Applying the Community of Practice Approach to Postgraduate IT Projects

This project applies the action research educational method to the application and evaluation of the Community of Practice (CoP) principle to eScience postgraduate project courses in IT at the Australian National University. A CoP was formed comprising of the seven graduate students enrolled in the various eScience project courses and the project co-ordinator (the author) of the first semester 2006. An action research method was applied over two phases, the first in weeks 1–7 (involving 5 meeting sessions), and the second in weeks 10–15 (involving 4 meeting sessions). Data for evaluation includes student feedback (including an entry and exit survey, and anecdotal remarks), observation of the CoP, and evaluation of student performance in relevant aspects of their project work. The results of the evaluation indicate that the CoP approach, combined with the action research method, was very effective in teaching research skills and significantly improved the students’ project experience. There was consistent evidence of desirable group behaviour emerging, including the establishment of a mutually supporting environment. Even through the projects were individual, the commonality of learning research skills and peer feedback were sufficient to establish a cohesive and effective community. While this was a limited trial of the approach, we feel that it is promising to apply to technical student projects in other areas, and it is a valuable approach in supporting research-based education.