Actionable Strategies for Effective Communities of Practice (CoP): A Case Study of a 6-month CoP implementation

Mark Chia Mingde, Cindy Yen and Harjit Kaur Centre for Educational Development Republic Polytechnic, Singapore

2 November 2018

Supported by

School of Hospitality, Republic Polytechnic

SchoolofHospitality

-5Diplomas-80full-0mestaff

-Ave.15yearsofhospitalityexperience

Academic

RoleModels(ARMs)

AcademicAdvisors(AAs)

AcademicMentorsforthe

qualityofcurriculum

materialsandassessment

paperspriortoapprovalbyProgrammeChairs.

AcademicMentorscolleagues

undergoingin-house

cer0fica0onprogrammes.Curatorsof

lessonpackagesandlessonobserva0on

videoexemplars.

(RepublicPolytechnic,2018)

School of Hospitality, Republic Polytechnic

=AcademicRoleModels+AcademicAdvisors

TerminologyproposedbytheJointPolytechnicCommiOeetoEnhanceTeachingandLearning(CentreforEduca0onalDevelopment,2018)

SOHTermsJointPolytechnicTerms

(Wenger,McDermoO&Synder,2002)

DOMAINHospitalityStudies

COMMUNITYLecturersinsub-sectorsofthehospitalityindustry

PRACTICEEnsuring

academicqualityinDesign,

DeliveryandAssessmentofCurriculum

CoP Literature: Application to SOH CoP

Size

Loca0on

Time

Composi0on

Small Big

Long-livedShort-lived

Collocated

Homogenous

Distributed

Heterogeneous

(Wenger,McDermoO&Synder,2002)

CoP Literature: Application to SOH CoP

Literature: Application to SOH CoP

(Nonaka&Takeuchi,1995)

Learning Needs Analysis for CoP Sessions

FocusGroupDiscussionsOnlineQuesLonnaireSurvey

Par0cipantswerekeentolearnaboutgoodprac0cesandchallengesfacedbyotherSOHdiplomasandtodevelopcommonstandardsthatapplyacrossallSOHmodules,

regardlessofdiploma.

CoP Programme Schedule

• CurriculumDesignCraMingEffecLveLearningOutcomes

May

• CurriculumDesign:CraMingengaginglessontriggers,ScopeandSequencing

JuneCommonTopics(bothAAsandARMs)

SpecialistTopics(ForARMs)SpecialistTopics(ForAAs)

• AssessmentPlanning:EvaluaLngValidityofTestPlanning

July

• AssessmentCraMing:EvaluaLngValidityofTestItems

Aug • AssessmentCraMing:ReviewingandrecraMingtestitems

Oct

• CurriculumDeliveryI:DimensionsofEffecLveTeachingandLearning

Aug

• CurriculumDeliveryII:CriLqueofTeachingpracLces

Oct

(Chia,YenandKaur,2018)CentreforEduca0onalDevelopment,RepublicPolytechnic

Forming the Community: CoP Roles

Moderators:FacilitatesandcoordinatesExamplefromourCoPStafffromCentreforEduca0onalDevelopment(CED)

‘Sponsor’(s):ManagementlevelleadershipExamplefromourCoPAssistantDirector(Academic)fromtheSchoolofHospitality(SOH)

ResourcePersons:ExpertsinspecificdomainsExamplefromourCoPDomainExpertse.g.ChairpersonsfromtheCer0ficateinFacilita0onpanel.

Members:Par0cipantsinthecommunityExamplefromourCoPAcademicAdvisors/AcademicRoleModelsfromSOH

TheCoProleterminologywasadaptedfromProbstandBorzillo(2008).

Overview of each CoP Session

Virtual Community of Practice

FrontPageofSOHCoPWebpage

VirtualCoP(Videos)

VirtualCoP(ExamPaperCriLque)

VirtualCoP(DiscussionForum)

Physical Community of Practice

Physical Community of Practice

From Community to Workplace Practice

From Community to Workplace Practice

Programme Evaluation: Methods

Interviews

FocusGroup

One-on-one

Sampling

Purposive

N=7

Coding

MembersChecktoensurevalidity

GroundedApproach

CoPLiteratureonCoPcomponents

Actionable Design Considerations

Domain

AuthenLcity

Benchmarking

DevelopingNewPerspecLves

Community

OvercomingFear

Leadership

PracLce

DissolvingIsolatedPracLce

DevelopingNewPracLces

(Chia,YenandKaur,2018)CentreforEduca0onalDevelopment,RepublicPolytechnic

Conclusion: Going Forward

Implementa0onofmodifiedinternalSOPsforLessonDesignandAssessment

*Monitorimplementa0onwithmodulechairs

*Refinemodelfortheinten0onalforma0onofCoPs

andtestitoutonotherSchoolsinRP

Cindy

Harjit

Mark

Q & A

Formoreinforma0on,pleasecontact:mark_chia_mingde@rp.edu.sg

CentreforEduca0onalDevelopmentRepublicPolytechnic,Singapore

References CentreforEduca0onalDevelopment(2018).SWPBriefingGuidelinesandFAQforT&LRoadshow.

Unpublisheddocument.RepublicPolytechnic.Chia,M.,Yen,C.,&Kaur,H.(2018).FormingaCommunityofPracLce:ACaseStudyoftheSchoolof

HospitalityatRepublicPolytechnic.Unpublishedmanuscript.Nonaka,I.,&Takeuchi,H.(1995).TheknowledgecreaLoncompany:howJapanesecompaniescreatethe

dynamicsofinnovaLon.NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress.Probst,G.,&Borzillo,S.(2008).Whycommuni0esofprac0cesucceedandwhytheyfail.European

ManagementJournal,26(5),335-347.RepublicPolytechnic(2018).SchoolofHospitality.Retrievedfrom

hOps://www.rp.edu.sg/soh/about-soh/about-usWenger,E.,McDermoO,R.A.,&Snyder,W.(2002).CulLvaLngcommuniLesofpracLce:Aguideto

managingknowledge.Boston,MA:HarvardBusinessPress.

Acknowledgements

SchoolofHospitalityMr.ChrisThomas,AssistantDirector(Academic),SchoolofHospitality,RepublicPolytechnicMr.ThomasLazzerine,ProgrammeChair(Work-LearnProgramme),SchoolofHospitality

AcademicAdvisorsandAcademicRoleModels,SchoolofHospitality*

CentreforEducaLonalDevelopmentDr.AnthonyLeow,AssistantDirector(Capability&Industry)

Mr.KiuCheongMau,PrincipalLecturerDr.LokeHanYing,SeniorLecturerMr.SongBoonKhing,LecturerDr.DavidKwok,SeniorLecturer