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Learning in a Community of Practice: the Editors’ Circle

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At Write to the Point we are interested in constantly improving our own practices as editors, writers, writing tutors and learning designers. Sure, we have done courses and got the certificates, and we learn everyday in our work and the interaction and feedback we get from clients. However, courses and learning on the job have their limitations. A traditional course often focuses on delivering large amounts of generic information, so participants come away with a lot of information, which is soon forgotten or is difficult to put into context. Learning on the job can be very effective, but we work in a profession where hectic deadlines are the norm and so rarely have time to consolidate the learning or engage in meaningful reflection.

Over the past year or so, we have been experimenting with a different type of learning, which isn’t as formal as attending a course or as informal as learning on the job. We started a Community of Practice for Editors to stimulate and continue our learning. A Community of Practice (CoP) is a recognised form of learning, where a group of professionals come together to share their knowledge and skills around a particular field. CoPs enable established professionals to keep up to date with practices of the field, get feedback from other knowledgeable professionals and inculcate others into the practice through the mentoring and support of novices.

A visual representation of a CoP from this website http://convcme.wordpress.com

Our Community of Practice, called the Editors’ Circle, comprises about 12 individuals who meet every four to six weeks to discuss a topic or participate in an activity that enables members to learn something new, deepen their understanding or share their expertise. Our sessions start with members giving an update on what’s been happening since the previous meeting and sharing what work they are busy with. The practical learning session that follows may involve everyone doing editing exercises and giving feedback to each other, someone demonstrating how to create wireframes for web pages, or  useful tips for working more efficiently. One such session resulted in the Top ten tips for rookie editors post.

A CoP is more than just a chance to get together, although networking is an important aspect of a CoP, especially for freelance editors who often work alone and from home. To manage and maintain a CoP requires some organisation and effort in planning and developing activities, but the learning and benefits for all members mean that such efforts are well worth it. It is a route that established organisations or groups of independent professionals might consider.

Thank you to our guinea pigs!

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Well, our first Foundation Course is over, and all our guinea pigs survived the last module. We are so grateful for their commitment and positive feedback.

We learned that there is only so much grammar that a person can take! Therefore, in our next courses, we will infiltrate grammar into the earlier modules. We have also extended the course from four to five modules, as sentences and paragraphs each deserve their own module.

We were happy that everyone enjoyed themselves and learned something. It proved to us that our methodology works, and reinforced our belief that anyone can learn to write concisely and clearly!

Finally, here are some comments from our participants:

“I never thought that sentences could be such fun.”
“I found it clear and easy to understand.”
“I learned something new every week.”
“It was good to work on business writing in a playing context without a looming deadline.”
“It was such a good learning experience.”

Foundation courses in 2011

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Our Foundation Course runs over 5 weeks (choice of morning/evening classes in City Bowl or Southern Suburbs) and consists of weekly, classroom-based workshops, with email support between classes. Classes start are run in the City Bowl and the Southern Suburbs.

Requirements:

  • Commit to completing homework outside of the workshops.
  • Submit a short piece of writing (2-3 paragraphs) prior to the first workshop, on a topic of your choice.
  • Be computer literate and have access to Skype, email and the Internet.

Week 1: prewriting tools: Exercises to help overcome writer’s block, structure thoughts, and begin to get  ideas/information down on paper. You will learn how to use free writing, brainstorming and clustering (mind mapping).

Week 2: purpose—audience—planning: Good writing is all about purpose, audience, and planning. You will learn how to clarify your purpose, identify your audience, and plan your document using two common structures: outline (beginning, middle, end) and argument (both sides of an issue).

Week 3: paragraphs: Paragraphs flesh out the bones of your structure. You will learn how to create a coherent flow, use linking sentences, and write logical, well-developed paragraphs and effective topic sentences.

Week 4: sentences: Sentences are the building blocks of writing. You will learn how to write clear sentences, recognise three common sentence errors, and join sentences using conjunctions.

Week 5: basic grammar and style: Knowing what not to do often makes writing well easier. You will learn about grammar gremlins and the basic elements of good style.

For more information, email info@writetothepoint.co.za

Pilot foundation course

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We are halfway through our pilot foundation course, finally putting into practice our ideas and theories. And, it is such fun! We have seven intrepid guinea pigs who are testing the course, and the feedback has been wonderful.

We have already had three of the four workshops. Week 1 was all about prewriting tool and included exercises to help over writer’s block. Our guinea pigs tried out free writing, brainstorming and clustering (what we call mind mapping). Then, Week 2 was the PAP module – purpose, audience and planning. We looked at how to clarify your purpose, identify your purpose and plan your document. We experimented with two structures for planning documents: an outline (beginning, middle, end) and an argument (both sides of an issue).

This week, we got down to the nuts and bolts of writing: sentences and paragraphs, the building blocks of writing. We looked at the three most common sentence errors (sentence fragment, comma splice and run-on sentences), how to structure a paragraph using an outline, and the importance of transitional words and sentences to link sentences and paragraphs.

Our intention of this course was to have fun – learning as play. And, judging from the reaction of our participants, we seem to be succeeding. However, the litmas test will be next Tuesday, when we run our last module (Get Writing 2) and tackle common grammar and spelling words!