A community of practice is defined by Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner (2015, para. 5) as a group of people who ‘share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.’ A digital (virtual or online) community of practice has the same definition, however it is created, developed, and maintained using the internet (Sibbald, Burnet, Callery and Mitchell, 2022).

Good practice guidance

1. Build trust
2. Allow time to develop member familiarity
3. Choose an appropriate topic
4. Consider the timing of starting your community - are you starting it at a particularly busy time of year?
5. What other communities of practice are your potential members also part of? Is there a clash?

Further resources

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gather.town is web-conferencing software where participants can see themselves as little characters (or avatars) in the virtual room they are occupying. They can move around the room and interact with other participants either in public areas (like cafés) or private areas (like meeting rooms) using audio, video, and chat. Participants can also interact with objects that have been uploaded into the room such as images or links. We are trialling the use of gather.town with digital communities of practice.