Communities of Practice: A Practical Approach to Enhance Student Learning at a South African University

Abstract

Communities of Practice have been established to address concerns at the levels of staff, students and curriculum in the biology department at a South African university. The first-year biology curriculum is shared by two schools: one teaches semester one, and the other semester two. Although staff shared the first-year teaching load they did not communicate about strategies they use to inform student learning and improve academic performance, or discuss the alignment of the curriculum across the schools. Furthermore, South Africa is still dealing with its history of apartheid; this means that some students, because of their backgrounds, have a distinct disadvantage when they aim to excel in their studies. By establishing a ‘Community of Practice’ amongst staff, lines of communication were created between members of two schools teaching the same course. By sharing issues commonly experienced and by a joint effort the Community of Practice developed a series of workshops aimed at levelling the academic playing field for students entering university. The outcomes were (1) the syllabus was restructured so that material was taught in a more hierarchical fashion across the schools; (2) skills that students lacked throughout their first year were identified and workshops were developed, and the content of weekly practicals revised, so that students were given regular opportunities to develop these skills; and, (3) students’ grades improved. This chapter illustrates how, by adopting Lave and Wenger’s notion of ‘Community of Practice’, academic staff take on a pivotal role in bridging the learning divide among first-year students.