Community of Practise Proposal

Community of Practise Proposal

Executive Summary

The College of Human Sciences and Education (CHSE) at Louisiana State University aims at implementing a knowledge management strategy in which Community of Practise has been identified as a key area to be explored during the project. The CHSE does not have a long history in the University compared to other colleges. It was established in 2012, and consists of five constituent schools, which include:

• School of Education
• School of Leadership and Human Resource
• School of Kinesiology
• School of Library and Information Science
• School of Social Work

The different schools mentioned above are located at different buildings within the University. This situation threatens research collaborations among the schools due to proximity issues. So far, there have been collaborations between two faculty members of the School of Kinesiology and School of Social Work. On the contrary, over the years, there has been no research collaborations between the Schools of Library and Information Science, Leadership and Human Resource Development, which exist within the same building, Coates Hall.

The terminology, research collaboration, refers to the process through which faculty members from different schools work together to write research grants proposals, execute scientific research projects, and author peer-reviewed publications.

The college wants to establish an infrastructure that will be able to ensure research collaborations among the faculty members in the respective schools across all levels, such as individual to individual, individual-to-group, group-to-group, and interschool.

As such, this proposal seeks to come up with an innovative systematic structure in the form of a pilot Community of Practise (CoP) that will able to nurture, foster, and maintain research collaborations at the college level across all disciplines, working groups, and disparate locations. I hope that the implementation of this pilot CoP will assist the institution in solving the challenges described above and consequently position it as a key research center in the future.

The implementation framework of the pilot CoP proposal will consist of five stages, which include inquiry, design, prototype, launch, and growth. These approaches will require support and collaboration from the faculty members and the management throughout the entire journey.

Introduction

Brief History of the University

Louisiana State University, commonly referred to as LSU, is a public research university situated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in the 1853 under the name Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy.

Currently, the University has 18 schools, which include College of Agriculture, College of Art, College of Business, College of Coast and Environment, College of Engineering, College of Human Science and Education, College of Humanities and Social Science, School of Mass Communication, College of Music and Dramatic Arts, College of Science, School of Veterinary Medicine, Law Centre, and Graduate School.

College of Human Science and Education (CHSE)

The mission for this college is to promote and enhance the quality of life of individuals by engaging in research, teaching, professional service, and global engagement through assisting communities and people realize their potential.

Some of the visions of the college include:

1. Enhance its contribution to local, national, and international issues through knowledge, practice, and research.
2. Empower individuals and organizations through development, stewardship, and community partnerships that will improve the quality of life of the people.
3. Prepare diverse and ethically grounded professionals across all programs.

Problem Identification

The CHSE has different schools located at different buildings within the University. This situation threatens research collaborations among the schools due to proximity issues. So far, there have been collaborations between two faculty members of the School of Kinesiology and School of Social Work. On the contrary, over the years, there has been no research collaborations between the Schools of Library and Information Science, Leadership and Human Resource Development, which exist within the same building, Coates Hall.

Hence, I recommend a digital solution of incorporation of the CHSE Online Research Collaboration Platform that will provide a solution to the key challenges and enhance the capacity of the institution as a center for research.

CHSE Online Collaboration Platform

CHSE Online Research Collaboration System is a proposed integrated software that will institute multidisciplinary collaboration among faculty members within the respective schools in the college.

This software will also allow students to participate in research activities, with the lecturers as their supervisors, so that the research activities can be shared among all interested parties anytime and anywhere.

The advantages of the proposed system will include the following:

1. It ensures faster acquisition of knowledge since research information will be available at the click of a button.
2. It ensures easier access to research experts and willing collaborative faculty members. Students, faculty members, and other individuals ready to learn may share their doubts or queries over the platform and get the answers almost immediately.
3. It saves on the cost of travel for faculty members. The web-enabled collaborative tools ensure that the faculty members do not need to travel for research and training sessions. The system will have inbuilt recording and saving functions that will be saved for future learners, who may be interested to learn.
4. It will increase the overall employee and student satisfaction. The benefits highlighted above can increase the fulfillment of the employees and students. Costs savings by the University, due to reduced traveling and communication, may be useful in enabling the University to use their budgets to improve the services of both the employees and the students.

Some of the possible disadvantages of the online collaboration tool include:

1. High initial cost of system development and maintenance. The complexity of the online software tool will be proportional to the value of the development. Some of the features that will determine the cost will include the number and complexity of the features, the number of platforms, whether IOS, Android or Web, and the design complexity of the online tool.
2. Resistance from faculty members to shift to online collaboration. This issue will be addressed through the following interventions:
3. Equipping the faculty members and students with the requisite skills on how to use and benefit from the new online collaboration tool.
4. Employ digital mentors who will empower the faculty members to see the bigger picture of the benefit of the new system.
5. Train the leaders of the faculty members on the positive changes of the technology and informing them to empower their juniors.

Implementation Framework of the Community of Practise (CoP)

A CoP is a group of individuals who share a standard set of challenges or concerns in a given topic and opt to equip themselves with skills in the given area continuously.

The goal of CoP is to enable groups of people to come together, by both interest and passion, to share knowledge and skills, learn from one another by either face to face or virtually.

Knowledge, gotten through research, is an essential and rare resource that any learning institution should factor when developing education infrastructure. Academic institutions across the globe are leveraging their knowledge developing economic and innovative approaches to keep them competitive. The implementation of the Cop, through the CHSE Online Research Collaboration Tool, will address the critical challenges faced by the college, thereby enabling the institution to be a premier research and innovation center in the near future.

Proposed Stages of Building the Community of Practise (CoP)

CoP are social structures that require to be cultivated so that they can develop and grow. Thus, the main factor defining the sustainability of the CoP is the participation of the faculty members on the research activities through collaboration.

The stages of building the CoP will consist of the following:

1. Inquiry
2. Design
3. Prototype
4. Launch
5. Growth/Emergence

Stage 1: Inquiry

This is the first stage of the implementation of the CoP, where the views of the faculty members, in terms of their purpose, objectives, and strategic goals, will be gathered.

A needs assessment will be conducted to identify the faculty members’ inputs about their vision in the implementation of the CoP, along with other essential details to be included in the CHSE Online Research Collaboration Tool.

This exercise will be conducted through questionnaires, interviews, surveys, and focus groups.

The information gathered will assist in identifying the benefits of the CoP, significant areas to be factored when implementing the project, vision, mission, and goals. Also, the cost estimate for the development of the technology, CHSE Online Research Collaboration, will be developed by factoring in factors such as type of technology, technical development and expertise, support, and facilitation.

More so, some of the faculty members will be recruited to be part of the development team to respect the respective schools under CHSE.

To achieve this objective, the following areas were addressed:

1. What are the current challenges hindering collaborative research activities among faculty members?
2. What do the faculty members feel about the establishment of a CoP?
3. What is the vision of the employees about the implementation of the CoPs?

The needs assessment results highlighted the following challenges:

1. There is no knowledge sharing among the faculty members. The departmental heads are facing difficulties in sharing their research activities because there is no requisite infrastructure to do so.
2. There has been a frequent shift of departmental heads, which is affecting collaboration between faculty members. When a departmental head is shifted, there is transfer or loss of knowledge, which demotivates junior members from collaborating in research-related activities.

The CHSE Online Research Collaboration Tool will address the challenges mentioned above through:

1. Development of formal systems for tapping the knowledge
2. Providing a work environment where faculty members can share and collaborate in research activities.

Institutional Strategy and Value

The role of the CoP is to not only develop a platform where the faculty members can collaborate in research activities but also enhance the strategic capabilities of the institution as a research center.

In order to ensure that the institution achieves its objectives, the developed system will be structured to ensure that it is:

1. Aligned with knowledge management and business strategies of the institution.
2. Adheres to the spirit of best practices
3. Linked with other key initiatives and processes of other colleges within the University.

Goals and Expected Outcomes

Short-term

The short-term goal of the system is to assist the faculty members from the respective schools to participate in research collaboration, sharing knowledge, and providing expertise to students opting to venture into research.

Long-term

The long-term goal is to develop a body of knowledge and research collaborations that will identify the institution as a major research center.

Funding and Organizational Issues

Funding

The institution will cater for the cost of the establishment of the services of the CHSE Online Research Collaboration Tool.

The budget will be channeled directly to the management to take care of their expenses incurred in the development of the tool.

Support

The faculty members will provide the support and the workforce for running the system.

Success factors and risks

Current success factors

1. There are passion and commitment among the faculty members to engage in research collaborations, share knowledge and concerns. The faculty members acknowledge that there is a need for them to come together, address their issues, and exchange ideas.
2. There seems to be a high rate of collaboration among faculty members, as seen in their weekly and monthly inter-departmental meetings.
3. The recent adoption of the evidenced-based culture of sharing has encouraged knowledge sharing and continuous learning among faculty members in the institution.

Risks

1. Possible resistance from the faculty members who may not have basic knowledge of the significance of the system. As such, the designers must put into consideration these factors when designing the system.
2. Lack of adequate support from the management in terms of training, management, and support. Hence, for the sustainability of the system, the designers must address the challenge by ensuring that the administration is skilled adequately on the key objectives, process, and objectives of the system.

Stage 2: Design

This stage will involve defining the key processes, technology, activities, and roles that the CoP will incorporate to address community goals.

The faculty members recruited in the development team will assist the brainstorming, designing of the CoP through doing the following:

1. Identification of the activities that the stakeholders would like to actualize to ensure research collaboration.
2. Creating timelines that will be adhered to when developing the online collaboration tool.
3. Identification of key speakers who would empower the faculty members by giving them insights on the importance of the system.
4. Identification of the appropriate technologies that will be applied in facilitating meetings, giving communication, and sensitizing the faculty members on the need to adopt the system.

Stage 3: Prototyping

This stage will involve the representative team to come up with a pilot CoP for the online collaboration tool with a selected few individuals. The team will be able to redefine their assumptions and recreate a new strategy through:

1. Picking the most appropriate technology that will efficiently provide a solution to the challenge of research collaboration.
2. Developing a community environment and testing the functionality of the system in different circumstances.
3. Measuring the successes and the downsides of the system prototype from the selected individuals.
4. Scheduling events and activities in relation to the prototype while focusing on both the short-term and long-term goals of the structure.
5. Ensuring that there is clarity of the roles and support structures so that an adequate measure of the system impacts can be gotten.

Stage 4: Launch

This stage involves rolling out the CoP to a broader community of faculty members in the respective departments within the college at a scheduled time in ways that the benefits, impacts, and drawbacks can be assessed.

This approach, in other words, would mean that the system is ready for the recruitment of faculty members to facilitate collaboration in research.

In this stage, the faculty members will use the system and, from the results, promote a broader involvement of the rest of community members. The mission, vision, and objectives of the system will be communicated to the recruits so that they familiarize themselves with the system objectives.

Also, orientation will be facilitated to educate the recruits on how to use the system.

Stage 5: Growth and Sustaining of the CoP

This stage will focus on the growth and sustaining the CoP realized through the CHSE Online Research Collaboration tool.

Some of the strategies that will be involved in this phase will include providing a framework that will engage members by promoting learning and research activities through networking and group forums.

Also, this stage will involve assessing the performance of the CoP to develop new strategies, goals, technology, and activities.

Conclusion

Knowledge has more value when it is shared. Through the development of the CoP above has the benefit of bringing the faculty members to participate in research collaborations and knowledge sharing. The implementation of this exercise is attributable to the fact that:

1. Institution has resources and motivation to implement the innovation highlighted above.
2. Willingness of faculty members to participate in research collaborations.