Staff who want to know more about Communities of Practice (CoPs) are invited to attend an upcoming seminar on social learning in the workplace.

The seminar will be led by Professor Maarten de Laat from the University of Wollongong and Honorary Associate Professor Jacquie McDonald from the University of Southern Queensland on 26 October.

In the mid-2000s, universities became increasingly aware of CoPs as a potentially powerful tool for informal collective learning.

This led to a more deliberate approach to harness their potential to enhance learning and teaching practice within universities.

While CoPs sound promising in theory, from time to time their contribution to a university’s strategic goals has been questioned.

The seminar will look at the two major reasons the value of CoPs are called into doubt, the first being the difficulty in demonstrating their value to a university, and the second being the difficulty in engaging and maintaining the commitment of time-poor colleagues.

The event will be held from 9.00am-11.00am in Room 1300, Physical Sciences Building.

Staff can register for the seminar via the staff development web-page.