Third places: cultivating mobile communities of practice in the global south

ABSTRACT

Research on communities of practice suggests that such groups can be used to support academic staff development, especially during times of crisis. We explore how a group of South African women academics and ‘eLearning champions’ engaged in a mobile community of practice under COVID-19 conditions. Our analysis of WhatsApp chat histories and focus group conversations reflects how the group evolved from a mobile CoP into a multi-modal third place, with implications for community-building, teaching transformation, and organisational change.

KEYWORDS:

• Communities of practice
• academic staff development
• staff well-being
• third places
• whatsapp
• global south

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniela Gachago

Daniela Gachago (PHD, 2015, University of Cape Town) is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at the University of Cape Town. Her research includes academic staff development on the use of emerging technologies within a social justice framework, and innovative course and curriculum design that draws on co-creative approaches such as design thinking.

Laura Cruz

Laura Cruz (PhD, 2001, University of California at Berkeley) is an Associate Research Professor of Teaching and Learning with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence at Penn State. Her research interests include educational development, organizational theory, emerging forms of scholarship, and design thinking.

Cheryl Belford

Cheryl Belford (Masters, 2009, University of Cape Town) is a lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her research interests include educational development and student ethics in engineering.

Candice Livingston

Candice Livingston (PhD, 2011, North West University, South Africa) is the research coordinator at the Faculty of Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. Her research interests include decolonising children’s literature and the curriculum, ethics in teaching and preservice teacher training, and teaching with technology.

Jolanda Morkel

Jolanda Morkel is the Head: Instructional Design at STADIO Higher Education. Her research interests include studio- and project-based learning, technology-mediated and work-integrated learning experiences, learning design, and design-thinking.

Sweta Patnaik

Sweta Patnaik (PhD, 2018, Nelson Mandela University) is a lecturer in the department of Clothing and Textile Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her research interests include e-learning, blended learning, engineering education, waste management, sustainability, and supply chain management.

Bronwyn Swartz

Bronwyn Swartz (PhD, 2019, Durban University of Technology) is a lecturer in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her research interests include teaching with technology, engineering education, ethics in education, and systems engineering.