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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on May 12, 2009
British Journal of Social Work 2009 39(4):725-739; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp048
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

This article appears in the following British Journal of Social Work issue: Social work in the digital age Special Issue [View the issue table of contents]

The Role of Virtual Communities of Practice in Supporting Collaborative Learning among Social Workers

Patricia G. Cook-Craig and Yekoutiel Sabah

Patricia Cook-Craig, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Cook-Craig's research interests include professional social networks and how learning influences social work practice. Yekoutiel Sabah is the Head of the Research, Planning and Training Division at the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs and a adjunct lecturer at the Hebrew University. He holds a BSW and a MA from the Hebrew University and a MPA from Harvard University. His main interest is the decision making process of social work practitioners.

Correspondence to Patricia G. Cook-Craig, Ph.D., University of Kentucky College of Social Work, 629 Patterson Office Tower, Lexington, Kentucky, 40506-0027, USA. E-mail: patty.cook{at}uky.edu


  Abstract

The advent of technology has been instrumental in creating access for social workers to research on evidence-based interventions. However, for many social problems there remains a gap in the availability of proven evidence-based strategies (Rosen et al., 1999). For social workers facing problems for which there is a lack of research evidence, the solution is to develop practice innovations that can be evaluated (Sabah and Cook-Craig, 2008a, b). Virtual communities of practice (VCoP's) are a promising venue for housing reviews of research evidence and engaging social workers to share tacit knowledge and invent practice innovations.

During the past two years, the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs has developed eighteen VCoP's social work practitioners. Those communities are designed to enable practitioners to review and use multiple sources of professional relevant knowledge in user-friendly repositories and to facilitate a collaborative inter-organizational learning and innovativeness.

This exploratory study reviews evaluation data collected on the VCoP's. It includes quantitative analysis of secondary data and survey data on usage patterns of VCoP members. Findings related VCoP usage, the impact that organizational endorsement of organizational learning has on worker involvement in the community, and the development of weak professional ties between members were evaluated.

Keywords: Virtual communities of practice, social work and IT, collaborative learning, evidence -based practice


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