This document discusses communities of practice and how they can foster collaboration and innovation. It summarizes that communities of practice are groups that share a domain of interest and learn from regular interaction. The document then discusses how communities of practice in engineering education can reduce learning curves, rapidly respond to needs, and generate new ideas. It provides the example of the CMC Community of Practice SIG which brings together engineering educators and industry to discuss how tools and products can best support evolving educational needs and

1. Fostering
Communities of
Practice
ASEE CMC Industry Day 2013
Dan Sayre

2. Communities of Practice
• Communities of practice are groups of people who share
a concern or a passion for something they do and learn
how to do it better as they interact regularly.
Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, 1991
• Lave and Wenger first used the term communities of
practice to describe learning through practice and
participation, which they named situated learning.

3. 3 Essential Components
•The Domain
•The Community
•The Practice

4. Lesser & Storck (2001)
Communities of practice can increase
organizational performance by:
• Decreasing the learning curve of new
participants
• Responding more rapidly to user needs and
inquiries
• Reducing rework and preventing "reinvention of
the wheel"
• Spawning new ideas for products and services

5. ASEE-NSF Collaboration

6. CMC Community of Practice SIG
• The CMC Community of Practice SIG is a
collaborative group of academics and
professionals who share a commitment to
leveraging innovation.
• The CoP SIG brings together engineering
educators and business leaders in software,
hardware and publishing firms that serve
engineering education.

7. Our mission
As traditional modalities for teaching
engineering (lecture, reading,
homework, lab, exam) evolve to support
better learning outcomes…
How should the tools, product and
services we supply to educators and
students evolve to best meet their
needs?

8. Flipped,active, problem-based,virtual, online,
asynchronous,open,learner-centerednirvana

9. MOOCs

10. MOOCs

11. MOOCs

12. MOOCs

13. MOOCs

14. Shocks to our Infrastructure
Traditional
• Copyright
• Accreditation
• Peer Review
• Tenure
• FERPA
• Licensure
Emerging
• Creative Commons
• Badges & Certificates
• Crowdsourcing
• Star system
• Online Portfolios
• Let’s hope not …

15. McKinseyGlobalInstitute–May2013reporton“DisruptiveTechnologies”

16. Find x
TEXTBOOK:MAINFRAME :: x:smartphone

17. Traditional Workflow
Lecture/Textbook
Describe theory
Work example
Assign practice problem
Assess in exams
Lab
Read pre-lab
Execute lab procedure
Write lab report

18. New Workflow
DO
ReadWatch

19. Do
•Apply theory
•Calculate
•Predict
Analyze
•Spice
•MATLAB
•HDL
Simulate
•Discovery
module
•MyDAQ
Build & Measure
(USB powered)
•Agilent
•Tektronix
Build & Measure
(lab bench) •Interpret
•Feedback &
feedforward
Post-Analysis

20. Phil Hill, consultant and industry analyst covering the educational
technology market primarily for higher education

21. International Technology
Roadmap for Semiconductors
Through the
cooperative efforts of
the global chip
manufacturers and
equipment suppliers,
research communities,
and consortia, the
roadmap teams identify
critical challenges,
encourage innovative
solutions, and welcome
participation from the
semiconductor
community.

22. Get involved
CMC CoP SIG
Chair: Dan Sayre (dsayre@wiley.com)