Academic Communities Of Practice Research Articles

Tackling illegitimate intertextuality through socialization - An action research project

Without proper guidance, some graduate-student writers can misstep and break with the source-use conventions of their disciplines in various ways, including acts that could be considered plagiaristic. Many universities attempt to reduce such missteps with published definitions of plagiarism, guidance in formatting styles, and training in discrete writing skills such as paraphrasing and summarizing; however, the persistence of illegitimate intertextual practices suggests that the issue might be more complex than simple ignorance of conventions or lack of writing skill. This paper reports on a five-year action research project that sought to explore illegitimate intertextuality in research proposals submitted by the members of five diverse cohorts of social science graduate students near the outset of their studies. Data were collected through Turnitin.com similarity reports, discussions with students and instructors, submitted written assignments, and a survey. Over the five years, the project evolved away from simple definition and skill-building toward a focus on socializing students into an academic community of practice. The findings from this project suggest that the core of the issue may be that students hold fundamentally different conceptions of the role of sources in academic texts to those held by their more experienced discourse-community mentors. These results have implications for the training of graduate students in writing in their disciplines, suggesting it may be better to start with the “why” of citation, before moving on to the “what” and the “how.”

Building research capacity through an academic community of practice: a design case study

PurposeThe study's purpose was to examine the faculty-driven organization's design and development that supports faculty research needs, track the emergence of the community of practice (CoP) and provide greater insight into continued organizational design iterations.Design/methodology/approachIn this longitudinal design case study, the authors employed different methods to collect and analyze archival, quantitative and qualitative data to capture the phenomenon's complexity.FindingsThe findings challenge the assumption that only formal organizational structures and top-down management approaches stimulate research and build research capacity in universities and propose a new sustainable and agile informal organizational structure and strategies to respond to faculty members' various research needs.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research is needed to investigate the tension between the individual researchers' and organizational needs, formal and informal organizational structures in universities, and the creation of a culture that would stimulate research.Practical implicationsSome of the recommended strategies and activities already have been implemented by the Research Consortium Committee (RCC), and faculty engagement in the RCC initiatives has increased. The practical implications are not limited to a College of Education (COE) context. The findings and the developed strategies could apply to many universities and colleges that desire to support their researchers. The research development officers, university administration and policymakers can consider the results of the present study to develop a comprehensive framework for research capacity and infrastructure building from not only organizational but individual perspectives.Originality/valueThis study provides one of the rare empirical investigations of the design, development and evolution of researchers' needs-driven informal organization in a higher education (HE) setting.

Electronic notes as a tool in emergent researchers’ communities of practice

ABSTRACT This study used e-notes, focus group interviews and a questionnaire to explore 51 participants’ learning from e-notes in three courses in a northwest university in Taiwan. This study presents the following major findings. First, writing and reading e-notes, and providing comments on group members’ e-notes, helped these emergent researchers become familiar with academic writing. Secondly, however, participants exhibited different levels of engagement in the academic community of practice, from simply writing e-notes as peripheral members to becoming fully engaged core members. Thirdly, the challenges and problems these emergent researchers faced in taking e-notes within the academic community of practice included organising the notes, the structure of the platform, participants’ different levels of engagement, and participation. A model on helping emergent researchers become academic writers was proposed in terms of setting a goal-oriented community and being a core member.

Developing resilient graduates to be future workplace leaders

PurposeVocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers require graduates to be “work-ready”, emphasising the need to demonstrate resilience, as a critical desired behaviour (CBI, 2019). This case study shares the integrated curriculum design, co-creation and operationalisation of “Graduate Transitions” workshops that were piloted in a compulsory final-year module across a number of programmes in a higher education institutions’ business faculty to enhance graduates “work readiness”.Design/methodology/approachThe collaboration and leadership thinking of industry professionals, academics and career consultants designed and co-created a workshop that enhances transitioning student resilience and prepares them for their future of work. Action research gathered data using a mixed-methods approach to evaluate student and stakeholder feedback.FindingsEvidence indicates that the workshops actively embed practical coping strategies for resilience and mindful leaders in transitioning graduates. It assures employers that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by transitioning graduates entering the future workplace.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations to this research are clearly in the methodology and concentrating on the co-creation of an innovative curriculum design project instead of the tools to accurately evaluate the impact in a systematic manner. There was also limited time and resource to design a more sophisticated platform to collect data and analyse it with the imperative academic rigour required. Emphasis on piloting and operationalisation of the intervention, due to time and resource restrictions, also challenged the methodological design.Practical implicationsThe positive feedback from these workshops facilitated integration into the curriculum at an institution-wide level. This paper shares with the academic community of practice, the pedagogy and active learning design that could be customised within their own institution as an intervention to positively influence the new metrics underpinning graduate outcomes.Originality/valueThis pioneering curriculum design ensures that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by graduates transitioning to the workplace.

Committee chair as a jointly constructed identity at Chinese PhD dissertation defences

This study aims to investigate how the identity of committee chair is constructed in academic interaction based on data from seven Chinese PhD dissertation defences. The analysis of the data shows that, while the identity of committee chair is mainly constructed by the chairs themselves, it is also constituted by the organisers of the events, PhD candidates, and other committee members in the dissertation defence interaction. Thus, the construction of the committee chair identity is the result of the joint work done by various parties at different moments of the academic event, and the chair identity is an interactional achievement. The complexity of the identity construction reflects the participants’ fulfilment of their own rights and obligations in the academic community of practice and the achievement of specific communicative goals in a given context. It is hoped that this study can shed some light on the understanding of identity construction at PhD dissertation defences in the Chinese context and the investigation into identity construction from an interactional perspective.

Experiences and practices of English as a lingua franca communication in the international university: An integrative view of student voices

Abstract Students’ experiences and practices regarding English as a lingua franca (ELF) have been central to the discussion in research on intercultural communication in academia as it provides the basis for English language policy and practices in the international university. To date, however, few previous studies have explored diverse factors for perceptions of ELF communication with a single framework. To fill this gap, this study provides the integrative research model for perceptions and behaviours regarding ELF communication in the international university context, using Theory of Planned Behaviour. It further explores the effect of those factors on actual intentions to engage in ELF communication. Data were collected from 232 questionnaires and seven interviews on the offshore campus of a Hong Kong university in mainland China. Findings showed that factors such as acceptance, social expectations, the sense of control over linguistic knowledge for intercultural communication, and self-esteem had significant effects on intentions. The study concluded that ELF speakers’ decision-making process to engage in ELF communication is not simply based on individual behaviour, but on social performance in academic communities of practice. This study suggests academic and educational implications for incorporating the ELF perspective into English language policy and practices in the international university.

A narrative inquiry of identity construction in academic communities of practice: voices from a Chinese doctoral student in Hong Kong

ABSTRACTViewed through the lens of narrative inquiry, this study explored the doctoral experiences of a language teacher educator and examined how he constructed and reconstructed his identities through learning and research experiences in the higher education environment of Hong Kong. Grounded in the notions of “communities of practice” while using “identity” as an analytic lens, the present study examined how a doctoral student negotiated his participation and membership in his situated academic community. The case study provides in-depth understanding of major challenges for a doctoral student to negotiate competence, identities, and power relations in the academic community. These dimensions were vital to gain recognition as a legitimate old-timer in an academic community. A sense of agency was necessary to cross boundaries and shape his own learning and participation in the academic community. However, identity construction is complex in nature, influenced not only by situated experiences within an institutional setting, but also a broader societal academic community. Pedagogical implications for doctoral education were discussed.

Volume 10 Issue 2 2019

We were pleased to hold the 2019 Students, Transitions, Achievement, Retention and Success (STARS) Conference in Melbourne, Australia as a celebration of the fifth anniversary of one of Australasia’s most welcoming and collegial academic communities of practice. This year’s Conference confirmed that STARS is now firmly established as a collaborative and inclusive annual event for tertiary educators and leaders. Delegates —a mix of professional, academic and administrative practitioners and leaders—attended and participated in a range of presentations and activities which included, refereed papers, Good Practice Reports and Emerging Initiatives, along with Poster presentations and the STARS Network meetings.

An integrated academic community of practice model (ACoPM)

ABSTRACTAcademic communities of practice (ACoPs) are formed in collaboration with professionals from industry and the community with the aim of providing innovative solutions to real-world problems. There are no adequate frameworks and clear support structures for managing academic communities of practice (ACoP). The main aim of this paper is to develop an integrated ACoP model and elaborate on external and internal support structures to endow innovation through academic communities of practice. In the first stage of this study, a preliminary ACoP model was developed and deployed at an institution of higher education. The model was further elaborated in stage two of this study. The main elements of the model were discussed, highlighting external and internal support mechanisms. The key findings indicate the crucial role of the ACoP core group management and fundraising as well as overcoming multiple barriers to innovation.

Academic and social integration: psychosocial support and the role of developmental networks in the DBA

ABSTRACTThis research presents a three year case study examining the impact of social support and isolation in the doctorate of business administration (DBA) on professional outcomes these graduates have experienced. Through individual reflections, participant-observer conversations and a short open-ended questionnaire, social support derived from multiple developmental networks contributed to reducing academic and social isolation in their DBA programme. Academic and social engagement also related to professional outcomes such as scholarly participation and output, workplace contributions and identity development. The DBA process and completion meant deeper engagement applying scholarship in their daily work. It could manifest as leadership of scholarly communities and presenting dissertation research at national and international venues. Participants described engaging professional communities with the dual identities of graduate students in training as researchers and senior colleagues responsible for practical expertise and professional work. For DBA students already in faculty roles, the identity shift to doctoral qualified scholar represented joining the academic community of practice more fully as they were enculturated into new ways of work and being within their home communities of higher education.

Writing in doctoral programs: examining supervisors’ perspectives

In the current context of doctoral education students are required to develop a range of complex academic literacy skills to accomplish optimal performance in their academic communities of practice. This has led to increase the interest in research on doctoral writing. However, research on how supervisors contribute to doctoral writing has not been extensive. The purpose of this study is to analyze the supervisors’ perspectives on doctoral writing by addressing three questions: a) What role do supervisors attribute to writing in doctoral training? b) What type of writing support do supervisors intend to provide to their students? and c) What are the relations between the role supervisors attribute to writing and the type of writing support supervisors offer to their students? Participants were 61 supervisors in the social sciences and humanities with diverse levels of expertise. Using a cross-sectional interpretative design, we collected qualitative data using an open-ended survey. Categories based on content analysis were established (Miles and Huberman 1994). The results demonstrated that supervisors attributed different roles to doctoral writing, ranging from process- to product-oriented and focusing on 1) producing appropriate academic texts, 2) generating epistemic activity, and 3) promoting communication and socialization. A significant number of supervisors did not attribute any role to writing but acknowledged writing as an important and neglected activity. Three categories of writing support were identified based on the type of activities supervisors reported and their involvement: 1) telling the students what to do, 2) reviewing and editing students’ texts, and 3) collaboratively discussing students’ texts. The results suggest that there are complex relations between the role that supervisors’ attribute to writing and the type of writing support supervisors are able to offer. The relations appear to be mediated by supervisors’ awareness and resources concerning doctoral writing.

Supporting the development of postgraduate academic writing skills in South African universities

The ability to write according to the conventions and forms of disciplinary academic writing is essential to success at university. Meeting the demands of quality academic writing is a challenge to the increasing number of English Second Language (ESL) students worldwide, from undergraduate to postgraduate level , who choose to study and publish in English. In particular, postgraduate students in South African universities struggle with the rigours of dissertation writing. Drawing on Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of collaborative learning in a community of practice (CoP), an exploratory, qualitative inquiry was undertaken to examine the support given by six selected South African higher education institutions (HEIs) to promote the development of academic writing skills among master’s and doctoral students. Data were gathered from a purposeful sample of 10 expert informants through interviews, email communication , and scrutiny of institutional websites. Findings deal with academic writing skills as the core competence necessary for full participation in the academic CoP; the nature of postgraduate student engagement with core members of the CoP, such as supervisors and language experts; and the availability and efficacy of a range of intra-organisational resources, including informal and formal peer interaction with those who have more expertise in writing, books, manuals, visual representations , and technological tools, to develop academic writing among postgraduate students. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for ways in which institutions can strengthen, enrich , and extend the CoP to support academic writing skills of ESL postgraduate students.

The Effects of Power Relations on the Curriculum Experiences of French-Speaking Students in a Private Institution's Academic Community of Practice

This paper reports on the findings of a study in which we explored power relations and their effects on the curriculum experiences of French-speaking students in an Academic Community of Practice (ACOP) at a private tertiary institution. French-speaking students (FSS) negotiated the rigours of higher education as experienced by the other students in the midst of institutionalized power relations which limited their capacity to effectively integrate into the ACOP. A prominent consequence of linguistic power relations among French-speaking students (FSS) was a delayed transition from French to English. This was as a result of the monopoly of indigenous languages employed by South African students. Utilising a case study approach and narrative inquiry it was found that FSS had to grapple with the effects of linguistic power relations, financial power relations, inflationary power relations and workplace power relations. Lave and Wenger (1991, 115-116) present a framework on which our findings are premised because their work evolved the “continuity-displacement contradiction” in communities of practice. We found that issues of the “continuity-displacement contradiction” were subdued with elapsed time as suggested by Lave and Wenger (1991) because those affected were continuously displaced from the terrains of relevance. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1233

Sense of community in academic communities of practice: predictors and effects

Sense of community (SoC) in communities of practice (CoP) seems to play a similar role to that of group cohesion in small groups: Both sustain participants’ knowledge sharing, which in turn substantiates the socio-cognitive structures that make up the CoP such as scholar identities, practical repertoires in research and teaching or relationships between colleagues. However, empirical evidence of relationships between SoC and other CoP variables is scarce. A correlation study among German and Romanian scholars (N = 136) investigates predictors and effects of the social component of SoC (SoC-S) in academia. A conceptual model is validated, displaying CoP members’ socio-emotional interpersonal knowledge as the strongest predictor of SoC-S and of knowledge sharing acceptance. Further, SoC-S significantly mediates the effect of time and centrality in CoP on knowledge sharing acceptance. The model explains a relatively large part of the variance of SoC-S (27 %) and of knowledge sharing acceptance (33 %). For academic practice, the study emphasizes the importance of SoC and interpersonal knowledge in academic communities as major factors of community building and knowledge sharing motivation.

Standardisation of Reduced Forms in English in an Academic Community of Practice

The process of standardising reduced forms in English, such as clippings and informal forms, used in academic chat discourse is the focus of this article. Textchat data from an introductory MA linguistics course run by a university in Sweden involving non-native English-speaking students and their native English-speaking teachers is analysed to identify if any forms are standardised. Topic-specific forms are seen to be standardised as much as are high frequency forms, although few have been standardised. It is the students above all who lead the process, and the teachers do not have much influence even if they use a different reduction.

Co-creation of Marking Criteria: Students as Partners in the Assessment Process

This article focuses on the final iteration of a four-year longitudinal action research project that culminates in students acting as partners in the assessment process by co-creating and utilising marking criteria. Three versions of the marking criteria are discussed, one written by the academic staff, one written by the students and a final version agreed through negotiation and collaboration. This article argues that this partnership working empowers the students and gives them ownership of the criteria which were then used in a peer- and self-assessment exercise. Differences in values and language are discussed, with gaps between student understanding and lecturers' academic discourse. This article concludes that for students to fully understand marking criteria they need to be active participants in the process and using discussion and collaboration in this way brings students into the academic community of practice.

Hybridization of Sociocultural Factors’ Theory: Conditions for Learning in an Academic Community of Practice

This paper set out to explore the conditions required for learning in an Academic Community of Practice (ACOP) with French-speaking students as stakeholders. English language acquisition was pivotal, among the other sociocultural factors they had to negotiate for academic learning to evolve. Utilising a single case study approach, semistructured interviews, focus group interviews, observation and narrative inquiry, it was found that three major sociocultural factors were determinants of academic learning in an academic community of practice comprising French-speaking students and other stakeholders. The language of learning and teaching (LoLT), academic acculturation and academic identity were instrumental to academic learning with constant redress among the sociocultural factors as French-speaking students progressed to full participation. The private tertiary education institution falls directly under the categorization of an academic community of practice, drawing on Otten (2009). Depending on redress among the three sociocultural factors, hybrids emerged as indices of learning trajectories of French-speaking students. When these three factors are in a state of redress, there is an emergent learning, depending on the extent of hybridization between the sociocultural factors. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n1p205

The information processing predicament of non-English-speaking students in an academic community of practice

This study set out to explore the information processing dilemma of French-speaking students (FSS) in an academic community of practice (ACOP). Utilising a single case study approach, semistructured interviews, focus group interviews, narrative inquiry, situated learning theories and transformative learning theory, French-speaking students interpreted academic information from English to French and back to English before they could construct scholastic knowledge. The paper suggests that facilitators of learning should ensure adequate interaction between them and the other stakeholders. They are also to ensure the use of technology to enhance the processing and transformation of academic information by the French-speaking students.

Locus of control, interest in schooling and self-efficacy as predictors of academic identity in an academic community of practice

This research set out to explore how French-speaking students (FSS) construct and negotiate their academic identities in a multiculturally contrasting academic milieu. Academic identity is described as academic self-esteem because it is required by students to take responsibility for their learning. It is a stipulation of communicated and negotiated trajectories of experiences that depict how people see themselves and how they are seen by others(Vandeyar, 2010). The negotiation of identity requires diverse dimensions of engagement with more knowledgeable others (MKO) (Reyes, 2007) in communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). Utilising the research strategy of narrative inquiry, case study, semistructured interviews, and focus group interviews, this paper explores how FSS perceived themselves in relation to how they took responsibility for their learning. It is argued in this paper that the development of the necessary academic self-esteem via the acquisition of locus of control, interest in schooling and self-efficacy can assist foreign students to take responsibility for their learning without having feelings of prejudice as they engage with MKO in academic communities of practice. The paper will conclude by suggesting that academic institutions can utilise

Collective Knowledge and Organizational Routines within Academic Communities of Practice: an Empirical Research on Science–Entrepreneurs

The management of knowledge is increasingly considered as a main source of competitive advantage for corporations. It is argued that organizations enjoy a competitive advantage if they know how to expand, disseminate, and exploit organizational knowledge internally. Moreover, organizations can achieve their strategic goals by encouraging knowledge sharing, flexibility, and adaptation to change. Furthermore, our position is that tacit knowledge sharing can lead to knowledge stratification. And that it is likely to lead to encode knowledge in behavioral schemas, apparently similar to organizational routines, but as a matter of fact more complex and refined: the cognitive scripts. Even if apparently similar to organizational routines, the scripts strongly differ from them in terms of power of replication, inertia degree, and search potential. The present study focuses on the analysis of the script localization in the organization as an important starting point for the understanding of the dynamics of knowledge stratification and encoding. Thus, hypothesizing kinds of knowledge reuse within spin-off decisions as well. The plausibility of the mentioned hypotheses is tested by a multivariate statistics approach.