This document represents a first attempt at collating the information available on the Internet to understand the term 'communities of practice'. It is not comprehensive, but can help to understand the key features of communities of practice to inform the development of the OER platform.
A basic explanation for communities of practice, and some ideas for designing digital environments to help them thrive. Based on portions of presentations I have given over the last 4-5 years.
Discovering The Value Of Social Networks and Communities of PracticeCollabor8now Ltd
There has been much written about measuring the value of online communities such as Social Networks or Communities of Practice. However, most pundits tend to think of measuring value from a purely financial perspective, i.e. the Return on Investment (ROI). Clearly this is an important factor, but it’s not the only factor that should be considered
A basic explanation for communities of practice, and some ideas for designing digital environments to help them thrive. Based on portions of presentations I have given over the last 4-5 years.
Discovering The Value Of Social Networks and Communities of PracticeCollabor8now Ltd
There has been much written about measuring the value of online communities such as Social Networks or Communities of Practice. However, most pundits tend to think of measuring value from a purely financial perspective, i.e. the Return on Investment (ROI). Clearly this is an important factor, but it’s not the only factor that should be considered
Cultivating knowledge through Communities of PracticeCollabor8now Ltd
The presentation looks at the phenomenon of Communities of Practice and how they can develop into effective knowledge sharing environments. Topics include:
What is a ‘Community of Practice’ (CoP)?
Moving from conversations to collaboration
Community culture and behaviours
What makes a successful community?
Measuring success and the elusive ROI
Lessons learnt from deployment of CoPs in local government.
Facilitating Communities of Practice in the Network EraNancy Wright White
This is the set of slides used for the morning workshop on facilitating communities, along with two other sets of slides that might be useful later to participants, but which we did not conver/talk about. So be forewarned!
Beyond functional silos with communities of practiceDennis Stevens
Explore the concept of communities of practice and how they are a vital component for agile organizations. From providing tactical support in issue resolution, to being stewards of knowledge across vast enterprises, and even helping create support for the larger organizational change, communities of practice are a vital component in improving organizational agility.
Presenter: June Holley, Network Weaver
Topic: Are You A Network Weaver?
Date: Tuesday, August 23rd 11:00-12:00 Noon PDT (2:00-3:00PM EDT)
This interactive session will introduce the term Network Weaver as a way of understanding how leadership is shifting in a networked world. You will have access to a simple checklist so that you can identify your strengths and challenges as a Network Weaver. June will explain four roles -- connector, facilitator, coach and network guardian — filled by Network Weavers and share activities that you can implement with your networks.
Communities of practice have become an accepted part of organizational development. One should pay attention to domain, membership, norms and rules, structure and process, flow of energy, results, resources, and values.
Cultivating knowledge through Communities of PracticeCollabor8now Ltd
The presentation looks at the phenomenon of Communities of Practice and how they can develop into effective knowledge sharing environments. Topics include:
What is a ‘Community of Practice’ (CoP)?
Moving from conversations to collaboration
Community culture and behaviours
What makes a successful community?
Measuring success and the elusive ROI
Lessons learnt from deployment of CoPs in local government.
Facilitating Communities of Practice in the Network EraNancy Wright White
This is the set of slides used for the morning workshop on facilitating communities, along with two other sets of slides that might be useful later to participants, but which we did not conver/talk about. So be forewarned!
Beyond functional silos with communities of practiceDennis Stevens
Explore the concept of communities of practice and how they are a vital component for agile organizations. From providing tactical support in issue resolution, to being stewards of knowledge across vast enterprises, and even helping create support for the larger organizational change, communities of practice are a vital component in improving organizational agility.
Presenter: June Holley, Network Weaver
Topic: Are You A Network Weaver?
Date: Tuesday, August 23rd 11:00-12:00 Noon PDT (2:00-3:00PM EDT)
This interactive session will introduce the term Network Weaver as a way of understanding how leadership is shifting in a networked world. You will have access to a simple checklist so that you can identify your strengths and challenges as a Network Weaver. June will explain four roles -- connector, facilitator, coach and network guardian — filled by Network Weavers and share activities that you can implement with your networks.
Communities of practice have become an accepted part of organizational development. One should pay attention to domain, membership, norms and rules, structure and process, flow of energy, results, resources, and values.
Communities of Practice: Conversations To CollaborationCollabor8now Ltd
What makes a successful Community of Practice?
This presentation looks at the key ingredients, with particular emphasis on the role of the community facilitator for building trust and cooperation, enabling conversations to become active collaboration and co-production.
This was the slides I researched for sometime to help my organization to build a Community of Practice to support Innovation culture. I will be very pleased if you can share your experience relate on how to build a successful CoP.
What can museums do as buildings, social spaces, and cultural institutions to embody sustainable practice - environmentally, socially and economically?
This webinar is designed to provide a holistic overview of sustainability within museums and includes examples from the sector and transferable actions for improvement.
Dr. Muhammad Amjad Saqib, Founder of Akhuwat, World's Largest Interest-Free Microfinance Organization, gave a talk on the myths surrounding social entrepreneurship at the OPEN Lahore Summit 2015.
Resillience, cultural intervention, micro innovation, policy - City-Link 2014Oleg Koefoed
This talk was given to the City-Link Congress in Hamburg, in September 2014. The congress brought together researchers, artists, and practitioners to reflect on the issue of resilience and culture in cities. The congress had presentations by Sharon Zukin, Elke Krasny, Levente Polyak, Sacha Kagan and Oleg Koefoed.
Cult Pills || Project developed at iCODEX - Cultural Innovation HackathonValeria Piccioni
iCODEX Hackathon || Fondazione Cariplo
Base, Milan 2016
Cult Pills is a cultural innovation mobile App whose aim is to put people in touch with local art and culture.
The project was developed during a 24-hours hackathon.
Team members: Valeria Piccioni, Cristina Paleari, Marco Saia
The complete story here on Storify:
https://storify.com/public/templates/slideshow/index.html?src=//storify.com/BryanWebAgency/digitalmonday-lo-storify#1
Presentation on traditional organizations, their management and the way they cope with change. How can weaknesses in innovation, learning ability and cooperation be eliminated?
Innovation and entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative sectors in Trini...Kris Granger
Kris Granger visited the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and presented on Trinidad and Tobago's creativity culture, using the Creative Sector as a case.
Jean Lave, Etienne Wengerand communities of practiceJean.docxvrickens
Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger
and communities of practice
Jean Lave, Etiene Wenger and communities of practice.
The idea that learning involves a deepening process of
participation in a community of practice has gained
significant ground in recent years. Communities of
practice have also become an important focus within
organizational development and have considerable value
when thinking about working with groups. In this article
we outline the theory and practice of such communities,
and examine some of issues and questions for informal
educators and those concerned with lifelong learning.
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contents: introduction · communities of practice ·
legitimate peripheral participation and situated learning ·
learning organizations and learning communities ·
conclusion · references · links · how to cite this article
Many of the ways we have of talking about learning and
education are based on the assumption that learning is
something that individuals do. Furthermore, we often
assume that learning ‘has a beginning and an end; that it is
best separated from the rest of our activities; and that it is
the result of teaching’ (Wenger 1998: 3). But how would
things look if we took a different track? Supposing learning
is social and comes largely from of our experience of
participating in daily life? It was this thought that formed
the basis of a significant rethinking of learning theory in the
late 1980s and early 1990s by two researchers from very
different disciplines – Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Their
model of situated learning proposed that learning involved
a process of engagement in a ‘community of practice’.
Jean Lave was (and is) a social anthropologist with a strong
interest in social theory, based at the University of
California, Berkeley. Much of her work has f ...
Developing an Architecture of ParticipationGrahamAttwell
This presentation focuses on work undertaken through the European Commission funded Bazaar project to establish a community of practice for researchers and practitioners in open source software and open content. The paper considers the use of social software to support such a community of practice. It considers some of the theories and ideas behind supporting communities before going on to outline the design of an Architecture of Participation.
Toward Radical Information Literacy: Invited talk at ECIL 2014, DubrovnikDrew Whitworth
Presentation for Andrew Whitworth's invited talk at the European Conference on Information Literacy conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 2014. The presentation outlines the theoretical core of the book 'Radical Information Literacy' -- a synthesis of sociocultural practice theory, phenomenography and discourse analysis, applying this to the field of information literacy. 'Radical' IL is defined as teaching that helps redistribute authority over information practice, among members of target populations.
Communities of Practice and virtual learning communities: benefits, barriers ...eLearning Papers
Authors:Patricia Margaret Gannon-Leary, Elsa Fontainha.
A virtual Community of Practice (CoP) is a network of individuals who share a domain of interest about which they communicate online. The practitioners share resources (for example experiences, problems and solutions, tools, methodologies). Such communication results in the improvement of the knowledge of each participant in the community and contributes to the development of the knowledge within the domain.
Virtual Communities for Professional Development and Growth
How do we promote the knowledge, skills and sense of urgency for 21st Century teaching and learning among all teachers in our schools? As the physical and virtual worlds converge to become the 'real world' of teaching and learning, virtual exchanges, online mentoring and other Web-based environments will play increasingly important roles in educational reform. The presenter will share "lessons learned" from her seven years of experience in designing and leading virtual communities of practice.
Asp openly licensed stories for early reading in africa mar 2015 slideshareSaide OER Africa
A recent presentation made by Tessa Welch, the African Storybook Project leader, to University of Pretoria Education students on the project and on openly licensed stories for early reading in Africa.
Quality Considerations in eLearning in South Africa. Presentation at the eLearning Summit, Indaba Hotel, 16 October 2014. Looks the the quality review process and quality criteria.
African Storybook: The First 18 Months of the ProjectSaide OER Africa
Presentation by African Storybook Initiative Leader, Tessa Welch, on the first 18 months of the initiative. Presented on 26 June at the African Storybook Summit at the University of British Columbia.
Digital Storytelling for Multilingual Literacy Development: Implications for ...Saide OER Africa
Digital Storytelling for Multilingual Literacy Development: Implications for Teachers - Presentation by Tessa Welch at the South African Basic Education Conference 31 March - 1 April 2014. Presentation explains Saide's African Storybook Initiative. Overview: Requirements for effective literacy development of young children in African countries; obstacles to achieving this goal; multi-pronged approach to overcoming obstacles; examples of digital storytelling in a school community; implications for teachers.
Higher Education Technology Outlook in Africa Presentation for the Student Satisfaction, Quality Assurance and Peer Review Conference, Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, 13 March 2014
eLearning or eKnowledge - What are we offering students?Saide OER Africa
eLearning or eKnowledge - What are we offering students? A look at the convergence of elearning and eknowledge, looking at the purpose of the design - informational or instructional? Presented at the Unisa Cambridge Open and Distance eLearning Conference, Stellenbosch.
Presentation given at the Online and eLearining Conference organised by Knowledge Resources at the Forum, Bryanston, Johannesburg 28-29 August 2013. Created by Greig Krull, Sheila Drew and Brenda Mallinson.
Understand school leadership and governance in the South African context (PDF)Saide OER Africa
This module gives an overview of what management and leadership is about in a school setting. As an aspiring principal it begins a process of developing understanding about the challenges that face principals on a daily basis and allows you to also explore your own realities and decide on new and better action. In addition, you will look at some of the international trends in management and leadership and will compare what is happening in the South Africa scene to others.
Toolkit: Unit 8 - Developing a school-based care and support plan.Saide OER Africa
The purpose of this toolkit is to conduct a situational analysis or assessment that will help you to understand the size of the challenge and the current capacity of your school to set up a counselling service. To assist you to decide on the most suitable options for implementing counselling support in your school context.
Toolkit: Unit 7 - Counselling support for vulnerable learners.Saide OER Africa
The purpose of this toolkit is to conduct a situational analysis or assessment that will help you to understand the size of the challenge and the current capacity of your school to set up a counselling service. To assist you to decide on the most suitable options for implementing counselling support in your school context.
The purpose of this toolkit is to use a brainstorming technique to come up with creative ideas respond to the challenge of providing aftercare support for vulnerable learners. To use the ideas from the brainstorming session to inform the development of a draft set of ideas for an aftercare strategy.
There are different ways of combating discrimination and creating a safe and nonthreatening environment at school. An important contribution can be made by implementing an Anti-Bullying Policy
The guidelines and the five priority areas identified by Department of Education offer a framework that supports the development of a school HIV and AIDS policy. The guidelines and priorities can also be used to review your school's existing HIV and AIDS policy and determine how adequate it is and what changes may be necessary
Toolkit: Unit 1 - How responsive are schools to the socio-economic challenges...Saide OER Africa
The purpose of this toolkit is to understand what threatens the quality of education in your school so that you can take informed action to remedy the situation.
Reading: Understanding Intrapersonal Characteristics (Word)Saide OER Africa
The impact of intrapersonal characteristics on school performance and learner development - A reading to accompany Unit Six of the module: Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Diverse Classrooms. The reading is useful because it summarizes the various theoretical perspectives for understanding inclusive education, and because it uses case studies of typical learners to illustrate how teaching and learning activities need to be adapted to ensure that all children, no matter what their background or intrapersonal characteristics do learn mathematics.
Reading: Understanding Intrapersonal Characteristics (pdf)Saide OER Africa
The impact of intrapersonal characteristics on school performance and learner development - A reading to accompany Unit Six of the module: Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Diverse Classrooms. This reading is useful because it summaraizes the various theoretical perspectives for understanding inclusive education, and because it uses case studies of typical learners to illustrate how teaching and learning activities need to be adapted to ensure that all children, no matter what their background or intrapersonal characteristics do learn mathematics.
Reading: Guidelines for Inclusive Learning Programmes (word)Saide OER Africa
A reading to accompany Unit Six of the module: Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Diverse Classrooms. This Reading consists of two extracts from a document "Guidelines for Inclusive Education Learning Programmes" produced by the Department of Education in June 2005.
Reading: Guidelines for Inclusive Learning Programmes (pdf)Saide OER Africa
A reading to accompany Unit Six of the module: Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Diverse Classrooms. This Reading consists of two extracts from a document "Guidelines for Inclusive Education Learning Programmes" produced by the Department of Education in June 2005.
Francesca Gottschalk - How can education support child empowerment.pptxEduSkills OECD
Francesca Gottschalk from the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation presents at the Ask an Expert Webinar: How can education support child empowerment?
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
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1. OER AFRICA
Defining Communities of Practice
FIRST DRAFT
23-06-2008
This document represents a first attempt at collating the information available on the Internet to
understand the term “communities of practice”. It is in no way intended to provide a comprehensive
review of communities of practice, but is an attempt to provide an overview of communities of practice
in an attempt to understand the key features of these in helping to inform the development of the OER
Africa platform.
This document is also incomplete, as it forms the first part of a research process focused on OER Africa
and the implementation or potential use of communities of practice in this context. This document will
evolve as more research is gathered and integrated.
INTRODUCTION
Numerous studies have found that people form relationships through informal networks based on their
common backgrounds, or location. A community of practice is a special type of informal network,
usually formed through the common interests of a group of people. A lot of research points to these
types of groups being formed inside large organizations. They are generally made up of small groups of
people who’ve worked together over a period of time and who through informal discussion develop a
common sense of purpose and a need to share their work-related stories and experiences.
The following definitions have been gathered from various sources. Each represents an attempt to
define communities of practice.
Etienne Wenger (1991) defines communities of practice as “groups of people who share a concern or a
passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly”.1
Johnson-Lenz, from Awakening Technology defines a community of practice as "a group of
professionals, informally bound to one another through exposure to a common class of problems,
common pursuit of solutions, and thereby themselves embodying a store of knowledge."2
The CoVis project refers to communities of practice as “groups of people who share similar goals and
interests. In pursuit of these goals and interests, they employ common practices, work with the same
tools and express themselves in a common language. Through such common activity, they come to hold
similar beliefs and value systems”.3
1
Wenger, E. Communities of practice. Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
2
Johnson-Lenz, P. &. T. Community of Inquiry and Practice. Awakening Technology. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from
http://www.awakentech.com/at/Awaken.nsf/d4cbbb795713bdee882564640074729d/4b21a4c71b4bf809882564a8007baa21!OpenDocument
2. An article in FORTUNE Magazine (1996) referred to communities of practice as “Groups that learn,
communities of practice, have special characteristics. They emerge of their own accord: Three, four, 20,
maybe 30 people find themselves drawn to one another by a force that's both social and professional.
They collaborate directly, use one another as sounding boards, teach each other. Communities of
practice are the shop floor of human capital, the place where the stuff gets made.4
R Bauer from Ideascommunity of practicee sees a community of practice as "a diverse group of people
engaged in real work over a significant period of time during which they build things, solve problems,
learn and invent...in short, they evolve a practice that is highly skilled and highly creative."5
Brown and Duguid (1998) described photocopier engineers who work together and are able to
communicate non-verbally because of “shared experience, shared learning and shared understandings”.
6
Sharp (1997) describes a community of practice as a “special type of informal network that emerges
from a desire to work more effectively or to understand work more deeply among members of a
particular speciality or group”.7
It is clear from these descriptions that when defining communities of practice the recurring terms and
emphasis is on mainly two aspects, the informal nature of the relationships and on the sharing of
knowledge or experience. These communities could be engineers who design brakes, artists who
congregate in a café to talk about artistic genres and styles, nurses who gather at lunch and talk about
their experiences. They are typically groups who discuss insights, share information and solve problems.
In some instance they may even develop tools and frameworks that become part of the common
knowledge of the community, hence building up a shared body of knowledge and a sense of identity.
Much of the literature on communities of practice highlights the many positive aspects of communities
of practice. However, Wenger (2000) warns that they should not be over romanticized:
“They are born from learning, but they can also learn not to learn. They are cradles
of the human spirit, but they can also be in cages. After all, witch-hunts were also
community practices.”8
3
Communities of Practice. .CoVis: learning Through Collaboration. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from
http://www.covis.northwestern.edu/info/philosophy/communities-of-practice.html
4
Stewart, T. A. The invisible key to success shadowy groups called communities of practice are where learning and growth happen. You can’t
control them – but they’re easy to kill. August 5, 1996. FORTUNE. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/08/05/215440/index.htm
5
Bauer, R. Customer-inspired Innovation: Creating the Future. ideascope. Retrieved June 18, 2008, from
http://www.ideascope.com/info/resources.aspx
6
Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. Organizational learning and communities of practice. . Retrieved June 20, 2008, from
http://www2.parc.com/ops/members/brown/papers/orglearning.html
7
Sharp, J. (1997, March 12). Communities of Practice: A Review of Literature. . Retrieved May 21, 2008, from http://www.tfriend.com/cop-
lit.htm
8
Wenger, E. Communities of practice. Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
3. HISTORY OF “COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE”
Communities of Practice as a concept has been around for many years but the term itself was not
introduced until 1991 when Jean Lave9 and Etienne Wenger10 used it to explore the idea of Situated
Learning11. They explored the activities of groups of non-drinking alcoholics, quartermasters, butchers,
tailors in Goa and midwives in the Yucatan. The learning that takes place through working practices is
what linked these groups, for example, an apprenticeship where an employee learns skills "on the job".12
This model proposed that learning involved a process of engagement in a “community of
practice”.13Through their research Lave and Wenger noted that:
People usually think of apprenticeship as a relationship between a student and a
master, but studies of apprenticeship reveal a more complex set of social
relationships through which learning takes place…the term community of practice
was coined to refer to the community that acts as a living curriculum for the
apprentice. Once the concept was articulated we started to see these communities
everywhere, even when no formal apprenticeship system existed…the practice of a
community is dynamic and involves learning on the part of everyone.”14
Lave and Wenger regarded a community of practice as “an intrinsic condition for existence of
knowledge”. They saw the acquisition of knowledge as a social process where people participate in
communal learning at different levels depending on their level of authority or seniority in the group.
Newcomers learn from old-timers by being allowed to participate in certain tasks that relate to the
practice of that community. Over time the newcomer moves from peripheral to full participation. In
other words, learning does not take place as narrow situated learning but as Legitimate Peripheral
Participation.15
This concept is very complex. Lave and Wenger (1991) explain that the three elements legitimation,
peripherality and participation cannot be considered in isolation. Legitimation and participation define
the characteristic ways of belonging to a community, and peripherality and participation are concerned
9
Jean Lave (PhD., Social Anthropology, Harvard University, 1968 [1]) is a social anthropologist and social learning theorist. She is currently a
Professor of Education and Geography at the University of California, Berkeley. Her studies of apprenticeships are recognized as significant
contributions to educational psychology.
10
Etienne Wenger (1952-) is an educational theorist and practitioner, best known for his formulation (with Jean Lave) of the theory of situated
cognition and his more recent work in the field of communities of practice. Wenger holds that learning is an inherently social process and that it
cannot be separated from the social context in which it happens.
11
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. Communities of Practice. . Retrieved June 17, 2008, from http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
12
Hildreth, P., & Kimble, C. Knowledge Networks: Innovation through Communities of Practice. . Retrieved June 20, 2008, from http://www.chris-
kimble.com/KNICOP/Chapters/Introduction.html
13
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. Communities of Practice. . Retrieved June 17, 2008, from http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
14
Wenger, E. Communities of practice. Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
15
Kimble, C., Hildreth, P., & Wright, P. (2001). Communities of Practice: Going Virtual. . Idea Publishing Group. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/mis/docs/kmbmichapter.pdf
4. with location and identity. For them participation provides the key to understanding communities of
practice.
“A community of practice does not necessarily imply co-location, socially visible
boundaries or a well-defined or identifiable group. It does however imply
participation in an activity where participants have a common understanding about
what it is and what it means to their lives”.16
Interest in communities of practice grew throughout the 1990’s. Several attempts were made to re-
define communities of practice in a way that was suited to the commercial environment. One of the
most widely cited, business related definitions was offered by John Seely Brown and Estee Solomon
Gray in their 1995 article called “The People are the Company”:
At the simplest level, they are a small group of people…who’ve worked together
over a period of time. Not a team, not a task force, not necessarily an authorized or
identified group…they are peers in the execution of “real work”. What holds them
together is a common sense of purpose and a real need to know what each other
knows.17
In 1998 Wenger again began to explore communities of practice in business. The results of an
ethnographic study of a claims processing unit in an insurance company showed that communities of
practice were formed through “mutual engagement in a joint enterprise and that these communities of
practice exploited a repertoire of common resources.” He claimed that the communities of practice he
studied arose out of a need to accomplish particular tasks in the organization, hence providing learning
avenues for the people involved. His view of a business is one that is made up of a number of
interrelated communities of practice that can spread beyond the borders of a company.18
In their research “Communities of Practice: Going one step too far?” Chris Kimble and Paul Hildreth
consider whether communities of practice are really applicable to a business environment. They argue
that most organizations view groups as project teams or task groups who are brought together and
controlled by the larger organization. Communities of practice on the other hand are “self-directed and
self-motivated entities; the engine that drives a community of practice is the shared interest of its
members, which may not be the same things as the interest of the wider organization.”19 In conclusion
they note that it is these characteristics of a community of practice that makes their contribution to an
organization uncertain and that the role that community of practices can play in business should always
16
Kimble, C., Hildreth, P., & Wright, P. (2001). Communities of Practice: Going Virtual. . Idea Publishing Group. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/mis/docs/kmbmichapter.pdf
17
Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far? . . Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=634642#PaperDownload
18
Kimble, C., Hildreth, P., & Wright, P. (2001). Communities of Practice: Going Virtual. . Idea Publishing Group. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/mis/docs/kmbmichapter.pdf
19
Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far? . . Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=634642#PaperDownload
5. remain peripheral. They point out in this study that it is important to gain a more balanced
understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of community of practices as a solution to business
problems.20
Kimble and Hildreth also studied communities of practice in the context of knowledge management.
They use the terms hard and soft knowledge and argue that too often knowledge management
emphasizes hard knowledge over soft. Hard knowledge, they say, is something that can be clearly and
fully expressed, it can be formalized, structured and ‘owned’ without being used. In contrast soft
knowledge is implicit and unstructured. “t is the sort of knowledge that cannot be easily articulated. It is
about what we do and can only be acquired through experience”.21They also argued that the two cannot
exist without each other and that knowledge is a “duality” consisting simultaneously of both hard and
soft knowledge. Viewing knowledge in this way allowed them to make a link between knowledge
management and communities of practice. A lot of research has attempted to explore this complex
relationship.
Wenger (1998) identified two key processes that formed a duality: participation and reification. He
described participation as:
“the social experience of living in the world in terms of membership in social
communities and active involvement in social enterprises.”22
And reification as:
“…the process of giving form to our experience by producing objects that congeal
this experience into thingness.”23
These concepts were seen as a way to manage knowledge. In their day-to-day activities people can
participate in shared activities and project that participation to the external world by producing
artefacts.
Several other authors have taken this idea and sought to identify specific quantifiable business benefits
that can be associated with community of practices. But according to Hildreth and Kimble one problem
still remains – almost all the previous work around community of practices was based on co-located
community of practices. With the increasing globalization of business and the heavy reliance on ICT’s the
question of whether Community of practices can become “virtual” opens up a whole new complex set of
questions and issues. This is explored briefly later on in this document.
20
Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far? . . Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=634642#PaperDownload
21
Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far? . . Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=634642#PaperDownload
22
Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far? . . Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=634642#PaperDownload
23
Kimble, C., & Hildreth, P. Communities of Practice: Going One Step Too Far? . . Retrieved June 23, 2008, from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=634642#PaperDownload
6. CHARACTERISTICS OF A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
The words “community of practice”, “online community” and “virtual community” have been
interpreted in many different ways. Every group that shares interest on a website is referred to as a
community, but communities of practice is in fact a specific kind of community. Communities of practice
are generally focused on an area of knowledge and over time accumulate expertise in this area. They
develop a shared practice by interacting around problems and solutions, and build a common store of
knowledge.
In searching the Internet there are dozens and dozens of discussions on the definition and existence of
“communities of practice”. The basic argument made by Lave and Wenger in 1991 is that communities
of practice are everywhere and we are generally involved in a number of them – whether that is at
work, school, home, or in our civic and leisure interests.
Lave and Wenger originally described a Community of Practice as "... a set of relations among persons,
activity and world, over time and in relation with other tangential and overlapping communities of
practice".24
Being alive as human beings means that we are constantly engaged in the pursuit
of enterprises of all kinds, from ensuring our physical survival to seeking the most
lofty pleasures. As we define these enterprises and engage in their pursuit together,
we interact with each other and with the world and we tune our relations with each
other and with the world accordingly. In other words we learn.
Over time, this collective learning results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of
our enterprises and the attendant social relations. These practices are thus the
property of a kind of community created over time by the sustained pursuit of a
shared enterprise. It makes sense, therefore to call these kinds of communities
communities of practice. (Wenger 1998: 45)25
The purpose of this document is not to single out a definition of communities of practice, but to take
note of some of the characteristics that might be found in a community of practice in helping to
formulate a working definition for OER Africa in forging “communities of practice”.
Wenger (1998) highlights three characteristics of a community of practice. 26
“The domain: A community of practice is not merely a club of friends or a network of connections
between people. It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore
24
Communities of Practice: a social aspect to virtual worlds? . Retrieved May 22, 2008, from http://www-
users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/mis/Communities_of_Practice.html
25
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. Communities of Practice. . Retrieved June 17, 2008, from http://www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
26
Wegner, E. Communities of practice. Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved May 21, 2008, from
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
7. implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members
from other people. (You could belong to the same network as someone and never know it.) The domain
is not necessarily something recognized as "expertise" outside the community. A youth gang may have
developed all sorts of ways of dealing with their domain: surviving on the street and maintaining some
kind of identity they can live with. They value their collective competence and learn from each other,
even though few people outside the group may value or even recognize their expertise.”
“The community: In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and
discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn
from each other. A website in itself is not a community of practice. Having the same job or the same title
does not make for a community of practice unless members interact and learn together. The claims
processors in a large insurance company or students in high schools may have much in common, yet
unless they interact and learn together, they do not form a community of practice. But members of a
community of practice do not necessarily work together on a daily basis. The Impressionists, for
instance, used to meet in cafes and studios to discuss the style of painting they were inventing together.
These interactions were essential to making them a community of practice even though they often
painted alone.”
“The practice: A community of practice is not merely a community of interest--people who like certain
kinds of movies, for instance. Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a
shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in
short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction. A good conversation with a stranger
on an airplane may give you all sorts of interesting insights, but it does not in itself make for a
community of practice. The development of a shared practice may be more or less self-conscious. The
"windshield wipers" engineers at an auto manufacturer make a concerted effort to collect and
document the tricks and lessons they have learned into a knowledge base. By contrast, nurses who meet
regularly for lunch in a hospital cafeteria may not realize that their lunch discussions are one of their
main sources of knowledge about how to care for patients. Still, in the course of all these conversations,
they have developed a set of stories and cases that have become a shared repertoire for their practice.”
Iverson and McPhee (2000) discussed this in more detail:27
1. Mutual Engagement comes from the interaction of members. By interrelating, members are
motivated to negotiate their practices and the meanings of their actions. Mutual engagement
identifies a condition similar to connection in a network but describes such relation as grounded
in common interest and activity, rather than mere interaction.
2. Negotiation of a joint enterprise gives a sense coherence and purpose to the community of
practice. Members interact to define significance, shape practices, and react to a larger context.
27
Erasmus, R. The impact of communities of practice - on inter-firm alliance research terms. . Retrieved June 20, 2008, from
http://etd.unisa.ac.za%2FETD-db%2Ftheses%2Favailable%2Fetd-05312006-085451%2Funrestricted
%2Fthesis.pdf&ei=PLJbSNSLCYOqigHP4umXDA&usg=AFQjCNF4uP_WdJkHw2B-xuZbkZoZ9-4puw&sig2=wL0oFHCcrS3mF33EerDIPw
8. This process creates more than just a stated goal, but creates among participants relations of
mutual accountability that become an integral part of the practice.
3. A shared repertoire is the community of practices set of resources for negotiating meaning.
Stories, jargon, theories, forms and other resources form a stock of understood information and
techniques that can be utilized by members.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2001) identified seven elements which are contained in the community ideal.
These show similarities to the characteristics identified by Wenger. 28
1. Membership: When there are members, differences disappear, and connections transcend
roles. People feel an obligation to fellow members that they may not feel to fellow workers.
2. Fluid boundaries: Communities are loose aggregations. There may be a formal core that is
organized and firm, but around that core are people who come and go, move in and out, and
become more active on some occasions, less active on others.
3. Voluntary action: There is a voluntary quality to the actions taken by the community members.
They do more than in their jobs, because they want to.
4. Identity: Community is an idea, not a geographical location. A community exists because many
people think it does and define themselves as part of it.
5. Common culture: Shared understandings, a common language and disciplines, permit a
relatively seamless interchangeability of one for another.
6. Collective strength: Communities tap the power of many.
7. Collective responsibility: Service to the community as a community can be a unifying force in
addition to its pragmatic benefits as a workforce motivator.
VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
It is not the purpose of this document to explore in detail the concept of virtual communities of practice.
It is however noted that this will in fact become a key area of research with regards to OER Africa. This
will be explored further as the research process evolves.
“A virtual community of practice is a network of individuals who share a domain of
interest about which they communicate online”.29
28
Erasmus, R. The impact of communities of practice - on inter-firm alliance research terms. . Retrieved June 20, 2008, from
http://etd.unisa.ac.za%2FETD-db%2Ftheses%2Favailable%2Fetd-05312006-085451%2Funrestricted
%2Fthesis.pdf&ei=PLJbSNSLCYOqigHP4umXDA&usg=AFQjCNF4uP_WdJkHw2B-xuZbkZoZ9-4puw&sig2=wL0oFHCcrS3mF33EerDIPw
29
Gannon-Leary, P., & Fontainha, E. Communities of practice and virtual learning communities: benefits, barriers and success factors. . Retrieved
June 23, 2008, from http://www.elearningeuropa.info/files/media/media13563.pdf
9. Most of the studies regarding the way people engage in communities of practice with each other has
been focused primarily on face-to-face communication, but there is nothing in the definitions of
communities of practice that rules out communication media such as e-mail, discussion groups, or chat
rooms as support mechanisms for participating in communities of practice.
The original concept of a community of practice was based on situated learning in a co-located setting.
However, with the continued growth of the Internet some researchers are claiming that virtual
communities of practice do exist. Some people have even claimed that a wiki (such as wikipedia.org) is a
virtual community of practice.30
Debate around the term “communities of practice” has also been sparked. The community may be real
but the form of communication is mostly, if not entirely, via computers through e-mail and other
methods of communication. Few researchers believe that a community of practice can be formed
without face to face meetings. In fact many leading thinkers stress the importance of this face-to-face
contact and communication. Some researchers argue that a virtual community of practice, in its use of
ICT, changes the essential nature and character of a community of practice.31
Recent research has produced evidence that virtual communities of practice increase the sharing of tacit
knowledge, which is very much in line with communities of practice theory. This is what is sometimes
referred to as “Community-driven knowledge management” or “Community Based Knowledge
Management”, where communities of practice and virtual communities of practice theory is harnessed,
nourished and supported within a broader framework.32
In the scope of this document the concept of virtual communities of practice will not be explored in any
detail. It is sufficient to note that there has been controversy surrounding this concept. In the context of
OER Africa this will need to be researched in detail to understand fully how OER Africa can support
communities of practice that are mainly if not completely virtual. A series of case studies will be
explored later and pilot OER Africa communities investigated to formulate a OER Africa standpoint.
OER AFRICA AND COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
During this stage of research we are only starting to understand communities of practice. In the context
of OER Africa we are in fact a long way off from defining the platform as a space where “communities of
practice” can engage in and share knowledge and expertise in developing collaboratively course and
other materials relevant to higher education institutions in Africa.
30
Virtual community of practice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . Retrieved June 22, 2008, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Community_of_Practice
31
Virtual community of practice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . Retrieved June 22, 2008, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Community_of_Practice
32
Virtual community of practice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . Retrieved June 22, 2008, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Community_of_Practice
10. The definition below represents a first attempt at defining OER Africa as a space that embodies the
principles of communities of practice and allows for communities of practice to be established:
OER Africa provides a platform for sharing expertise, developing ‘repositories’ of
good practice information, and designing and building course materials through
collective, cross-university discussion and decision making.
Developing a space of this nature will not be without its challenges. Further research will involve the
investigation of various communities of practice and virtual communities of practice in further adapting
and refining the above definition.
CONCLUSION
The concept of communities of practice is influencing theory and practice in many domains. Starting out
in apprenticeship studies, it has found its way into businesses interested in knowledge management and
it is progressively filtering its way into many other sectors.
In collating the research and definitions of communities of practice, the following key elements stand
out about above all else as defining features of communities of practice:
• Co-located in the lived in world
• Informal groups
• Self-perpetuated, self-directed and self-motivated
• Share passions or common problems
• Share similar goals and interests
• Hold similar beliefs and value systems
• Embody knowledge
• Facilitate knowledge sharing
• Engaged in “real work”
• Share a common language
• Produce artefacts
It can be noted that the knowledge created and shared by a community of practice is what differentiates
it from other communities. Communities of practice enable expertise to be shared and best practices to
emerge, freely and informally.
The challenge for OER Africa is to understand the concept of communities of practice which are
essentially located in the lived-in world and investigate ways of transferring the concept into the virtual
world.
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