Meanings of Community: Educational Developers Experience Care, Satisfying Contributions, and Belonging in a Collaboration across Institutions

Authors

Thomas M. Colclough, University of California, IrvineFollow
William J. Howitz, Georgia Institute of Technology
Daniel Mann, University of California, Irvine
Katherine Kearns, Indiana University, Bloomington
Darren S. Hoffmann, University of Iowa

ORCID IDs

Colclough 0000-0002-9228-4404

Howitz 0000-0001-6323-7126

Mann 0000-0003-0206-289X

Kearns 0000-0003-1487-3550

Hoffmann 0000-0003-1081-5222

Date of this Version

Fall 2023

Document Type

Article

Citation

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development (2023) 42(2): 9

doi: 10.3998/tia.2637

Comments

License: CC BY-NC-ND

Abstract

We share insights from a mixed methods study to describe the experience of educational developers participating in a community of practice (CoP). This CoP consisted of 19 leaders at eight institutions, serving collectively as facilitators of a hybrid, across-institutional, seven-week workshop series on course design for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. From results of a survey examining the functional and sustaining features of the community, we illustrate that members experience the community aspect of our CoP primarily as a sense of satisfaction/personal fulfillment and, to an extent, in the effectiveness/productiveness of collaborations between members. Members of our CoP experience several community-related benefits specific to their across-institution collaborations. We demonstrate the importance of members’ sense of belonging, overall professional development, and well-being for sustaining our CoP.