RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
In this most useful short guide to how to
create communities of practice the
authors suggest that the most important
element is identifying a community of
practice’s purpose which raises the
question of identifying how personal
tutoring and academic guidance are
clearly purposefully ‘built in’ as opposed
to being a ‘bolt on’ that many of the
portfolio authors have confronted. It is
also important to consider how
communities of practice may be created
and sustained in virtual environments.
Recent discussions, for example, have revisited
and renewed support for Gilly
Salmon’s Five Stage Model where the
role of the tutor in facilitating the
development of an online community of
practice is clearly articulated (Salmon
2013).
5. ‘develop 1-4 in locally varied, disciplecontext-
and organisational culturerelevant
ways, oriented to addressing
local issues and problems.’
This is another vital element in any
strategy or policy to enhance personal
tutoring and academic advising. It is
axiomatic that ‘one size does not fit all’
whether at an institutional or programme
level. This is a maxim that clearly
emerges from an analysis of the
CRA/SEDA Programme portfolios and a
point that is sometimes overlooked or not
stressed by the general literature that
addresses personal tutoring (such as
Lochtie et al. 2018 and Thomas &
Hixenbaugh 2006).
Fortunately, there is a research literature
that does engage with discipline,
organisational and local issues and
problems. For example, Odro et al. (2010)
describe a successful scheme to enhance
the personal and professional
development of mental health nurses to
support the transition into professional
practice.
6. ‘identify successful emergent change
and spread best practice across the
university.’
In reviewing and reflecting on the
portfolios submitted for the CRA/SEDA
Programme, it becomes clear that the
programme itself engendered the
creation of communities of practice both
across each cohort and also within
institutions where several colleagues
undertook the programme. Such an
approach serves as a model for
instigating emergent change with the
potential for changing an institutional
culture in relation to enhancing students’
experiences of personal tutoring and
therefore, of their learning experiences
overall. As many management
consultants proclaim, ‘Culture eats
strategy for breakfast’ 2 .
7. ‘develop learning environments (at the
level of programmes) focussing on
curricula, in the widest sense,
assessment environments, coordination
between courses,
progression, the affective and social
environment of learning, etc.’
2
The origins of this maxim are unclear. Peter
Drucker, the famous management consultant, is
often cited as the originator but there is no
evidence that he actually said it.
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