Abstract
Background: Due to the importance of the teaching and learning process in medical sciences,it is necessary to provide an appropriate context to facilitate knowledge sharing. Communities of practice (CoPs) is one strategy for sharing explicit knowledge and learning among individuals.This research aimed to develop CoPs model at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive-survey research was conducted on 245 faculty members selected through a simple random sampling method at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences who had the rank of professor, associate professor and assistant professor in the 2017-2018 academic year. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed by analyzing main components that were verified by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The reliability of components was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: The CoPs model consists of six components including participatory leadership, goals/aims, boundary and size, interactions, formal structures, and informal structures. There was a significant relationship observed between all components. The strongest correlations were observed between the boundary-size and interactions (0.85), goals/aims and leadership(0.78), and informal structure and leadership (0.76). In examining the relationships between each component, the strongest correlation was found between CoPs and informal structure(0.88), participatory leadership (0.87), and interactions (0.85) and the weakest relationship was observed between formal structure and CoPs (0.61). Results of determining fit indices indicated validity of the CoPs model (χ2/df =2.69, CFI= 0.92, IFI= 0.92, NFI= 0.88, RMSEA= 0.09). Conclusion: university managers using this model and strengthening the informal aspects of existing communities increase the possibility of faculty members’ interactions from different units and having them participate in decision making related to teaching and learning processes to take effective steps towards academic development of this university.
Highlights
Knowledge in medical universities is more important than in other organizations due to the application to health and medical education
CoPs have become commonplace in educational institutions as a means of bringing staff members together to discuss matters of common interest, as well as being used in educational practice itself.[7]. They can guide the development of interventions to make medical education more effective and can help both learners and educators better cope with medical education complexity.[8]
No studies were done on CoPs at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TUOMS); researchers conducted this study and presented a native model of CoPs to provide a suitable framework to facilitate knowledge sharing and experience of faculty members at this university under different goals and conditions
Summary
Knowledge in medical universities is more important than in other organizations due to the application to health and medical education. Communities of practice (CoPs) are social structures that focus on knowledge.[1] Such communities have been identified as an effective method to extract and disseminate tacit knowledge[2] and as a vehicle for learning.[3] They are effective tools for the creation and sharing of organizational knowledge, and an increasing number of organizations are adopting them as part of a knowledge management strategy.[4] These communities are used as a tool in many higher educational contexts in faculty development 5 and in teacher training.[6] CoPs have become commonplace in educational institutions as a means of bringing staff members together to discuss matters of common interest, as well as being used in educational practice itself.[7] They can guide the development of interventions to make medical education more effective and can help both learners and educators better cope with medical education complexity.[8] Learning is one of the Developing communities of practice model most important benefits of CoPs.[9] CoPs help to improve practice of and learning about teaching.[10] CoPs’ approach to teaching and learning in higher education provides a space for staff to collaboratively reflect on, review, and update current teaching and learning practices.[11] These informal teacher communities allow teachers to engage in a dialogue with colleagues and to share questions, solutions, and interpretations. Conclusion: university managers using this model and strengthening the informal aspects of existing communities increase the possibility of faculty members’ interactions from different units and having them participate in decision making related to teaching and learning processes to take effective steps towards academic development of this university
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