This document discusses communities of practice and landscapes of practice. It defines communities of practice as groups of people who share interests or professions and learn from each other. It describes landscapes of practice as the complex networks formed by multiple overlapping communities of practice, including regulatory bodies, workplaces, disciplines, and more. It argues that identity and competence are shaped by participation within these landscapes. It raises questions about how higher education can help people develop the skills to navigate changing landscapes of practice in the 21st century.

1. Knowledgeability in landscapes of practicefrom curriculum to identity Etienne Wenger SHRE conference Newport, Wales December 15, 2010

2. The individual and the socialcreativity and development "The positive development of a society in the absence of creative, independently thinking, critical individuals is as inconceivable as the development of an individual in the absence of the stimulus of the community." - Albert Einstein

3. A social theory of learningsome key concepts learning Where do webelong? community Who are webecoming? practice identity What are we doing? meaning What is ourexperience?

5. interact regularly

6. learn from and with each other improve their ability to do what they care about In gangs… they learn to survive on the streets In organizations… they provide better service to clients

7. A body of knowledgethe curriculum

8. KnowledgeabilityCompetence and experience socially defined competence personal experience

9. A complex landscape of practicea (social) body of knowledge Teaching Professional body Researchdiscipline 1 Regulatory body Researchdiscipline 2 WorkplaceB WorkplaceA Profession I Profession II Service recipientB Service recipentA

10. Competing views of practicecommunities and boundaries Regulatory body Teaching Researchdiscipline 1 boundaryprojects boundaryobjects Professional body Researchdiscipline 2 broker WorkplaceB WorkplaceA peripheralaccess Profession I Profession II boundary practices Service recipientB Service recipentA

11. Economy of meaningLocality and power local no subsumption territorial claims influence

12. Vertical and horizontal accountabilitytwo simultaneous trends Vertical accountability… Hierarchy Institutionalized accountability Evidence-based prescription Codification and regulationStandards of qualification Horizontal accountability…Communities and networks Peer-to-peer learningPersonal meaning Engagement and creativity Individual identity/reputation CoP

13. A complexifying landscape of practicenew entrants and contenders NGO’s Open curriculum Regulatory body Google Teaching Researchdiscipline 1 Informalcommunities boundaryprojects boundaryobjects Professional body Researchdiscipline 2 Professional networks broker WorkplaceB Wikipedia WorkplaceA peripheralaccess Topical websites Profession I Profession II Social networks Twitterers boundary practices Service recipientB Bloggers Service recipentA Client communities

14. Knowledgeability as the modulation of identificationa shift in the burden of identity

15. Finding oneself in a landscape of practicemodes of identification Imagination Seeing afuture Beingcreative Locating oneself Crossingboundaries Alignment Building a trajectory Engagement Making adifference Goingdeep

16. Distinct carriers of knowledgeabilitypractice and identity

17. Convening social learning spacesexercising complex identities Develop modulation and improvisation capability Use boundaries as learning assets Combine engagement, imagination, and alignment Balance accountability and expressibility

18. The 21st century will be the century of identity The future of learningfrom knowledge to knowledgeability If you are going to be a driving force in the strategic remaking of the landscape of learning and innovation… … how can your institutions help address this emerging learning challenge?

19. Thank you! Etienne Wenger etienne@ewenger.com www.ewenger.com

20. Purple in the noselanguage and meaning in practice

21. Learning from a social perspectivecompetence and experience Socially defined competence:degrees of masteryparadigmatic trajectoriesbaseline and frontier The experience of membersaccountabilityclaims to competencepersonal trajectories Learning can be defined as a realignment ofcompetenceandexperience, whichever leads the other.

22. The role of higher educationa few questions Is this view of learning relevant to the research and teaching mission of the university? In what ways does it change how a university serves its students? How does it affect the role of the university in society at large? What would it take to institutionalize such a view? What implications does it have for research into Higher Education? What kind of research questions does this view call for?