Advocates for Outdoor Education in Early Childhood & Beyond
Community of Practice
What is a Community of Practice?
CoPs are a community
driven
professional development strategy.
It is a small, closed group of learners.
Each Community of Practice has a set number of participants (12-14 people) that commit to learning over a period of time. New members are not added during a cycle.
It is relationship driven.
The heart of the learning is the community created. Participants get to know each other's work, strengths, and growth edges. The community plans and decides the learning & topics of conversation together.
It is consistent and ‘enough’.
Community learning takes time to develop, so the partnership meets regularly for a minimum number of sessions to build to progress. Generally, this is 6 weeks.
It is intentional.
Members start with relationship building and then move into joint planning. They discuss their own strengths and desired learning outcomes, and design a learning map that meets those needs.
It is reflective.
Time is spent intentionally learning about each other, their backgrounds, their environments, and why they chose the path they are on. With this insight, learning is customized for the people in the room and their daily work.
It is capacity building.
Members have opportunities to learn from the group AND opportunities to speak about their own knowledge. Speakers/Presenters are sought in the community first, or invited if a gap is present.
Communities of Practice are facilitated by trained co-facilitators that guide the group and keep learning on track. The facilitators are responsible for meeting structure, communication, and progress on the learning map.