Virtual Communities of Practices in higher education: which processes and technologies? Evidence from a case study

This chapter hypothesizes that Virtual Community of Practices (VCoPs) are valuable to Business Schools and Universities because they support effectively the emerging paradigms of just-in-time, action based and collaborative learning. It presents a case study of a VCoPs called “Virtual eBMS” in Higher Education setting, described as a process-oriented model, composed by four main components: The People participating in the community, the Processes enabling the knowledge flows within the community, the Purpose of the community in terms of value created for the Business School, and the Technology facilitating the interactions between the community members. Indeed, from the technological point of view, the community is supported by an integrated Web Learning and Knowledge Management platform, whose functionalities support the corresponding knowledge processes and actions. Some preliminary results expressed in terms of Intellectual Capital will end the chapter, along with the value created for the community members.