Communities of Practice

Mindlab Activity 3
The two topics I would like to focus my inquiry on is:

1. Flipped classrooms - How can this work effectively in a team-teach classroom environment?
2. Digital portfolios - How to implement digital portfolios with students for the first time and what tool/medium would be of most benefit.

• How do the two chosen topics relate to issues in your professional practice?

Flipped classrooms have always been of interest to me. I like the idea that students are able to have a look at something in their own time, before the teaching happens in class. This is particularly useful for students that require information being ‘fed’ in different ways, or may need to hear the same information a few times.  As our senior school will be involved with the Manaiakalani project next year, our students will have one-to-one devices, allowing for flipped learning.  This then means that all the learning does not have to happen solely in the classroom. Parents can be involved with the learning also, creating a wider community of learning for the students.  This also leads into the students being able to reflect on their own learning using blogs or digital portfolios.  At the moment, our portfolios only serve the purpose of the teacher selecting ‘good’ pieces of work to showcase to parents/whanau.  I would like to see students having more ownership of their own learning (Students agency) by choosing pieces to share themselves, and reflecting on these using their blogs or digital portfolios.

• How could Wegner’s model help you to identify some of your meaningful Communities of Practice?

Wenger et al. (2002), describes a Community of practice as a ‘group of individuals participating in communal activity, and experiencing/continuously creating their shared identity through engaging in and contributing to the practices of their communities’. He goes on further to say that “Communities of practice are a practical way to frame the task of managing knowledge. They provide a concrete organisational infrastructure for realising the dream of a learning organisation.” (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002, Preface, para. 2). Therefore, the communities of practice I belong to include my syndicate team, Google+ Mindlab Community, Mindlab Kaitaia Community, RTLB and Manaiakalani.

• How would inquiring on those topics contribute and link to learning within your Communities of Practice? (e.g. your team, syndicate, CoL, online community, Mind Lab whānau, professional association)

By inquiring into my two topics - flipped classrooms and digital portfolios - I am supporting my syndicate community to work towards to best outcome for our students. As a syndicate, and as a school, we strive to develop each child into achieving their goals. Providing my understanding of 21st century learning and inquiring into best practise for my two topics, I can support our students to become self-directed 21st century learners that strive for more. I can also connect with Manaiakalani, as they will be working alongside a couple of our teachers to delve into their pedagogy into our classrooms. I can share my inquiry findings with them, and they can support me in areas that need development or even areas that I may not have considered.

Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.