Cultivating a Community of Practice through Podcasting

Abstract

While innovation in pharmacy education can be sparked through many avenues, the opportunity to learn and engage with others through practice communities is considered by many as a creative outlet for exchange and discovery. This commentary specifically describes a contemporary approach to promote such a dialogue globally through podcasting, which is a free and highly accessible medium for dissemination and exchange of innovative teaching practices. In 2018, two faculty from two colleges of pharmacy created a podcast titled Leadership Development in Pharmacy Education (LDPEcast), which provides a unique modality to stimulate discussion and disseminate ideas within the community of practice. This commentary provides a case illustration for how a podcast can be intentionally designed and implemented with the goal of inspiring engagement across a global practice community. Early results of the podcast have been largely successful with nearly 1000 episode downloads and an additional 445 episode streams from audience members. While this podcast was designed specifically to discuss leadership integration within pharmacy training, opportunities may exist for further exploration of podcasting to spread innovative ideas, practices, and evaluative approaches in pharmacy education, while strengthening connections and elevating communities of practice across institutions.

Keywords: Communities of practice; leadership; pharmacy education; podcast.