Towards a Community of Professional Practice in Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This paper concerns an initiative to enable tertiary educators to share their teaching and learning experiences with a view of developing a community of practice for teaching and learning. A program of 'sharing sessions' incorporated presenters and participants from across several academic units within an Australian university. The sharing sessions provided the opportunity for engagement and participation in substantive, interdisciplinary conversations about teaching and learning and current teacher education practice. The presentations included topics from different disciplines, and covered early childhood to tertiary education. The sessions initiated challenging and interesting discussions and dialogue that provided supportive feedback to the presenters. Each session was audio-recorded and presenters were encouraged to develop publications based on their presentations. Analysis of the recorded sessions identified the core themes within the discussions that ensued and reflections on them are a significant part of this paper. The concluding section identifies the outcomes achieved by this initiative and explores a possible way forward in the further development of a community of professional practice.