Online Faculty Learning and Communities of Practice

By:

Thwarted attempts to engage other university faculty in the use of E-learning tools used to extend and augment face-to-face classroom experiences of students led to the use of ‘Tapped-In’, a Web-based learning environment created by SRI International, for teacher discussion and information sharing. Substantive high-quality feedback was secured from Tapped-In participants. They identified and defined both barriers and effective use of online learning tools. Participants identified and explicated elements for success, belief, behaviors, and practices related to E-learning. These de facto focus groups led to recommendations involving the use of a “communities of practice” approach to facilitate effective faculty learning.

Stream: Changing Teachers and Teaching

Paper: , The Internet, ICT’s, Learning and Communities of Practice

George Klemic has a Doctorate in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University. He is a long-time management practioner, turned academic. Formerly Undergraduate Business Chair and Dean at Notre Dame de Namur University in California; currently Assistant Professor at Lewis University in Illinois. Varied research interests- self-directed teams, social capital, on-line learning, non-classroom activities to enhance learning, assessment of student learning outcomes.

Roger M. Goodson, Ed.D. Holds a doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University. He has taught at several institutions of higher education including: Southern New Hampshire University, University of San Francisco, University of North London’s Business Studies Program, UK. Roger currently teaches management studies at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA. His academic and research interests lie in organizational learning, learning technologies, innovation and online learning. He has been designing and teaching hybrid/blended and full online courses for the past decade. Roger offers a monthly online learning and teaching forum at Tapped In, and online forum for practicing and training educational professionals.