Explain how communities of learning and communities of practice are formalized and sustained. How do you see this working within your student cohort at YU in the MEd Program in Adult Education? Explain what steps you might take to establish a learning community, and which forms of technology you might use for networking.

            Because my community of practice in Unit 4, Discussion 1 used the M.Ed. program as an example, I will use a corporate community of practice example for this discussion question.

            About 15 years ago, the City of Kelowna, under the guidance of City Manager Ron Mattiussi, chose to build what I can call now a corporate learning community of practice. They needed new strategies to solve many city-wide restructuring challenges. Objectives and the purpose were clear (to be the best mid-sized City in North America). The City ensured it knew each employee’s experience and knowledge brought to the table (bilingual, university educated, management experience). City-wide group introductory meetings were held with shared knowledge from management and others. Human resources appointed a moderator to guide discussions at the meetings, keep the groups on task, and act as a liaison between management and others. Smaller regular meetings were held to discuss successes, failures, and progress. Project management technology software tools served as a virtual base of operations. Through the platforms, albeit proper security clearances were allocated, all city employees could share documents, assign tasks, keep track of deadlines for projects, and stay updated with a posted community calendar. COVID-19 had not arrived at this time, so all meetings were in person. The City supplied support and resources, but limited monetary funds were mostly used for advertising. City-wide surveys of employees were conducted identifying issues or weaknesses. The City could then prioritize the most pressing matters and where time and resources should be allocated. The City of Kelowna anticipated success by tapping into the collective knowledge and skillsets of the workforce.

            Did the City of Kelowna succeed in creating an effective corporate community of practice? I retired from frustration and anger at the City’s inability and the business licence section due to its failure to identify and deal with government management bureaucracy. The restructuring of the City to become the best mid-sized City was doomed from the start. Why? The core group actively engaged in the changes were managers, there was a low level of one-to-one interaction with non-management, non-management were not sold on the idea and unwilling to adopt the new work practices into their daily work, non-management did not view their participation in the changes as meaningful in their daily work, and management used inappropriate and imprecise documentation, visual supports and technological tools such as PowerPoint from management. One would now call it “fake news.” After twenty years, there is still no definition or criteria of the ‘best mid-sized city.’

            As the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland points out, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Laurie