Virtual Communities of Practice in Health Professions Education S1 E 1

Introducing the Harvard Macy Institute Podcast: Virtual Communities of Practice in Health Professions Education

The Harvard Macy Institute Podcast aims to connect our Harvard Macy Institute community and to develop our interest in health professions education topics and literature. Our podcast is hosted by our Program for Educators in the Health Professions course faculty Victoria Brazil, and will feature interviews with health professions education authors and their research papers.

What is a virtual community of practice (vCoP)? How do we find ‘our people’ online for professional development and educational scholarship?

In this episode Victoria Brazil speaks with Leading Innovations in Health Care & Education alumnae Teresa Chan and Michelle Lin. We start with Yarris et al. Finding Your People in the Digital Age: Virtual Communities of Practice to Promote Education Scholarship, and explore the definition of a CoP and the ‘anatomy’ of a vCoP. Are these communities organic or intentional? We discuss leadership and success factors in cultivating a CoP through a number of outstanding examples – Academic Life in Emergency Medicine and CanadiEM - as well as some perils and pitfalls.

We consider the specific role of podcasts in supporting vCoPs and our guests point us toward another great read – Riddell et al. Independent and Interwoven: A Qualitative Exploration of Residents’ Experiences with Educational Podcasts.

And there are shoutouts to #HMIChat on Twitter, Dr. Kristina Dzara (@KristinaDzara) and the marvellous #KeyLimePodcast!

Watch out for new episodes this year which will be announced on our blog and our Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook social media channels.

 

Host/Moderator BIO

Victoria Brazil, MD (Educators, ’05, Leaders ’07, Assessment ‘10) is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Simulation at Bond University Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine. Her research interests include podcasting and simulation, and she is co-producer of Simulcast - a podcast about healthcare simulation. Victoria can be followed on Twitter.