Learn expert tips for starting and nurturing your own community of practice (COP) during COVID-19 from Nancy Surbrook-Goins, MA and Sarah Nichols, BA, authors of Growing Together: Developing and Sustaining a Community of Practice.
About the Experts:
Nancy Surbrook-Goins, MA, is the training and technical assistance manager for the Office of Innovative Projects at Clinton County, MI, Regional Educational Service Agency. She is responsible for the Comprehensive System of Professional Development (CSPD) of Early On®️ (Michigan’s Early Intervention system), Early Childhood Special Education, and provides expertise on many other statewide projects, such as professional development for the Great Start Readiness Program, Michigan’s state-funded preschool initiative. Ms. Surbrook-Goins serves as professional development chair of the Michigan Division of Early Childhood (DEC) as well as a co-leader of the DEC Community of Practice Development Committee.
Sarah Nichols, BA, is a professional development specialist at the Early Intervention Training Program (EITP), a program of the Department of Special Education in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ms. Nichols specializes in community of practice development, instructional design, and development and facilitation of synchronous and asynchronous web-based learning opportunities. She leads statewide and national communities of practice and manages online workspaces for service coordinators, early interventionists, training consultants, and administrators participating in communities of practice. Ms. Nichols is a member and leader of the CoP Development Group which supports CoP facilitators across the nation who seek and share strategies for developing, growing and sustaining CoPs for professionals in early childhood intervention.
Author(s)Sarah Nichols, BA, Nancy Surbrook-Goins, MA
