By Simon Bravo
When you talk about collegiate recreation to family or friends outside of the field, how do you convey such a diverse and broad profession? What are the specialty areas and topics held in common by such a diverse field of practitioners?
With the launch of the Association’s new website, NIRSA introduced online Communities of Practice designed to showcase these common areas of focus, by creating forums for NIRSA students and professionals with specialized interests across the spectrum of the collegiate recreation field to exchange ideas and share resources.
Connect with fellow NIRSA members through Communities of Practice
In developing the Communities of Practice, NIRSA drew from long-standing Specialty Area Committees as well as those member-created communities which had demonstrated an active discussion on the old Habitat platform as the initial basis for determining which areas were represented. Based on feedback from the NIRSA Board of Directors, additional areas were added to reflect the strategic values and principles of the Association. Currently, NIRSA has established the following Communities of Practice:
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If you haven’t yet checked out this new tool for connecting with other NIRSA students and professionals with specialized interests across the spectrum of the collegiate recreation field, we encourage you to do so. Participation is easy; all you have to do is click on either the Discussions or Resources link on any of the individual Community of Practice landing pages (if you are not already logged-in, you will be prompted to enter your account credentials). The first time you engage a discussion—either by commenting on an existing post or starting a new discussion thread—or upload a resource, you will be prompted to join that Community of Practice and set your communication preferences. You can follow individual Communities of Practice at the frequency that suites you best; choose real time to receive on email for each new message, daily digest to receive one email containing all posted messages from the previous day, legacy to receive one email for each message in plain text with the ability to reply via email, or opt-out of receiving email messages altogether and just visit the discussion forum at your own convenience.
NIRSA’s vision for these Communities of Practice is to grow the list of individual communities to more comprehensively represent the areas of interest and importance for the profession and Association to which our members belong. But, we need your help to get there. Show the Association what’s most important to you; engage with your colleagues around one of the existing Communities of Practice. Or, if you are interested in establishing a new Community of Practice, let us know; you can email NIRSA Membership Coordinator, Kendra Hall, with your ideas. She can help you determine whether or not a similar or related discussion group already exists. If not, we will first create a new discussion group on the NIRSA website.
These professional networks increase the connection points between members and the volunteer leadership of the Association, while simultaneously focusing the discussions surrounding a given topic and producing knowledge that is an intellectual asset for NIRSA. Participate in the creation of best practices and knowledge in these areas, and help build a network of colleagues who are passionate about the same topics—join at least one NIRSA Community of Practice today!
