Iterating a CoP to adapt to program and member needs

• In Event: Cultivating community & shifting practice: experiences from five communities of practice

Proposal

The Tech & Play Community of Practice launched in 2021 to support the participants of a LEGO Foundation initiative focused on projects implementing playful learning with technology in Rwanda, Kenya, Brazil and Denmark. CoP participants include staff from NGOs implementing the projects and researchers conducting research with them, as well as external technical specialist partners. The CoP aims to provide opportunities for the implementation and research partners to build knowledge by connecting and establishing relationships, and sharing experiences, resources, and learning through these relationships. Over the four years of the initiative the CoP has evolved continuously in response to project needs, participant recommendations and external evaluation findings, while aligning to a core purpose of fostering collaboration centered on playful learning.

The first year of the project focused on developing a shared understanding of the work. The initiative began during the Covid pandemic. During the first year we held two virtual meetings attended by most project team members. The funder presented the goals of the initiative and the theory of change (ToC) and the NGOs introduced their projects. Groups of implementers and researchers from each country then worked together to adapt the initiative-level ToC to their own projects. This shared ToC adaptation work established an understanding between the implementation and research teams in each country of how the projects addressed the goals of the initiative while also reflecting the unique characteristics of the program designs and educational contexts. The online COP platform shared the initiative-level ToC, country project implementation plans, and the adapted ToCs.

The second year of the initiative focused on strengthening community ties. The COP held an in-person meeting in one of the implementing sites with the aim of using in-person connections and engaging learning experiences to inject energy into the CoP and build a greater sense of community and shared purpose. The meeting focused on sharing, modeling and participating in playful learning activities, visiting schools implementing playful learning with technology, and reflecting on progress, goals and next steps. An external evaluation of the CoP later in the second year asked members to reflect on the CoP’s structure, activities, and recommendations for improvement. The findings were shared with the community; in response to feedback the COP began holding longer meetings: monthly 2-hour meetings to provide adequate time to share updates but also dig deeply into CoP members’ work. We also committed to in-person meetings each year.
In its last two years the CoP continued to evolve in response to the changing needs of projects and members. For example, implementing partner staff turnover combined with substantial changes to the projects in response to policy and contextual constraints required a shift back to developing a shared understanding of the work. Members reintroduced the projects to the CoP in 2023. The COP shifted externally to include experts to address topics of interest to CoP members. In response to a second CoP evaluation, the CoP collaboratively designed a final in-person meeting to focus on sustainability and sharing key learning from our work externally.

Author

• Wendy Martin, EDC