Summer 2020, an international research and teaching collaborative was initiated.  

Under the Covid-19 restrictions, it was a heartfelt challenge to create a learning environment for students to develop commitment and motivation to engage in their academic degree program. This is why we have drawn on the concept of a Community of Practice (CoP), which is a framework of social participation (Wenger, 1998). 

What started out as a collaboration between Dr. Yvonne van Rossenberg (RU), Dr. Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues (USP) and Dr. Arzu Wasti (University of Sabanci, Istanbul), has become an international collaborative including CoP projects embedded in the curricula. 

A CoP provides a safe environment for individuals to engage in learning through observation and interaction with experts and through discussion with colleagues. Now, two years into journey, two international CoP projects were facilitated in which people met weekly to work on academic research. Participants of the CoP include novice student members (Bachelor and Master students) who learn from experienced members (PhD candidates and staff) through legitimate peripheral participation. The novel educational design developed is based on CoP principles in combination with Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). This designwas integrated into the Business Administration curriculum (Bsc, Msc, PhD) at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and Radboud University (RU).