaboration. To make this case, the report articulates the educational potential, offers practical guidance for online community sponsors and potential spon [...]

Educators must be more than information experts; they must be collaborators in learning, seeking new knowledge and constantly acquiring new skills alongside their students. —Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology (National Education Technology Plan 2010) As the world grows continually more competitive and complex, America keeps asking its educators to do more. The nation demands better teachers, and more teachers, and a transformation of educator practices and the [...]

Technology empowers teachers like never before to support their personal mission of providing the best possible education to their students. —U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan November 10, 2010

Research and professional experiences demonstrate that online communities of practice complement education improvement initiatives. Online communities can support systematic, transformative change in teaching and learning. Specifically, there is evidence (adapted from Booth, 2011) that online communities of practice empower educators to: Access knowledge. Online communities can provide educators with opportunities to “gain equitable access to human and information resources not be availabl [...]

Online communities of practice can be one means—but not the only means—of increasing professional knowledge, connectedness, and collaboration. More traditional professional development and networking activities—such as self-directed learning, formal professional development and classes, informal face-to-face interactions, and face-to-face professional learning communities in schools, districts, and states—continue to have a place in the mix of experiences that lead to personal and profes [...]

With increasingly engaging and affordable technology, online communities can augment the good work that individual educators, educational institutions, and professional organizations are already doing. Online communities can create learning environments that foster the conditions that research indicates lead to meaningful learning. They are a viable solution to improving professional excellence and the excellence of the profession. At the same time, there are challenges to increasing educator [...]

The vision of connected teaching in the National Education Technology Plan 2010, the demonstrated benefits of online communities of practice and collaborative learning from research, and the corollaries with established community learning practices set the stage for practical guidance for real online communities. Findings from the literature and lessons learned from practice—coupled with mature, accessible technologies—should be used to broaden, strengthen, and connect online communities [...]

Review of research and practical experience in the field conducted to date for this project suggests consensus that several core qualities are fundamental to the success of notable online communities: A clear purpose and collective identity Effective leadership and moderation Clear policies, practices, and other methods to instill trust Sociability and social presence Organic growth, dynamism, and innovation Communication and outreach Integration with a larger professional ecolo [...]

Members of online communities take on a variety of formal and informal roles, some of which are listed under A Broad Spectrum of Roles below. Giving individual members unique, defined roles—or providing pathways to these roles—has proved to facilitate knowledge, sharing, and participation (Beenen et al., 2004; Lin, Lin, & Huang, 2008). In many education communities today, there are only three roles: reader, writer, and moderator. Educators who aren’t comfortable writing or policing/ [...]

Technology is a critical tool, but not the driver, of notable online communities. Above all, technology should support accessibility and usability (Ardichvili, 2008; Barab, MaKinster, & Scheckler, 2003; Farooq et al., 2007; Jones & Preece, 2006). Accessibility means that all users can access all services and content. Usability means that people can access services and content intuitively and efficiently. Online communities should not require special technical capabilities or training tha [...]

Tracking metrics—measures of a community’s performance and success that range in sophistication from “number of visits per month” to scientifically valid tests of impact on practice—can help community members and sponsors objectively understand how well their communities are working to meet community purposes and needs. They provide an invaluable feedback loop to improve community functions as well as evidence of efficacy in a world where both public and private funding increasingly de [...]

A challenge in providing definitive guidance about online communities of practice is the number of tensions that exist within them in many areas, as shown in Table 3, Community Tensions. There is no single blueprint or model for successful online communities—and there may never be. Successful communities can break the rules of thumb and still enjoy strong member allegiance, value, and growth. Table 3. Community Tensions The reality is that there is a continuum of successful communities [...]

Connected online communities of practice—purposeful coordination of two or more communities—should be a goal for the education community. Cross-pollination of educators, activities, content, and technology could make professional learning and collaboration more productive, effective, and fun. Taking the benefits of online communities to scale requires support for the field from education leaders and stakeholders, including education organizations, community developers, policymakers, [...]

Annenberg Institute for School Reform. (2004). Professional learning communities: Professional development strategies that improve instruction. Providence, RI: Author. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from http://www.annenberginstitute.org/pdf/proflearning.pdf Ardichvili, A. (2008). Learning and knowledge sharing in online communities of practice: Motivators, barriers, and enablers. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(4), 541–554. Babinski, L. M., Jones, B. D., & DeWert, M. H. (20 [...]

Connected Online Communities of Practice (COCP) is a project of the U.S. Department of Education. It is conducted by the American Institutes of Research in collaboration with several partner organizations. Members of the project team are listed in the About section of this website. American Institutes for Research (AIR) AIR is one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world. AIR’s overriding goal is to use the best science available to bring the most [...]

Table 1. A Sample of Community Technologies, Descriptions, and Functions Table 2. Matching Sample Community Technologies and Orientations Table 3: Community Tensions