Forming communities of practice in higher education: a comparative analysis.

Abstract

A Communities of Practice (CoPs) is formed when two or more individuals come together voluntarily and informally to share expertise or ideas and are passionate about a common venture. However, the specific guidance to form CoPs in higher educational institutions (HEIs) doesn’t exist. This longitudinal comparative action research study will investigate, explore, and describe ways and the feasibility to develop learning communities at higher education institutions in South Africa and Europe. This paper aims to investigate the students’ willingness to share their range of resources, preferred forms of communications and readiness to accept tacit (knowing how) knowledge sharing in order to enrich their study methods and decision making skills. Furthermore, the aim is to explore the students’ vision of CoP joint activities and discussions in building relationships, trust and an innovative knowledge base in their field of expertise. The researchers conducted an online e-survey of 20 close-ended questions using a five-point Likert-type scale amongst part-time and full-time postgraduate and undergraduate students in three faculties at higher education institutions. The estimated size of the sample for the survey is approximately 500.