Applying to Become a Professional Development Community of Practice
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Contents |
Application to Become an eXtension Professional Development Community of Practice
Section 1. Program Overview
Professional Development Communities of Practice (PDCoP) may apply to address subjects considered to be competencies for Cooperative Extension System (CES) faculty and staff. PDCoPs formed in this manner will meet guidelines and criteria established by the Professional Development Steering Committee, receive the same technical support provided by eXtension as external CoPs, and interact with and serve Communities of Interest within CES. Applicant PDCoPs will follow a scope of work and timeline with technical support of the eXtension staff and eXtension system to become a recognized PDCoP. Once agreement is reached, PDCoPs formed by application will be integrated into the staff support process along with other developing PDCoPs.
Section 2. Application Process
2.1. Application
Each Professional Development Community of Practice application should develop an application in electronic format (pdf preferred) that addresses the topics in Section 6. The application should be submitted to:
Dr. Lawrence A. Lippke
Coordinator, Internal Communities of Practice
16350 Woodlake Drive
College Station, TX 77845-8264
Email: larry.lippke@extension.org
Phone: 979.324.7768
2.2 Submission Timelines
Applications will be accepted at any time. Reviews of applications by the Professional Development Steering Committee will occur within one month of submission.
Section 3. General Program
3.1. Professional Development Community of Practice
A Professional Development Community of Practice (PDCoP) is defined as a virtual network of subject-matter content providers consisting of faculty, professional and para-professional staff, county educators, industry experts, and government agency representatives who share knowledge or competence in a specific content area and who are willing to work and learn together over a period of time to further develop and share their knowledge in forms of educational products and programs and electronic interactions with nationwide Extension faculty and staff . PDCoP leadership, however, must be land-grant faculty or professional staff with Extension appointments whose institutions are in good standing with eXtension. Specific functions of a PDCoP include:
- Interactively helping meet the knowledge needs of Extension faculty and staff.
- Stewardship of the available knowledge for the competency it is addressing.
- Best practice development of educational products and programs.
- Innovation in content-area knowledge and delivery.
PDCoPs continually interact with their Communities of Interest (CoI). This feedback mechanism allows for the constant improvement of product offerings by the PDCoP to satisfy CoI needs over time. PDCoPs must be open to the continual expansion of their membership, as they will have members who move in and out depending on their interest and time availability. Therefore, membership in a PDCoP is fluid and flexible.
3.2. Guiding Principles of Communities of Practice
CoP membership must subscribe to the eXtension Mission, Vision, Values and Guiding Principles.
3.3. Support provided by eXtension
eXtension will provide a support package including but not limited to:
- Moodle space
- virtual collaborative work space or environments,
- technological infrastructure to facilitate the work of the PDCoP,
- team members' technical competency improvement
- communications, marketing, business, and development resources,
- training for entry and maintenance of content,
- content design/standards for production,
- online evaluation/assessment tools,
- general and overall marketing strategies for PDCoPs,
- assessment mechanisms to define audiences,
- CoP leadership professional development,
- Periodic Web conferencing for the PDCoP.
Section 4. General Application and Notification Process
4.1. Eligibility
Teams composed of subject-matter content providers consisting of faculty, professional and para-professional staff, county educators, industry experts, clientele, and government agency representatives are eligible to submit applications to create a PDCoP. The lead author(s) in the application process must be an employee of their Cooperative Extension System. The lead institution(s) must have paid the current year eXtension assessment. The applications must be approved by the Extension Director(s) or Administrator(s) whose institution(s) are assuming lead roles in the application process.
4.2. Acknowledgment of Applications
Receipt of all applications will be acknowledged by e-mail once the application is submitted.
4.3. Application Review Process
In general, the purpose of the review process is to increase the likelihood that the PDCoP is successful, and that it creates professional development products and programs that are recognized nationwide for their quality, relevance, and usefulness. Focus during the review will be on improving the plans and operations of the PDCoP. In that regard:
- The PDCoP application review will be managed by the Coordinator of Internal Communities of Practice, and conducted by the Professional Development Steering Committee.
- At least three steering committee members will review each PDCoP application.
- All comments will be aggregated by the manager and shared with the PDCoP applicants. If deemed necessary to expedite communications, the manager may initiate an audio call between the review panel members and the PDCoP applicants to discuss applications.
- All applications will be reviewed within a month of submission.
- The criteria listed in Section 6 will be used as a guide for these reviews. It is important that the topics listed in that section be addressed in the application.
4.4 Conflicts of Interest and Confidentiality
During the peer review evaluation process, care will be taken to prevent any actual or perceived conflicts of interest that may impact the review. For purposes of conflict of interest, reviewers who reside at a primary Principal Contact's home institution shall abstain from evaluating an application from that institution. In addition, the identities of reviewers will remain confidential throughout the entire application review process.
4.5. Notification
The Coordinator of Internal Communities of Practice will notify the lead contact of successful applications, and will assist in providing the lead contact access to the eXtension tools necessary to support the plans of the PDCoP.
Section 5. General Information on Community of Practice Continuation
The philosophy underlying this Cooperative Extension System initiative is that PDCoPs will continue to provide curriculum leadership into the future as long as needs of Extension faculty/staff are being met. The ultimate success of all PDCoPs is the positive demonstrable impact on these faculty/staff. Toward that end, successful applicants are asked to provide an annual progress report and six month updates describing current CoP status, membership, activities, progress, transformation processes observed, and achievements of their CoP. The progress report should be submitted by the timeline indicated. Evaluation of the progress report is a key factor in determining eligibility for subsequent year eXtension support.
Section 6. Application Criteria
Professional Development Community of Practice Application Criteria
- Eligibility: Lead contact is a land grant faculty member or professional staff member with an Extension appointment. Lead contact's institution is in good standing with eXtension. Application includes documentation of approval by lead contact's director or administrator.
- Description: Application identifies a specific Community of Interest (CoI) and addresses an Extension core competency or other skills critical to successful Extension education programming by this CoI. Identifies goals of the project, along with skills or competencies to be gained by members of the CoI.
- Membership: Application includes a list of primary PDCoP leaders with titles, institutions, and description of how team was formed. Members of the PDCoP represent multiple Extension institutions and states, as well as multiple regions where possible.
- Inclusion/Sustainability: Application addresses measures to be taken to increase and sustain PDCoP membership and involvement; includes a leadership succession and management plan, organizing events or activities, and methods to achieve the PDCoP's continued productivity.
- Scope of Work: Application outlines products to be developed and delivered through December 31 of the following year, along with a description of planned or anticipated deliverables for years two and three. Includes deliverables such as, but not limited to:
- Number of Moodle courses created
- Number of published FAQs
- Number of basic information pages
- Number of teleconferences or web conferences conducted
- Quality Assurance: Application includes plans for peer review or other quality assurance methods to be implemented.
- Available Resources: Application identifies resources currently available that could potentially be adapted and/or adopted.
- Partnerships/Collaborations: Application identifies Extension or non-Extension partnerships or collaborations that could contribute to the work of the Community of Practice.
- Assistance requested: Addresses resources or assistance requested of eXtension to assure success.
