TRANSITIONING TO ONLINE MODE FOR A SUPERVISOR-LED PHD COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

ABSTRACT

As curriculum designers and facilitators of doctoral education pedagogy at one South African higher education institution, we critically reflect on the transitioning of a traditional face-toface supervisor-led PhD community of practice (communal research supervision) to a fully online 'model', a reimagining brought on by the vicissitudes of the COVID-19 pandemic. This reflection responds to the erroneous tendency to critique online pedagogies in preference for inperson contact deliveries. The article suggests that establishing unique communities of practice are required for sustaining the new modes of delivery to counteract nostalgia for past operations. A forthcoming online engagement is likely to be characteristic of all higher education institutions irrespective of their former dominant methods of pedagogy. We invoke key social practice constructs, namely 'domain', 'community' and 'practice' (Wenger, 1999;Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002) as theoretical heuristics in our contemplation of sustaining community vibrance and continuity. We consider the tensions that present as they relate to, firstly, developing a continually (re)negotiated joint enterprise, secondly, enabling mutual engagement, and thirdly, facilitating a shared repertoire of the community's resources in an evolving, technologically mediated mode of operation. We argue that the key enterprise of this community, namely affordances of participation (research supervision and research learning) by both core and peripheral members of the community are likely to continue to accrue in the online space, despite challenges presented by video-conferencing technologies. We contend that given the strength of its leadership, the community as a social space of academic interaction/engagement can mutate into productive new assemblages. Shared communal resources are important for anchoring the community in COVID-19 era and beyond.