Virtual Communities of Practice for Faculty and Staff in Higher Education

Abstract

In March 2020 a Canadian polytechnic moved to pandemic induced online learning and a virtual community of practice (vCOPs) called the Digital Learning Exchange (DigEx) was created to support faculty and staff in this transition. This systematic literature review, a preliminary step in the research of the efficacy of the Digital Learning Exchange, examines the recently published literature that researched vCOPs in higher education over the last five years. Several aspects of the vCOPs studied are identified and compared including: the defining characteristics of the communities, the digital tools used and the rationale for their selection, the positive impacts of the use of digital tools, the barriers created by the application of the technology, and the benefits experienced because of faculty and staff participation in the vCOPs.