Communities of practice are, as their name suggests, communities of practitioners linked by common interests or positions within the assessment community. Because their conversations are defined in part by the nature of their constituency, communities of practice provide more focused opportunities than a listserv or even many journals for assessment practitioners to exchange information and ideas with their peers. Communities of practice use both synchronous and asynchronous discussions, as well as community-based resource sharing, to enhance and refine their assessment practice. In synchronous chats they focus on specific topics in discussions managed by the community’s leaders. In asynchronous discussions, they share ideas and information in much the same way as a listserv, but on topics focused by and developed within their individual areas of expertise and interest; often these discussions may be initiated by the community’s leader, but they may also be proposed by members of the community as well. In the wiki-based resource area, they can share and refine work appropriate to their community, from rubrics to policy statements to recommendations to the AALHE board. Any member of AALHE may propose to develop a community of practice by submitting the proposal, including a commitment to lead the community for its first two years, to info@aalhe.org. The following communities of practice currently exist on this website:

• Assessment Directors
• Assessment Practitioners within Accrediting Regions
• Assessment Directors Dealing with Specialized Accreditation
• Graduate Students
• Research

• Methodology

To join a community, click here.