Building Virtual Communities of Practice for Distance Educators

As colleges, universities and other learning institutions explore teaching and learning through online environments, online communities of practice may provide solutions to organizational and professional development needs. The purpose of this book is to develop a set of guidelines for creating a virtual community of practice for faculty teaching at a distance that can easily be implemented by faculty development professionals. Designing a virtual community of practice can be operationalized using the ADDIE model to guide the process. Based on an instructional systems design process, the ADDIE model emphasizes the five core elements of the instructional systems design process: analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate; often it serves as a project management tool or to provide a visual aid for organization of relevant tasks.

Dr. M. Aaron Bond currently serves as the Director for Learning Design and Development for Networked Learning Design and Strategies (NLDS) at Virginia Tech.? He has worked in the field of instructional technology, distance education, and professional development for more than 15 years. He has an earned A.A.S. from Virginia Western Community College in Education, a B.A. in History from Mary Baldwin College a M.A. Interdisciplinary Studies from Fort Hayes State University, an Ed.S. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Bond has served as a corporate trainer, face-to-face classroom instructor, an online instructor, and as a secondary principal.

Dr. Barbara B. Lockee is a Professor of Instructional Design and Technology and Associate Director of Educational Research and Outreach in the School of Education at Virginia Tech. She teaches courses in instructional design, message design, and distance education. Her research interests focus on instructional design issues related to technology-mediated learning. She has published more than 80 papers in academic journals, conferences and books, and has presented her scholarly work at over 100 national and international conferences. Dr. Lockee is Past President of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, an international professional organization for educational technology researchers and practitioners. She earned her Ph.D. in 1996 from Virginia Tech in Curriculum and Instruction (Instructional Technology), M.A. in 1991 from Appalachian State University in Curriculum and Instruction (Educational Media), and B.A. in 1986 from Appalachian State University in Communication Arts.