Communities of Practice 

Conferences & Professional Programs  
Distance Learning
Liberal Learning
Marketing & Publications
Outreach & Engagement
Quality Assurance
Student & Customer Services

Communities of Practice

Each Community of Practice (CoP)is a group of Association members organized around a professional function or critical issue area. Each Community has a defined mission, target membership, and a commitment to provide specified services to its members. These services are of a professional development nature such as newsletters, listservs, and seminars, and is focused on information sharing. Each Community of Practice presents program sessions and other activities at the Association's Annual Conference.

Every UPCEA professional member is entitled to participate in two Communities of Practice as part of the basic Professional Membership; additional Communities of Practice may be selected for an additional fee.

The seven Communities of Practice are described below. In addition, you may click on the name of the Community of Practice to access its home page. Some of the CoPs present awards each year which are described on the CoP Awards page.

In 2009, the first Community of Practice Council Chair was named: Wayne D. Smutz, Penn State University.

For more information on CoPs and Comissions download the the March 2008 Leadership Handbook (DOC)

Conferences and Professional Programs

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Planning, marketing, and managing conferences and professional programs
• Utilizing the Internet to support program goals
• Managing residential conference centers

Distance Learning

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Creating and managing virtual learning environments
• Planning the use of instructional technologies
• Developing learner support systems and advising services
• Inter-institutional articulation and partnerships
• Managing off-campus library services and copyright matters
• Legislation and policies impacting higher education

Liberal Learning

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Masters of liberal studies programs
• Museum continuing education
• Alumni continuing education
• Programs in humanities, arts, and sciences
• Summer session and youth programs
• ESL programs

Markets and Publications

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Developing marketing plans/strategies
• Data base marketing
• Relationship marketing
• E-commerce
• Market research
• Advertising and publications production
• Customer service

Outreach and Engagement

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Mutual exchange of intellectual resources and expertise between the university and the broader external community of government agencies, business, non-profit organizations, community groups, and individuals
• The role of partnerships: who delivers the services? how are faculty, staff and students engaged and committed to this work? how can faculty and staff participation be evaluated and rewarded?
• Organizing an institutional agenda related with outreach and engagement and determining the associated set of products and services

Quality Assurance

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Evaluating programs
• Assessing learning outcomes
• Preparing for accreditation and unit reviews
• Credentialling
• Assessing prior learning
• Faculty development

Student and Customer Services

Members of this Community of Practice are concerned with:

• Student/customer services as their primary task
• Students in both credit and noncredit areas
• Serving university and corporate audiences