eLearning within the Community of Practice for sustainable development

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the use of two knowledge management tools – eLearning and Community of Practice (CoP) – promotes the culture of managing by projects in public organizations toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents three learning strategies for organizing eLearning in CoP, tailored e-course curriculum in Project Management for Local Development within the “4A” model (attention, actualization, attraction, action), with focus on learners’ feelings and emotions used for designing the eLearning process.

Findings

Every fourth learner was in the state of flow during the e-course, 70 percent of learners felt the state of arousal at certain moment of learning, and about 65 percent felt in control of knowledge they could apply.

Practical implications

This study bridges the gap between theory and practice by demonstrating synergistic effect of two knowledge management tools (e-learning and CoP) and proves the selection of learning strategies.

Social implications

Every year, about 1,000 public sector representatives and community leaders join the virtual CoP to study expertise, improve own practice, find new ideas and promote the culture of managing by projects for sustainable development.

Originality/value

The presented case shows eLearning implementation in the context of CoP, e-course curriculum “Project Management for Local Development,” and learning strategies aimed at constructing knowledge in competitive learning environment, applying new knowledge in practice in experiential learning environment and supporting affective and social learners’ behavior. The presented mental states are used as criteria for monitoring the learners’ emotional involvement in the e-course in different roles.

Citation

Katernyak, I., Loboda, V. and Kulya, M. (2018), "eLearning within the Community of Practice for sustainable development", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 312-322. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-03-2018-0030