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 Communities of Practice |
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Participants
from 15 countries attended a June 2004 RAP about mobile
exhibits hosted by Technopolis, the Flemish Science
Center, Belgium
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ASTC is committed to a Communities of Practice approach to growing the field of informal science education, with the goal of supporting sustained and impactful professional development that has field-wide impact.
What are Communities of Practice?
Communities of Practice (CoPs) 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.
Three essential components of CoPs are:1
- a group identity formed by a shared domain of interest, and therefore, a shared competence
- use of interaction as the primary mechanism for learning
- identification of a particular shared practice (the portfolio of experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems) that the CoP seeks to improve.
ASTC has many resources available to support these communities, including:
- Dedicated ASTC staff liaison support.
- Listing of CoP on ASTC website, online calendar of events, and social media feeds.
- Marketing of CoP activity in appropriate ASTC member communications.
- Directed marketing to appropriate ASTC member segments and partner organizations.
- Implementation support for teleconferences, webinars, and in-person meetings at the ASTC Annual Conference.
- Ability to survey ASTC membership once annually (approval required).
- Free access to full functionality of ASTC Connect, the association's online learning platform.
- Board level impact: CoP activities will shape ASTC's leadership and field development strategy.
ASTC welcomes and encourages proposals from the field. If you decide to form a new community, please take a moment to review ASTC's eligibility requirements before submitting your proposal.
- Primary contact must be an ASTC member or employed by an ASTC member institution.
- Must have a specific issue or audience identified (e.g., Explainers and Facilitators, CEOs, Developing Content about Energy in Science Centers, Volunteer Management, etc.).
- Should have a preliminary engagement plan developed (e.g., conference calls, in-person meeting, webinar, chat forum, etc.) including draft timeline for implementation.
- Must identify a legacy product for sharing CoP output with the field (e.g., white paper, presentation archives, conference session, ASTC Dimensions article, astc.org blog post, etc.)
1http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm
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