EdD CoP: Educational Development Communities of Practice is supported by the Collaborative Development Fund 2023-24 and is led by the University of Cambridge in partnership with the Universities of Leeds, Cardiff, Sydney, Bangor, Brighton and Goldsmiths.
The impetus to collaborate on this project was generated by a need for support and resources available for developing and evaluating teaching and learning (T&L) Communities of Practice (CoPs). The project team itself formed organically through confronting these challenges and coming together to collaborate on shared CoP questions.
In an increasingly alienating academic landscape, it is more important than ever to find opportunities to facilitate community building and networking opportunities for the ‘HE workforce of the future’ to learn and grow together. Communities of practice work offers a unique opportunity to bring together otherwise often disparate and siloed colleagues into discussions on shared educational endeavours with the impetus for development coming from a grass roots level. They offer a way of working that feels collaborative, reciprocal, and responsive to community needs.
Collaborative Development Fund 2023-24
Check out the other Collaborative Development Funds projects.
Aims and objectives
The principal aim of this project is to support colleagues across the higher education sector with their own teaching and learning-focused communities of practice, to develop knowledge and share practice around CoPs and support them with evaluation strategies.
To do this the project team will create an interactive resource and launch a new sector-wide network that will support CoP leads at the various stages of CoP development and evaluation.
Project outputs
The project outputs includes:
Toolkit
An interactive non-linear toolkit will enable CoP leads to engage with it however works for them depending on their needs. In this toolkit, we will provide information, reflective activities, and case studies to help with the various stages of community practice development.
Aspects such as, ‘finding the energy’, ‘building’, ‘sustaining’, ‘positioning and managing change’, and ‘evaluating’ will be given specific attention in the toolkit.
Aspects such as, ‘finding the energy’, ‘building’, ‘sustaining’, ‘positioning and managing change’, and ‘evaluating’ will be given specific attention in the toolkit.
EdD CoP (Educational Development Community of Practice)
This project will also build its sector-wide community for leaders of teaching and learning communities of practice, EdD CoP (Educational Development Community of Practice). EdD CoP will convene several meetings each year to exchange experience, practice, insights, share successes and puzzle through various aspects and challenges of communities of practice work together.
Project team
Dr Cassie Lowe (SFHEA)
Senior Teaching Associate, the University of Cambridge
Cassie leads the University’s T&L CoP, lectures on the PGCTLHE, and is an assessor and mentor for HEA applications. She has wide interests in higher education including communities of practice, inclusive approaches to student engagement and partnership, assessment and feedback, curriculum development, and aesthetic educational approaches.
Dr Helen Morley (FHEA)
Co-lead, Institutional Community of Practice for Student Education, University of Leeds
Helen is s co-lead for an institutional Community of Practice for Student Education with over 800 members – having been part of the founding group for the community in 2020. She also develops and delivers development in academic leadership, academic change support and research impact. She is also a freelance Organisation Development Consultant.
Dr Tracy Part (SFHEA)
Senior lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London
Tracy is a committed 'hooksean’ and considers her expertise to lie in her capacity to generate and support grassroots leaders as agents for change. Tracy has recently gained accreditation from Advance HE, with Goldsmiths as the first institution to formally embed a Peer Review Community of Practice and Peer Coaches as the principal cornerstone of the ecosystem of support for Fellowship applications.
Dr Isabelle Winder (SFHEA)
Champions equality, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) and the central position of teaching and scholarship in academic life, Bangor University
Isabelle has co-led multiple teaching-focused communities of practice: Bangor’s PgCertTHE and teaching CPD scheme (2017-2020) and a new school-level ‘scholarship network’. Isabelle has spearheaded projects to improve teaching, learning, assessment, and EDI at various scales for 10+ years and is an experienced assessor for Bangor's quality enhancement and Advance HE schemes.
Dr Eszter Kalman (SFHEA)
Education Focused Senior Lecturer, the University of Sydney
Eszter is also the program director of the GradCertHE, and a mentor and assessor for AF-SF applications to the Sydney Fellowship program. Eszter has co-led the establishment of an institution-wide CoP for Educators at the University of Sydney with a dedication to supporting educators in all forms of academic development.
Dr Alyson Lewis (FHEA)
Lecturer in Education Development, Cardiff University
Alyson teaches on the AdvanceHE Fellowship Programmes and leads the training for graduate tutors and demonstrators new to teaching in HE. Her interests are playfulness, well-being and collaborative provision.
Dr Jo Hall (SFHEA)
Principal Lecturer, University of Brighton
Jo leads the institutional CPD route to Advance HE Fellowships and teaches on the PG Certificate in Academic Practice. She is involved in the development of cross-institutional projects; recently been part of the Inclusive Institutions: Enabling and Supporting Inclusive Cultural Change project, funded by Advance HE’s Collaborative Development Fund 2021-22, and the Inclusive Assessment Project, a Collaborative Development Funded QAA project with other University Alliance institutions.