Communities of Practice: Environmental Scan Research Report prepared for Settlement Sector Practitioners across Canada

This Environmental Scan research & report represents one component of a multi-year and multi-phased project: to foster development of an active online community of practice for settlement sector practitioners across Canada.

The general areas of investigation were:

• What is the current understanding of CoPs regarding social learning, online communities, and networks, in the settlement sector, in other sectors?
• What attributes are associated with successful CoPs?
• What are the current strategies being undertaken by organizations to encourage practitioners to participate / engage in CoPs?
• What actions or activities appear to be effective?
• What are the key challenges, needs and gaps in the settlement sector in terms of using technology for learning and service delivery?
• Where are the opportunities for the sector to improve delivery of settlement services?
• What knowledge management tools would support sector practitioners?

Numerous dimensions of communities of practice were researched. Looking for opportunities to learn from other online communities of practice, the research encompassed aspects of the settlement sector practices, as well as reaching beyond. In this component there was a concentration on Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) - seeking to find new uses of digital and online technologies, as well as effective methods and strategies to activate and engage communities.

A key aspect for shaping a way forward is to understand how settlement sector practitioners currently use Information, Communications & Technologies (ICT). Through a national survey, practitioners were asked to reflect upon many aspects of how technologies affect their work.

The survey tool endeavored to draw a snapshot of current ICT practices, to gauge levels and types of use within the sector. The survey was deployed by the National Advisory Committee umbrella organizations to settlement practitioners across Canada. A ‘needs and wants’ picture emerged through the practitioners’ responses. This information gathered begins to form a picture of what practitioners are looking for: not only to do their jobs; but also revealing various frustrations and indicating where certain impediments occur. The report sections entitled Survey and Current Digital Practices within the Settlement Sector outline these in more detail.

With this snapshot of practitioner ICT-uses as an important backdrop, many exciting online hubs were surfaced through the research process. In the report section entitled Reviewing current communities of practice an array of hubs is presented as a foundation for discussion. Included as well, the appendix contains several in-depth case studies examining different online communities of practice. These samples are presented to members of the sector to study as models with thought-provoking facets, modules, & designs:

• for delivery and sharing of content;
• which offer motivating user-experiences through well-designed digital interfaces;
• which engage CoP members, through well-designed ‘programs’, and opportunities to connect.

Key findings

• the report identifies the need for practitioners to easily access shared trusted resources. Practitioners discussed the difficulties finding and sharing important resources.
• Designing and building shared repositories may be a practical initial step toward the longer-term goal of shaping a settlement sector community of practice.
• Professional development is of significant interest to current practitioners. There is desire to upgrade skills as well as enhancing knowledge around specific issues relating to their clients’ needs. There is desire to upgrade skills as well as enhancing knowledge around specific issues relating to their clients’ needs.
• Settlement sector practitioners stated through the survey that most prefer to learn on-site, in person. Online workshops, either live or asynchronous, are a well-tested delivery mechanism for learning, and will likely make up aspects of a CoP since practitioners are located across the country.
• A Pilot Phase: Involving settlement sector practitioners in decision-making for a prototyping initiative is part of developing a sense of collective ownership. Capturing and finessing a set of needs through working group processes, then responding to these needs and voices of the sector practitioners through design of a pilot platform is a recommended next step.