Virtual Community of Practice and Professional Communication: Perceptions of University Educators

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the perceptions of university teachers about a virtual community of practice that supports professional communication. The study is framed within the interpretative paradigm, the descriptive qualitative approach and the phenomenological method. Twenty-five teachers from a public university in the city of Cúcuta (Colombia) participated in the study. A semi-structured interview was used as a data collection technique and the data were analyzed through a coding and categorization process with the support of Atlas.ti software. The findings show the identification of three emerging categories. It is concluded that the virtual community of practice that supports professional communication requires critical success factors of reciprocal responsibility and joint initiative that lead to the configuration of its identity, and in which cooperation opportunities are valued, a social network that is formed together with the periphery as a circle of means to create knowledge and learning, as well as the perception of the member's identity that guarantee trust and the administration of the same.