TY - JOUR
T1 - The Irish Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Pilot
T2 - A Critical Analysis on Culture and Context from a Community of Practice Approach
AU - McIlrath, Lorraine
AU - Broderick, Céire
AU - Naughton, Mary Mc Donnell
AU - Kelly, Maria
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the author(s).
PY - 2021/5/28
Y1 - 2021/5/28
N2 - This article provides a reflective critique of the process undertaken to pilot the Carnegie Community Engagement Framework in Ireland between 2015 and 2016. Of particular interest to the authors is the cultural specificity of employing a US-centric self-assessment data capturing tool in a heterogeneous Irish context. Taking the reader through from conception of the idea to its execution and post-pilot reflections, we examine the cultural appropriateness and translatability of the tool to Irish higher education. To frame the discussion of the process, we employ the concept of a community of practice, as defined by Wenger (1998). This was adopted to promote a culture of collaboration in an ever-growing neoliberal system that promotes competition between institutions, rather than facilitating their co-construction of knowledge. In the analysis, we demonstrate how forming this community of practice allowed for a cohesive assessment of the challenges and opportunities that arose through the pilot process. This was particularly important since each participating institution had different motivations for engaging with the pilot. Reflecting with some distance, we consider the value that comes from operating as a community of practice, as well as some shortcomings that we identified as specific to this pilot.
AB - This article provides a reflective critique of the process undertaken to pilot the Carnegie Community Engagement Framework in Ireland between 2015 and 2016. Of particular interest to the authors is the cultural specificity of employing a US-centric self-assessment data capturing tool in a heterogeneous Irish context. Taking the reader through from conception of the idea to its execution and post-pilot reflections, we examine the cultural appropriateness and translatability of the tool to Irish higher education. To frame the discussion of the process, we employ the concept of a community of practice, as defined by Wenger (1998). This was adopted to promote a culture of collaboration in an ever-growing neoliberal system that promotes competition between institutions, rather than facilitating their co-construction of knowledge. In the analysis, we demonstrate how forming this community of practice allowed for a cohesive assessment of the challenges and opportunities that arose through the pilot process. This was particularly important since each participating institution had different motivations for engaging with the pilot. Reflecting with some distance, we consider the value that comes from operating as a community of practice, as well as some shortcomings that we identified as specific to this pilot.
KW - Challenges
KW - Collaboration
KW - Community Engagement
KW - Community of Practice
KW - Competition
KW - Cultural Context
KW - Neoliberalism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169102092&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5130/ijcre.v14i1.7343
DO - 10.5130/ijcre.v14i1.7343
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85169102092
SN - 1836-3393
VL - 14
JO - Gateways
JF - Gateways
IS - 1
ER -