Establishing an education community of practice

Abstract

Traditionally, universities base their reputation on their ability to attract funding and carry out discipline-based research, often precluding education research. In recent times, there has been an increased emphasis on education, particularly in Australian universities, with additional funding becoming available to encourage efforts to improve learning and teaching, including education research. In this paper we describe the genesis of the Education Research Group of Adelaide (ERGA), an emergent “community of practice” that provides opportunities and support for cross-discipline collaboration and communication on education research issues. ERGA’s activities have an emphasis on evidence-based, practical approaches to education, and are designed to encourage the development and dissemination of grass-roots innovation and research. We describe the factors that led to development of ERGA, and discuss the progress made to becoming a viable community of practice.