Communities of practice (CoP) are “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, 1988).
To streamline our Communities of Practice, and with a focus on cohort mentoring, and in response to member requests, we have combined our existing monthly groups. We have made communication strategies more robust.
We have changed some things around. You can now find all CoP on our Events tab and they all have the same Registration for Zoom. Once you register for one CoP you have the option to add all future events to your calendar, so you never miss a thing! Be sure to check out our social media pages (links on OSNA home page) to get updates on events.
2026-2027 Meetings: Materials will be posted ASAP after each event.
October 7th: 26/27 Diabetes Treatment Order and Technology Updates
October 13th: Vaccine Hesitancy
Search Past Communities of Practice
About Communities of Practice:
According to Wenger (1998), communities of practice provide five critical functions. They:
- Educate by collecting and sharing information related to questions and issues of practice
- Support by organizing interactions and collaboration among members
- Cultivate by assisting groups to start and sustain their learning
- Encourage by promoting the work of members through discussion and sharing
- Integrate by encouraging members to use their new knowledge for real change in their own work.
Communities of practice are important as a professional learning strategy, because they have the potential to:
- Connect people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to interact, either as frequently or at all.
- Provide a shared context for people to communicate and share information, stories and personal experiences in a way that builds understanding and insight.
- Enable dialogue between people who come together to explore new possibilities, solve challenging problems, and create new, mutually beneficial opportunities.
- Stimulate learning by serving as a vehicle for authentic communication, mentoring, coaching, and self-reflection.
- Capture and share existing knowledge to help people improve their practice by providing a forum to identify solutions to common problems and a process to collect and evaluate best practices.
- Introduce collaborative processes to groups and organizations to encourage the free flow of ideas and exchange of information.
- Help people organize around purposeful actions that develop tangible results.
- Generate new knowledge to help people transform their practice to accommodate changes in needs and technologies. (Adapted from Cambridge, Kaplan & Suter)
From Why Communities of Practice Are Important (Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium)
To ensure that our Communities of Practice can work with more specific focus and intent, and in response to member requests, we have fine-tuned the purposes or our existing monthly groups and define each below. Each community has a regularly scheduled day/time, though that can be revised due to holidays or vacation scheduled, so pay attention to specific dates.