Professional Experience Placement

I have previously blogged about professional development, learning and teaching, guidance and support, collegiality, communities of practice (CoP)  and collective wisdom. Utilising  or harnessing collective intelligence or expert opinion is possible through the development of a community of practice of professional experience facilitators, clinical supervisors or preceptors. This University is trialing the use of Twitter to develop a sustainable network of clinical supervisors that can ‘lurk’ or engage with others by being part of the community.

Four fact sheets have been developed to explain the CoP and how to join in:

• The community of practice (Fact sheet 1)
• Resources to support the CoP: Website (Fact sheet 2)
• Resources to support the CoP: Blog and microblog (Fact sheet 3)
• How to join the CoP (Fact sheet 4)

There are a host of other supporting information and guides about how to join or use the microblog known as Twitter.  Here are two guides that I have found useful:

• Twitter guide 1
• Twitter guide for university research, teaching and impact activities

You can join Twitter to be part of the CoP, however, there is no obligation to broadcast anything. You can remain part of the group by receiving information only (known as lurking), rather than feeling obliged to share  information or ‘tweet’. The guides provide information about how to ‘tweet’ effectively and appropriately, in public or in private (using direct messages).

There are other ways of communicating within the CoP. One of  these may include outcomes of face to face discussions with colleagues that could lead to a comment on the blog or emailing Carey.Mather@utas.edu.au with your ‘guest blog’ and I can post it for you.

The CoP will develop as people find a reason to engage and discover the merits of being part of it for themselves. I urge you, give it a go and discover whether the CoP can be more than a source for information about University SNM updates, professional development or leadership opportunities or professional experience supervision.