Speed23-Building a Community of Practice around Online Teaching

This session will address the benefits of building a Community of Practice around online teaching while also providing attendees with a template and plan for creating such a group as a key takeaway. The UNO CBA Online Teachers Community of Practice formed pre-Covid as a community of online teachers in UNO’s College of Business Administration who wanted to connect with others also teaching online. As part of this presentation, we will share the makeup of our group, the benefits to having such a group, and how attendees can start a similar initiative within their college. Our group consists of 9 full-time faculty members with a diverse blend of disciplinary areas, tenure-track and nontenure-track status, teachers of graduate and undergraduate levels, and various experience levels teaching in online modalities. Beginning in spring 2020, this group has met monthly to discuss best practices, share experiences, hear from campus experts, and support one another. This Community of Practice was uniquely positioned to serve as a source of support to participating members during the transition to 100% remote operations, while also supporting the transition at the college level through creation, curation, and presentation of resources, tips, and best practices for new online teachers.