How can post-secondary institutions remain responsive to emerging requirements and not just reactive to short term conditions? We live in times of great uncertainty and rapid change that call us all to respond with our highest capabilities. Traditionally, the culture of academia reinforces a habit of separation, and while we are beginning to use collaborative approaches with our students, we have yet to fully embrace these concepts among faculty. We know for our students that learning, as a social phenomenon, is catalyzed in holding environments designed with developmental intention. What might be possible if we more intentionally create faculty learning environments that support and challenge us at the leading edge of our potential?
Communities of practice (CoPs) are ideal holding environments to create a bridge across difference, and assist us in continually stepping into the unknown. This involves first recognizing and surfacing dissonance or resonance as an embodied feeling in the present moment, choosing to sit with it and be curious, and then opening to new possibilities. During this one hour deep dive conversation, participants will experience a mini CoP based on Dr. McAlister’s recent research, and the work of Cox and Richlin (2004), Palmer and Zajonc (2010), Scharmer (2009), and Wenger (1998). Presencing techniques will be used to explore emerging themes from the conference, and then to consider how CoPs might fit within the culture of our own institutions.
References:
Cox, M., & Richlin, L. (eds.) (2004). Building faculty learning communities. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. (No. 97). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Palmer, P. & Zajonc, A. (2010). The heart of higher education: A call to renewal. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Scharmer, C. O. (2009). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
