The purpose of this
two-week discussion was to share experiences in using virtual
communities of practice (CoPs) for global health and learn about
innovative approaches to nurturing the engagement and participation of
CoP members. CoP novices as well as veterans are welcomed! In order to
share successes and challenges, we would greatly appreciate that CoP
leaders, moderators, and facilitators participate since we hope that
this community will become an ongoing place where CoP
leader/moderators/facilitators can share experiences, tools and lessons
learned.
Number of participants: 302
Number of participants' countries: 48
Number of contributions: 87
% of contributions from developing countries: 64%
Number of countries contributing: 14
Contributing countries:
Purpose:
The purpose of this two-week discussion is to share experiences in using virtual communities of practice (CoPs) for global health and learn about innovative approaches to nurturing the engagement and participation of CoP members. CoP novices as well as veterans are welcomed! In order to share successes and challenges, we would greatly appreciate that CoP leaders, moderators, and facilitators participate since we hope that this community will become an ongoing place where CoP leader/moderators/facilitators can share experiences, tools and lessons learned.
Objectives:
Questions:
In your opinion, do CoPs that reach across organizations have more success than those who only focus internally? What defines and makes these types of communities valuable?Day 1 Summary:
We received 9 contributions to the day 1 post from individuals working for international NGOs, colleges and universities, an international news portal, and a web technology firm, all of whom are leaders or participants of communities of practice.Question:
In your opinion, do CoPs that reach across organizations have more success than those who only focus internally? What defines and makes these types of communities valuable?Day 2 Summary:
We’ve received 8 contributions today from the US, Nepal, Nova Scotia, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Geneva. Most participants agree that working across organizations increases the diversity of a community and tends to add to the value of the discussion around a particular topic. Maggie Usher-Patel describes experiences with the Knowledge Gateway and reminds us how important the development of a strategy is when building your community. This is particularly important in terms of sustainability. Professor McPherson from Nova Scotia echoes these sentiments, “By working across organizations within a CoP model there is added-value in that you broaden the possibilities to not only increase partnership numbers, but to also diversity--its resources (possibly more inter-professional; more in-kind supports for the endeavor, such as paying for a web space or conference call phone line), cultures (which may bring more diverse views regarding the etiology of the issue as well as strategies to address it), etc.”Question:
What do you think is important to consider in creating an online community of practice? What tools or best practices have you used to create an online community of practice?Day 3 Summary:
Based on your responses, we agree that developing overarching objectives is key before starting a community of practice. But the ability to be flexible and modify the objectives as your CoP evolves is equally as important. As I mentioned on Day 1, Etienne Wegner argues that there are three key characteristics that define a CoP: (1) the domain, (2) the community, and (3) the practice - and this discussion focuses heavily on the “the community.”Question:
What are the important IT considerations in starting and nurturing a virtual CoP?.Day 4 Summary:
We’ve received 6 contributions today from the Nepal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, US, and Switzerland. Your experiences reveal that there is a lot of innovation taking place and hopefully one day everyone will have similar access. Until then, “let's use the opportunities we have, while we look for other solutions” and don’t waste resources reinventing the wheel as suggested by Maggie Usher-Patel in today’s posting (see Contribution 6 for the full text) and Neil Pakenham-Walsh (from yesterday’s post). Also included in the full text daily digest are innovations put forth by participants.Question:
Day 5 Summary:
Thank you for your contributions. We’ve received 4 contributions today from Uganda, Nepal, South Africa and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We identified two main themes from today’s contributions:Question:
Day 6 Summary:
We’ve received 7 contributions from members in South Africa, Nepal, Scotland, and the US. Comments from guest experts on this topic included the following:Question:
What is the role of incentives in encouraging and nurturing participation?Day 7 Summary:
Today we received 4 contributions from members in the United Kingdom, Kenya, Nepal, and the US. Guest expert, Jude Griffin, responded to each contribution. Topics included the type of facilitation approach used for different communities of practice, the ebb and flow of activity in a community, the importance of giving members a way to manage how discussions will evolve, and the important role of culture in discussion dynamics.Question:
What does it take to host an effective online discussion forum as well as successfully engaging the audience?Day 8 Summary:
Today we received 8 contributions from members in the United Kingdom, Nepal, South Africa and the US. Participants commented on translation and multi-language discussion forums, moderating a CoP and maintaining databases of members, and many participants provided examples of successful CoPs.Question:
What strategies and experiences do you have to share on developing multi-language communities of practice?Day 9 Summary:
We received 3 additional responses to the Day 9 question (about multi-lingual communities of practice). Elizabeth Westley, Aaron Beals and Maggie Usher-Patel share some of the efforts they are undertaking to overcome the language barrier within and across the COPs they support.Question:
Have you developed an online communication strategy that incorporates social media tactics? What social media platforms do you use to engage stakeholders or communities of practice?Day 10 Summary:
Thank you for your participation, insightful contributions, and sharing your experience using and leading communities of practice- both internally and externally.Number of surveys completed 68
% who have passed content to others 64%
% who have or will use in their work 90%
% very satisfied with forum content 68%
Suggestions for improvement :
Click here for related resources and references in the community library
Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Programs/Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project, WHO/RHR, IBP Knowledge Gateway and USAID, in collaboration with members of the IBP Knowledge Management Working Group, Management Sciences for Health, EngenderHealth/RESPOND Project, the Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery and HIFA2015
Lissette Bernal-Cruz, Knowledge Management Coordinator, EngenderHealth/RESPOND Project
Dr. Sandra Land, Retired Consultant, PAHO/WHO
Dr. Patricia Abbott, Co-Director PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on Nursing Knowledge Management, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
Dr. Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Co-Director, Global Healthcare Information Network, Coordinator, HIFA2015
Jude Griffin, Team Leader, Knowledge Exchange, Management Sciences for Health
Maggie Usher-Patel, Scientist, WHO/RHR, IBP Secretariat
Christina Fusco, WHO Consultant, IBP global administrator
Lisa Basalla, eLearning Coordinator, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs/K4Health Project
Ashley Isabelle Spence, Communications Associate, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs/K4Health Project
Angela Nash-Mercado, Senior Content Manager, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs/K4Health Project
Christopher Rottler, Senior Communications Manager, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs/K4Health Project
Ashley Isabelle Spence, Knowledge for Health Project, JHU/CCP