A Process-Oriented and Technology-Based Model of Virtual Communities of Practices: Evidence from a Case Study in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper hypothesizes that Virtual Community of Practices (VCoPs) are valuable to Business Schools and Universities because they contribute to the emerging paradigms of just-in-time, action based and informal learning. It presents a real case study of a VCoPs called “Virtual eBMS”, that was built by applying the participative observation (Yin, 1994). In particular, the paper provides a process-oriented model of the “Virtual eBMS”, that is composed by four main elements: The People participating in the community, the Processes and the Purpose of the community in terms of value created for the Business School, and the Technology enabling the interactions between the community members. Indeed, from a technological point of view, the community is supported by an integrated Web Learning and Knowledge Management platform, described in terms of the main knowledge processes triggered and the correspondent technologies supporting the actions. Finally, the work presents some preliminary results and the value created through the use of the “Virtual eBMS”.