Unearthing Treasures and Building a Community:A Case Study from the University of Hong Kong

Abstract

While many higher education institutions have started to develop communities of practice (CoPs) for teaching and learning enhancement, they sometimes encounter a situation that the CoPs only attract a certain group of people who would volunteer to participate in teaching and learning initiatives. Currently teaching-focused CoPs often have a limited impact on those who have been teaching for years or practicing innovative approaches but who do not typically regard themselves as belonging to a teaching community. At the University of Hong Kong, we have been cultivating a university-wide teaching and learning CoP with the aim of promoting dialogue about quality teaching practices. We follow a systematic process of identification, surfacing, synthesising, and sharing of quality teaching practices in strategically important areas to the University. The approach has been found effective in reaching out to teachers of various degrees of expertise and with different levels of engagement in teaching initiatives. One key element of the approach is to value and unearth effective practices in their specific contexts, leverage established expertise and resources, and build a platform to foster dialogue about practices. The effectiveness of the approach has important implications to future endeavours of teaching and learning enhancement. In particular, the CoP builds around effective practices that are attuned to the contexts and facilitates learning among colleagues in a collegiate manner. With the growth of CoPs, such learning opportunities would play an increasingly important role in shaping one’s teaching philosophy and approach. These learning mechanisms have the potential to transform higher education institutions into more learning-oriented organisations.