Background

LOTA is committed to establishing Communities of Practice (CoPs) as an evidence-based strategy for building networking opportunities and professional occupational therapy connections across the state. CoPs allow occupational therapy practitioners, students and educators to connect across geographical boundaries and to focus on shared interests or concerns. As a LOTA member benefit, CoPs facilitate connections between members and strengthen not only individual practice, but also the organization. 

What is a Community of Practice?

A community of practice (CoP) is a “group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger et. al., 2002, p.4.). CoPs are social learning groups that focus on networking, sharing information, and creating new knowledge together to advance a domain of professional practice.  

What is the purpose of a CoP? 

• Engage people in learning more about a common theme, topic, passion or interest.

• Provide a shared context for people to communicate and share information, stories, and personal experiences in a way that builds understanding and insight.  

• Enable dialogue between people who come together to explore new possibilities, solve challenging problems, and create new, mutually beneficial opportunities.  

• Stimulate learning through collaborative processes that include communication, coaching, and self-reflection. 

• Introduce collaborative processes to groups and organizations as well as between organizations to encourage the free flow of ideas and exchange of information.  

• Share knowledge to help people engage in evidence based  practice to inform changes in needs and technologies (Cambridge et al., 2005).

• Facilitate knowledge translation and ultimately improve practice in changing contexts.

What are the benefits of a CoP?

CoPs provide opportunities for participants to come together and have a shared learning experience around a common passion or interest. This can happen virtually, making participation possible across a wide geographical area and without the need for travel time!  The evidence indicates that collaborative learning experiences are at the heart of CoPs (Pyrko et al., 2016) and as such, they are an effective and efficient strategy for professional development.  CoPs are a good fit for individuals at all stages of their career as they focus on the sharing of experiences and ideas  (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Provided that accurate documentation is kept, participation in a CoP can contribute to earning continuing education credits (CEUs).

How do CoPs work?

CoP leaders determine the frequency of the virtual meetings/events but host a minimum of one per quarter. Each CoP has a leader who guides the group (e.g. organize the virtual platform, facilitate group discussions to identify future topics etc.), although CoP decisions are collaborative in nature. Some CoPs invite guest speakers to give short presentations and the content can then discussed by participants. Other strategies can include include “deep dive” discussions about focused topics; reviewing articles, podcasts or webinars; or simply sharing practice stories that highlight the different occupational therapy has made. While the primary focus of CoPs is on collaborative learning, a CoP may identify a need to create a specific resource for LOTA, and, in this situation, the Cop would forward the idea to Board for consideration of development.