You respect your teammates and are accountable to your project managers. But when you face a problem that stretches your knowledge, you turn to people like Jake, Sylvia, and Robert. Even though they work on their own projects in other business units, they are your real colleagues. You all go back many years. They understand the issues you face and will explore new ideas with you. And even Julie, who now works for one of your suppliers, is only a phone call away. These are the people with whom you can discuss the latest developments in the field and troubleshoot each other’s most difficult design challenges.
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MMOGs: Vibrant examples of Communities of Practice - 2 views
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This article explains how Online Multiplayer Games are the new model for communities of practice and how we as teachers should incorporate technology into our classrooms to utilize this networking capability.
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MMOGs are a very interesting phenomenon to me. I took Dr. Haskell's GameBased learning course last semester. What a great way to engage students within COP and PLN.
New Classroom Management with Music - 5 views
PLN theory, CoP, Connectivism - Naillon - 8 views
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The Systems Thinker - Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System - The System... - 12 views
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What it is about: its joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members How it functions: the relationships of mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity What capability it has produced: the shared repertoire of communal resources (routines, sensibilities, artifacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) that members have developed over time.
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This article talks about how communities of practice are all around us and that more than likely, everyone is in multiple groups or communities. It also discusses how knowledge is what holds the communities together rather than tasks doing so like on a team. As it explains what a community of practice is, it also goes into how to develop the community as well as how to maintain it. To help a community of practice to succeed, it says no member needs to be on the outside of the community, but for all members to be fully inside the community and fully committed.
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@mskmjohnson Great article! I particularly like the focus on a CoP vs. a team and the practical information on maintaining a CoP
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This in-depth overview discusses CoPs covers their roles in organizations like other articles, but it also talks about where the can be found and their differences than teams, businesses, networks, etc- offering a definition more by what it is not. The stages of development image helped me better understand the foundation of a CoP.
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Etienne Wenger explains the importance of Communities of Practice. Wenger states that communities are everywhere and most people are involved in a community of practice. Communities of practice are different than a community of interest or geographical communities because of three elements. The three elements are what it is about, how it functions, and what capability it has produced. The community of practice can be within businesses, across business units, or even across company boundaries. All "communities of practice move through various stages of development characterized by different levels of interaction among the members and different kinds of activities."
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Article by Wegner explaining CoPs that has a couple of great graphics of what it means to be in a CoP, how to develop them, and how they relate to organizations
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I really like how this article connects the idea of CoP to things other than education. It is a 21st century skill that we can teach our students and have them continue to use even after their formal education is complete.
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Sometimes we teachers get ourselves stuck on the idea that we are clearly the only profession out there in the world when we are researching topics like CoPs. However, this isn't the case, and I really appreciate that this resource outlines the idea of communities of practice as far reaching and for more than just teachers. It comes back to the community. Without the community, there is no practice.
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This article goes beyond the basic definitions of CoPs as it provides where communities can be found and the importance of CoPs to organizations and offers suggestions to develop and nurture CoPs.
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For me it is easy to think of CoPs in education but I liked looking at them in other organizations. Thinking about how to keep them going was interesting. Things like legitimizing participation seems obvious but can really make or break a CoP.
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This article begins by describing three different communities of practice, but not how one would traditionally think of them. A "community of practice" for myself on a personal level would not necessarily have to be the other middle school teachers in my building, but could involve the elementary art teacher I am friends with. The more I read about these communities of practice the more they are sounding like "like-minded people who talk about stuff they have in common." There is a neat little graph describing five stages of development of these communities.
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This article talks about Communities of Practice and how they differ from PLN. COP have a centralized theme, how they function depend on the sophistication and functionality of the group as a whole.
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It is nice to see how communities of practice are used in areas outside of education. I feel this really highlights the importance of them beyond the theoretical value and into real-world application.
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This article provides characteristics of communities of practice and examples of where they can be seen but what stood out to me as being useful information is how to keep CoP's productive and "nurtured." The focus of implementing CoP's is not in education but rather business; however, the information is still relevant and applicable.
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Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier - 2 views
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he organic, spontaneous, and informal nature of communities of practice makes them resistant to supervision and interference
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Communities of practice, on the other hand, are informal—they organize themselves, meaning they set their own agendas and establish their own leadership.
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This article by Wenger and Snyder in the Harvard Business Review is a great reflection of a community of practice (CoP) by the creators themselves in a well-known publication. While the article is in-depth and covers every aspect of a CoP, the included chart may have been the most helpful part of this article to really break down a CoP and the difference between that and other groups.
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This article was very informative. Two things that stood out the most for me were: one - the table outlining the engagement, life of network, etc. of Cops, formal work groups, project teams, and informal networks, and two - when Wenger and Snyder said, "Communities of practice are emerging in companies that thrive on knowledge." I totally agree with this statement. Knowledge is power and power puts you on top, so it stands to reason that Cops thrive on knowledge gained. Great source.
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This article from the Harvard Business Review provides a great overview for Communities of Practice and what they look like within the context of larger organizations. There is a great chart comparing CoP with other organizational groups and a good description of the hallmarks of effective CoPs.
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If you think Communities of Practice or CoPs are just for education, you need to read this article. It gives great examples of non-education based CoPs, including CoPs used in the current business world. In fact, the history of CoPs is traced as far back as ancient Greece in this article. Since this article tends to focus on non-education CoPs, it gives a nice breakdown of how "teams" differ from CoPs. This concept can easily apply to the school setting since many grade levels use team/department approaches for working with students. Looking at the business examples, it's worth noting that CoPs do not just spontaneously start. They take great effort to form and develop.
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This article from the Harvard Business Review discusses the use of CoPs in the business world. The author compares CoPs with more traditional group collaboration strategies pointing out the positives of Cops and how their use is changing business.
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Wenger and Snyder examine communities of practice and their implementation in the business and private sectors not necessarily education centric. They provide case studies on the benefits of CoP's which show concrete production improvement demonstrating the CoPs effectiveness. The chart comparing CoP's to teams and informal networks is helpful to understanding the differences.
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This article discusses communities of practice in a historical sense and provided me with some relevant background information. It also describes the several reasons that communities of practice are formed. Communities of practice, among other things, can be great for "maintaining connections with peers" or can be created for individuals to come together "in response to changes" surrounding them. I recommend this read.
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While parts of this article were about ways to create and grow CoPs, I found much of this helpful when illustrating CoPs in real workplaces that formed to solve problems by sharing expertise, commonalities, and without disrupting upper-level management.
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This article from Harvard Business Review explores CoPs which were fairly new to the business scene in 2000. Knowledge sharing, learning, and change were thought to be improved through CoPs, though the creation of CoPs is not a directive from management. CoPs are self created and have their own projects and leadership. The article shares a brief history of CoPs. Noted are the differences between informal networks, project teams, formal work groups, and CoPs - looking at their purpose, membership, bonds, and length of relationships. CoPs are recognized for improving company performance.
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In this article the author provides an introduction to the concept of communities of practice, describes benefits and utility for business, and strategies for implementation in that context.
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The highlight of this article for me is that CoPs have to be organic in their organization and management.
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10 Reasons Every Teacher Needs A Professional Learning Network - - 8 views
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This site not only defines personal learning networks, but it also provides ten reasons educators need a PLN. It further offers links to helpful resources to illustrate each reason.
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I like that this website gives different reasons for having a PLN and follows those up with a link to an additional resource for each reason. It gives a good overview of different ideas and provides options to go deeper into the areas you want to explore further. The infographic is nice too. It is something you could save and print to motivate yourself to keep up with your PLNs.
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Great graphic organizer in this article. My school has a monthly mandated "PLC" meeting that we all have to go to, that accomplishes few of these goals. I think these communities are more effective if they are organic and not top-down.
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I was just looking at this article before I noticed you had already posted! I was really drawn to the graphic provided when you first open the page. It's a good reminder of why PLN's can be such a benefit for educators. I was drawn to the global resources an educator could gain. I often get wrapped up in my immediate circle of "supporters" that I forget there are other educators all over the world that could be a resource.
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I love this graphic!! This would be an excellent thing to bring to administration to help allow space and encouragement for teachers to develop PLNs!
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Great justification for forming PLNs for teachers! Every teacher should have a PLN so that they can continually grow as teachers.
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Thanks for sharing this graphic. I love Sylvia's work. Sketchnotes are such a fun way to capture and share complex ideas. Number 7 really resonated with me. As a classroom teacher, I used my PLN to create meaningful and engaging global learning projects for my students. It was so nice to have a group of supportive, like-minded educators to connect with! Thanks for sharing!
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What is a Personal Learning Network? - The Tech Edvocate - 6 views
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You personalize exactly who you want in your network, what you want to share, where you want to engage with people, and what you’re interested in learning about
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You’ll be amazed who in your field will say something you’ve never thought of, or mention a point of view you’ve never considered.
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But the heart of every network isn’t the platform, but the people who enrich conversations with unique backgrounds and specializations.
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hey’re especially important for educators because it’s likely a school district lacks the funding to support teachers with professional development.
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This article discusses the value of PLNs specifically for educators. It gives the who, what, when, why and how for the reader.
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This is a great article. I like that is starts with what a PLN is and proceeds to talk about where and how to set it up. I also like that this article is written through the lens of an educator. It makes a lot of what is said more relevant and personal. Good find!
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I really like how this article breaks down what a PLN is, how to learn from one, and where to network. So often, I think that these basics are what keep people from joining in. Though networking can sound intimidating, this piece notes why they are so important to educators and, potentially, students, thus encouraging and motivating users to join in.
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This is a nice overview of what a PLN is and how teachers can get involved. It discussed important reasons that PLNs are useful. The article breaks down the need, structure and value of a PLN. #EDTECH543 #EDTechSN #PLN
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The Connected Educator: All About Connectedness | Edutopia - 3 views
www.edutopia.org/...about-connectedness-tom-whitby
education technology edtech543 resources teaching socialmedialearning pln plns
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I really connect to theory through hearing about practice. In this article by Tom Whitby for Edutopia, he shares 6 different stories from 6 different educators who have begun to engage with online professional learning networks. I connected to this article because I had the same path as many of these educators. Whether it was the teacher who heard someone at a conference or the 29 year veteran who found herself in a 1:1 MacBook class, they all began peripherally and then developed into active participants in their online PLNs. This article is a pretty good setup for our upcoming adventures.
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Hi Jake, I liked the stories, especially Carol's experience of Twitter! I did see some discussion of professional learning networks in my reading as well.
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It was interesting to see most of their stories had to do with Twitter. I have resisted Twitter for so long because I do not understand it at all! Guess it's time to learn.
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Reading personal stories from teachers really helps me see how educators are using Twitter, and other technologies, in the classroom. I appreciated reading the variety of ways these teachers use Twitter to communicate with students and connect with other educators professionally. I'm beginning to see the value of Twitter as a professional network builder!