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Identify the community of practice in a work setting (preferably your current workplace). Describe the characteristics of the CoP (i.e., Domain, Community, and Practice).  If you cannot identify a current CoP, describe  why it would be of value to your workplace to create a CoP.

I found that I may participate in a few communities of practice. In the workplace my community would be educators helping students find their educational paths. 

The domain: Higher Education

The community: The AFC (Association of Florida Colleges). Advisors and supporters of academics set standards and guidelines that help support community college growth and advancement.

The Practice: NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) Provides training, support, and educational tools to properly advise students on the educational path. This is a national association but we all have the same goal of supporting students towards their success.

 Discuss why you would use or not use the Seven Principles for Cultivating a Community of Practice in developing a learning community at your workplace.

I would use the principles that applied to the community setting at my workplace. There are some that would not be a good fit. The purpose of the Seven Principles are to help us work better together in the workplace. So, I wouldn’t use one that I know would interrupt the integration of the community.

Select one of the Seven Principles that would be most difficult to implement in your workplace and explain why?

The create a rhythm for the community would be the most difficult for my department. It would be hard to personalize the interactions with the student. Advising involves discussing sensitive information and it is rather structured.

Identify 3 Leadership Skills needed to support a learning community in your workplace.

Being an effective communicator is an important skill for a leader to have. Leaders are looked up to and are held to a higher standard than that of the average worker. When there are changes or tough topics in my department we rely on our leaders to listen when needed and to lead when needed as well.

In one of my classes, I learned about how soft skills are valuable leadership skills too. The skill i think is highly valued in leadership would be emotional intelligence. Leaders should be able to relate to employees whether things are good or bad. Employees want to know that their leader can be human and express genuine feelings. In my workplace we deal with students and many times they have lots of issues they deal with that interfere with them being successful. By listening and being understanding this shows that we can all be relatable.

Integrity is an important skill for a leader to have. In my learning community we deal with sensitive information. We often have tough conversations with students who have put themselves in an academic bind. I think it is an important skill because we need to be accurate with our information, consistent with what we say and honest about what we do.