John D. Smith:Community of Practice for Gaining Practical Knowledge, Making Friends, and Influencing People
Knowledge doubles rapidly, and the development and cultivation of
applied knowledge is so fundamental to today's organizations that
healthy Communities of Practice (CoP) are practically an organizational
imperative. John D. Smith, president of LearningAlliance, co-founder of
CP2, and an expert in CoP development, will get us thinking about how
CATS can enhance support of its members and their campuses.
Where the rubber meets the road, CoPs like CATS need resources, wakeful members, ongoing cultivation, and thoughtful advocates to flourish. How can we connect the big picture and the bottom line? How can we garner campus support for our active participation in the CATS community?
CATS has always focused on providing its members with opportunities to grow both professionally and personally, and there are more ways that we as a collective and inclusive group can propel this objective. John will help us to look toward the future and to develop strategies that will involve us all in sustaining and growing our community.
John D. Smith
John D. Smith is a technologist, innovator, manager, and developer and coach for Communities of Practice. He helps communities and organizations develop skills and infrastructure for inquiry, learning, and knowledge management. In particular he has focused on assessing the social and learning implications of design decisions ranging from web page design and mailing list configuration to the structure of face-to-face meetings and styles of facilitation.
In collaboration with Etienne Wenger, John designed and presented an online workshop about the social aspect of learning called “Foundations of Communities of Practice,” which they have taught for the past seven years. He was instrumental in the launch of CPsquare, an international CoP on Communities of Practive. The Foundations workshop has led to collaboration and learning in an extended community of practice concerned with e-learning, CoPs, knowledge management, and social change.
Prior to consulting, John was an administrator, technologist, and planner at the University of Colorado for more than 20 years. He held positions responsible for facilities planning, financial planning, market research, institutional research, and technology planning. He founded the Information Resource Management Office, which provided access to information resource documentation and integration across management areas.
He grew up in Puerto Rico and is bilingual. He received a Bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College in 1970 and a Master’s in planning and architecture from the University of New Mexico in 1976. John reads extensively about learning theory, organizational communication, management, the Internet, linguistics, economics, and computer science.
