Developing an

icould community of
practice







Tristram Hooley, Nicki Moore (iCeGS)
Cherry Shaw and Dave Arnold (icould)







Development Day
Welcome and overview
In part this is a practical project which aims at developing
good practice in the field of career development with the
focus on icould
It is also a research project which investigates how
communities of practice develop, what purpose they
serve and how they impact on practice
The focus of today will be an online community of
practice- we have provided you with tablet PCs to help
you in your tasks
Today you will be asked to use your tablets to begin the
process of developing an online community of practice
using LinkedIn.

Welcome and overview
Introduction to icould
Exploring icould (individual activity)
Theory underpinning icould
11.30 Coffee
How are people using icould?
Supporting career problem solving
1.00 Lunch
Exploring the potential for icould
Sharing the benefits of icould with the guidance
community
3.15 Coffee
Moving forward

House keeping
We are not expecting any fire drills today.
Loos are situated on each floor at the end of the corridors
We are hoping to create a relaxed working environment- please help
yourself to drinks when you need one although we have timetabled
breaks
We have given you tablet PCs but feel free to use your devices
where appropriate. Please turn phones to silent though!
You will be asked throughout the day to share your thoughts on
LinkedIn. We will prompt you to do this but feel that you can post at
any time.
You are also welcome to post anywhere else that you usually post
both today and as the project unfolds.
The survey
As we have indicated, this project is in part a research
project exploring communities of practice and their impact
on professional practice.
We have constructed a short survey to complete before
we start work.
You can find this by logging on to LinkedIn where the
document icould COP survey will take you to the link.
Please take a few minutes to answer the questions
Introducing icould
Cherry Shaw will take you
through a guided tour of the
key features of icould and
introduce you to some of the
less familiar aspects.

Following this you will be
encouraged in your groups
to explore the site in small
groups
The theory
underpinning icould
The story of Eva Brodie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRmlboU4yCw
So what have we learnt about Evas
career?
icould reminds us that careers are:
Complex
Subjective
Lifelong
Built out of narrative


Choosing?


Matching?


Adaption?


Incorporation?


Paradigm shift


Matching
But we
change
And so does
the labour
market
Which means
that we dont
stay matched for
long
These ideas draw on
Bright and Prior Chaos Theory
Mitchell, Levin & Krumboltz Planned
Happenstance
Savickas Life design and narrative career
counselling

As well as a lot of other theories


Linkedin group
Sharing your thoughts
Take a few minutes to think about what you have
heard so far that might help you explore icould as a
tool to support your practice.

We would like you to post your thoughts to
Linkedin.

Activity: How are people
using icould?
Working in small groups we would like you to discuss how
you are currently using icould to support your practice.
If you have brought along examples to share, this is now
the time to explain them to your colleagues.
If you have not brought examples along we have some
case studies for you to explore to support your
discussions.
Be prepared to feedback from your discussions
Example: Using icould?
In two hour careers session with university postgraduates.
Participants to generate ideas about career destinations.
Use LMI to demonstrate the diversity of destinations.
Discuss what we mean by a career turning point.
Show icould films featuring ex-postgraduates and ask
participants to identify and discuss turning points.
Participants discuss turning points in their own careers.
Draw out learning and facilitate action planning.
See Hooley, T., Law, B., & Bentley, K. (2013) Exploring the Turning Points in Researchers
Lives: Using the three-scene storyboarding technique. Cambridge: CRAC.
Exploring icould to support practice
Now you have had a chance to hear form colleagues about
how they are using icould in their practice we want you to
explore the site again.

You will have had your minds open to a range of possibilities.
Whilst exploring the site answer the following questions in
your group

What information is there to support career problem
solving?
How would you use the site to support the career
development process?






Summary

How have our mornings activities
exemplified a community of practice?

Sharing your thoughts
Now you have had a chance to reflect on the
variety of ways of using icould to support practice
we would like you to post to your answers to these
two questions to LinkedIn.
What information is there to support career
problem solving?
How would you use the site to support the career
development process?



Developing new uses for icould

Working in groups linked to your own area of professional
practice we would like you to develop 1 or 2 new ideas for
using icould.
These should be innovative, creative and engaging. We
want you to explore ways of using icould using different
media. In short- be experimental
We will want you to present your ideas back to the
community
We will also want you to post your ideas on LinkedIn later
on so make clear notes!



Sharing ideas and resources
In this session we want to discuss the sharing of
practice. Here are the questions which we want to
address:
How can icould engage with professionals from across
the sector to get them to explore the website as a tool to
support practice?
How can this community support the dissemination of
ideas and resources?
What are the best ways of doing this?



Sharing your thoughts
Now you have had a chance to reflect on new ways
of using icould we would like you to post to your
answers to these two questions to LinkedIn.
What ways can icould engage with professionals
across the sector?
How can this community support the
dissemination of ideas and innovation?
What are the best ways of doing this?

Moving forward: Discussion
How do we want this community of practice to
develop?

What makes communities of practice work?
Moving forward: Discussion
Our aims for this project:

How is icould being used in practice
What works well
What impact is it having practitioners
Young people
Adults
Developing an evidence base
Grow the use of the site and the network of
practitioners who are using it

Making a commitment to the icould
community of practice
We hope that you have found today a useful way of
sharing and developing professional practice.

We want you to use your tablet PC to explore
icould in as many situations as possible.





Making a commitment to the
community of practice
Make one post every two weeks to the icould LinkedIn
group.

Use it to:
Keep in touch with each other
Post new materials and innovative ideas
Try out each others ideas and post the outcomes
Respond to questions which the project team post
Tell us what the key issues are for you in terms of
professional practice throughout the year







icould and iCeGS will
Post ideas and themed materials to help you in
your work roles.

Pose questions to stimulate discussion

Arrange opportunities to come together and share
progress





You could also
Tell the world what you are doing and seek
feedback on icould.
Blogs
Twitter
Linkedin groups
Other groups (online or face-to-face)






Drawing it together
We anticipate that the project will run until
December.
At some point we might ask for your help to
recruit new people.
At the end of the project we may try to pull the
learning together into some kind of publication
or resource pack. Your help and support will be
acknowledged in this.





Thank you



Remember that if you have any questions for the
team use the LinkedIn group to have your
questions answered