Online Communities of Practice: A Catalyst for Faculty Development. Innovative Higher Education 27(3

ABSTRACT: This article addresses the concept of “communities of practice ” and how it has come of age for the professional development of professors as teachers. Thanks to cur-rent technological options, faculty developers can enhance the opportunity for the entire faculty to learn through the use of online communities. Designing a faculty development portal using community of practice concepts can be an effective means to jump-start, facilitate, develop, and sustain faculty involvement in academic communities. KEY WORDS: community of practice; portals; faculty development; faculty learning centers. Faculty typically develop their craft over many years, learning how to stay current in their field and incorporate teaching innovations through experience and professional development activities – most often on their own (Caffarella & Zinn, 1999). Although the traditional nature of fac-ulty development has been largely individual, this is not to suggest that faculty lead hermetic lives. Professionals from all disciplines—whether doctors, lawyers, plastics engineers, financial analysts, or professor