Building Community that Transcends Time and Distance

1. Building Community that Transcends Time and Distance Tools and Technology from the Kehilliyot CoP Naava Frank and Rebecca Egolf (with gratitude to the Covenant Foundation)

2. Goals Learners will deepen their understanding of the benefits of Communities of Practice. Learners will learn about sample tools, tips and protocols that Kehilliyot members use in four key areas: Building Community Learning in Community Technology Tools for Communities Evaluating Communities Learners will build connections to organizations and professionals who can be tapped as a resource after the session (social capital).

3. Agenda Opening Sharing Practices Building Community Learning in Community Technology Tools for Communities Evaluating Communities Wrap Up and Next Steps

4. Opening Sit for a few minutes and write down questions Whip around – name, why are you here, question?

5. What is a Community of Practice? A Community of Practice is a community of professionals who share a common set of problems and systematically share their knowledge, expertise and tools in order to improve their practice and the performance of their organization by interacting on an ongoing basis. From Cultivating Communities of Practice, Wenger, McDermott and Snyder

6. “Wisdom resides in the skills, understandings, and relationships…as well as in the tools, documents, and processes of practitioners in the field.” From Cultivating Communities of Practice, Wenger, McDermott and Snyder

7. What is Kehilliyot? Kehilliyot is a “place” where Jewish professionals meet to gain support, continue to grow their skills and strengthen their practice of community facilitation. We are grateful to The Covenant Foundation for supporting the growth of the new and emerging professional field of community facilitation.

8. Kehilliyot Member Activities Transcend Time and Distance Design, plan, participate in and lead teleconferences Attend and design face-to-face meetings (in New York City or at national conferences) Post and receive information of interest on the Kehilliyot Google Group listserv Share resources and build a shared knowledge base using the Kehilliyot wiki (our electronic home) Dialogue using Skype chat Engage in one-on-one “backchannel conversations” with Naava the community facilitator, Caren and John the technology stewards, or Kehilliyot members with common interests or challenges. Present case-studies, share challenges from your practice, gain input from peers, and look over each other's shoulders for ongoing learning.

9. Building a CommunityExamples from Kehilliyot members Relationships are the key to knowledge transfer in a CoP Intentional community building Welcoming new members welcome basket buddy system

10. Learning in CommunityExamples from PEJE Differences domain composition and size of membership characteristics of the facilitator  Similarities activities: webinars, online discussions, F2F meetings knowledge generation and sharing active engagement and collaboration emphasis on translating knowledge into practice community building and support

11. Learning in Community

12. Webinars and Conference Calls • expert(s) from the field • panel of members from within the CoP • sharing of ideas and best practices around a particular topic • members complete an online survey before the call, and discuss results during the call • members read an article and participate in a discussion during call • facilitated discussion • case study presentations • use a protocol to discuss a challenge • content generated during the call from discussion • use of chat, polls and quizzes, desktop sharing, taking of "live notes", watching videos, and more!

13. Voices from the Field:  Finding Value in PEJE’s CoPs • Being on the calls is very helpful. We can discuss problems and explore solutions with people who are dealing with the same kinds of issues. • Personally I have found the opportunity provided by email conversation to be a great place to ask questions, brainstorm, receive lots of information from others all over the country, many of whom who have already dealt with the very questions being asked. • We had a board meeting last night, and the PEJE strategic planning call was referenced no less than 10 times. Clearly it had an impact on a bunch of our board members, and certainly raised the level of discussion. • As a new professional it was helpful to me to get information, ideas and feedback from seasoned professionals and experts. • I think the conference calls have been very valuable and unbelievably timely. I appreciate hearing what my peers are doing, sharing the issues. I think that the CoP has really helped me and will continue to be an added benefit.·

14. Wikis Discussion platforms like Google Groups Blogs Ning and Facebook Social bookmarking tools like Delicious and Diigo Twitter Plurk Webinar platforms like Webex, Adobe Connect, DimDim, IDT Connect Skype Survey and assessment tools like Survey Monkey Google Docs to collaborate on content creation Technology Tools

15. Technology and CommunitiesExamples from the JOP Reshet Network • JOP's Reshet Technology Network wiki • JOP's Reshet wiki • JOP's National Reshet Network wiki page and introductory video Evaded issues in Jewish Education • http://evadedissues.wikispaces.com/

16. Evaluation PEJE used a Tracer Studyto document the way knowledge introduced through a CoP was promulgated to multiple school leaders. Kehilliyot used a Social Network Analysisto explore the ways relationships have developed between Kehilliyot members. Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning used a special Data Collection Reflection Sheet to document the long term impact of the CoP. Many Kehilliyot members use Survey Monkey to poll their members.  Some do it after every CoP meeting while others wait until the end of the year and use it as a planning tool. 

17. Conclusion What ideas or questions did this raise for you? Make a commitment to learn more about one topic or resource we shared today. What are you going to do? What questions were not answered?

18. Resources, Resources and More Resources Kehilliyot Wiki: http://kehilliyotwelcome.wikispaces.com/ PEJE CoPs - past presentations and lots of resources: http://peje.org/programs/communities_of_practice/ The JOP Reshet Technology Network http://joptech.wikispaces.com/ Kehilliyot Blog: http://kehilliyot.blogspot.com/