Group items tagged

This article draws comparisons between behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism and how they all relate to connectivism. Connectivism has come about with the age of technology, and has gradually become its own learning theory.

Provides an overview of learning theories in terms of creating instructional environments. Discusses principles and limitations of connectivism and concludes that how people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. Connectivism provides insight in to learning and tasks.

This is is a good breakdown on the history of the connectivism theory and school of thought. It highlights how it the theory is beneficial in our digital age because other theories like behaviorism, cognitivism,and constructivism operate under the tenet that learning occurs by majority inside of a person. It reiterates the point that the network or "pipe" is more important than the content within it.

Explanation of connectivism, including contrasts to behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Interesting quote: "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today." I'm not sure I totally agree with that statement...

Very interesting piece on the how the half-life of knowledge is shrinking. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the last 10 years and is doubling every 18 months.

George Siemens ideas on the limitations of traditional learning theories and connectivism.

This articles gives information about the basic thought behind Connectivism. This article even gives the background information about the limitations of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism in the realm of technology and knowledge.

This background paper reviews the limitations of common learning theories in the digital age. Siemens then describes connectivism.

"Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical." This is a fantastic quote in this article. Our foundations for education are highly impacting the way we learn and soak up the knowledge around us. Everyone in this world needs to gain more knowledge, learn new techniques, and grow their thinking to become a harder worker, more valuable asset, and a better person in general. It is critical for the society to build on the foundations of their knowledge now so we can overcome those future problems and struggles in the future. Technology is opening doors for people to create, develop, and build knew foundations of education.

The resource discusses the need for a changing view of learning due to the development of technology tools to aid learning and information sharing. Many learning theories have not incorporated the use of technology or connectivity. Previous learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism have limitations presented in this article to support the need for connectivism. An important thought stated by the author, "We derive our competence from forming connections". This article states the importance of experience to learn knowledge.

In this piece, Siemens explores behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism and their deficits when it comes to learning in the digital world. He explains how Connectivism addresses the change in learning in that it is no longer an internal activity because of technology.

This is a resource on communities of practice and their positive impact on organizational development and group work. It highlights the work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. It breaks down the 3 elements that differentiate a community of practice from other groups/communities and how knowledge is generated in a community. Situated learning is the model of learning that is explained as taking place in these communities of practice.

This article gives a short history of Communities of Practice and goes on to explain what they are. It is easy to read and understand as It explains what CoP are and what they are not.

Detailed article that describes the communities of practice philosophy that Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger developed the in the late 80's that proposes learning comes from the social interactions in our daily lives. The article further explains how the interactions with various groups causes the learning, whether it is as a core member or a bystander.

I really liked this article because as an educator it spoke to what I believe in. Learning does not only take place in the educational setting of a school, but it also takes place outside of that environment. Learning is social, it's physical, it's interactive, it's communicating. There are so many different ways to learn and therefore people never stop learning. It states that communities of practice are all around us and most of the time we are involved in many of those groups at the same time.

Lave and Wenger discuss communities of practice covering many topics such as the characteristics and the relationships. EDTECH543 Communities of Practice

This article discusses Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, who proposed that "learning involved a process of engagement in a 'community of practice'." They discuss the idea of learning as being a social experience rather than an individual one, and that people are typically involved in a number of communities of practice. The characteristics of communities of practice are described, as well as situated learning.

This article clearly articulates what communities of practice are, examples of each (which I find the most interesting as it makes a very clear connection to what we know), and three main components. The three distinguishable ideas show how communities of practice are different than random groups. I like their ideas of these groups occurring over time around things thst matter to people. #EDTECH543

This source discusses communities of practice and how they can be either formal or informal. Members of a community of practice are in an organized group centered around a shared idea. Communities of practice allow connectivity because learners make connections with each other as resources to acquire knowledge when needed.

I learned about different definitions or explanations of communities of practice and how the learning happens by means of communities of practice is connected to situated learning. I also learned about different characteristics of communities of practice and how these characteristics are interconnected. I learned in detail about how the concept of communities of practice is aligned with the concept of situated learning. I enjoyed reading the examples and learning how communities of practices change over time.

In CoPs, connections are being made. Everyone is working together to get everything that they need. I think that the main focus of this descibres the aspects of collaboration and why it is so important with CoPs. CoPs is related to situated learning and that is something new that I learned.

"Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning" A COP is joining in mutual activities.

3 crucial elements that make a COP: Domain, Community, and Practice. A domain is a common interest among members. A community means that members engage in activities and discussions and share information to help one another. Members practice by sharing tools and resources.is something that individuals do.

Excellent article that explains the characteristics of CoPs and how CoPs can be used in many aspects of life (both personally and professionally). This is the first article I have found that references "situational learning" as part of CoPs. The idea that learning is a social process and that we learn more from collaboration than we do independently seems to support the use and development of CoPs. Lave and Wegner illustrate that theory in the article by using examples from real-life situations.

This article really talks about the details of CoPs without going into the how-tos that many others do. I appreciate how foundational it starts- even pointing out that learning was initially thought of as an individual activity and how that has evolved. Situated learning is discussed as it is beneficial for learners to not just learn by hearing or doing, but by learning to talk about what they are doing.

Ariana, I loved how this article provided such great information and details.I also appreciate knowing the background of where foundations start. Thanks for the share!

This article gives a very detailed explanation of communities of practice. The author traces the term to its origins to Lave and Wenger. Definitions of the characteristics of communities of practice are defined. Both Lave and Wenger claim that learning requires communities of practice which create authenticity beyond models to be applied to real situations

This was one of the most helpful articles to read because it not only showed connectivism as theory but also its limitations. It explores connectivism as theory and as a phenomenon because detractors feel like it does not fit the qualifications for a theory. However Mr. Bell does show how if not a theory connectivism certainly does have merit. He also compares other theories to connectivism to show that merit in today's digital learning.

This article looks at Connectivism and explores if is a learning theory. The article also addresses how technology has created the need for researchers to move beyond more traditional learning theories and develop theories that relate to the use of technology in learning.

Here the author argues that Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) are not an application but an approach to learning. They require a radical shift in how we use technology, but they supply a holistic environment where students learn to take responsibility for their own education.

This article presents the features and reasoning for personal learning environments in e-learning. It discusses reasons for its importance in e-learning and lifelong learning. The ways that "learning" is changing with new technologies and resources are considered. The social aspect of personal learning environments is also described, with an emphasis on the tools that are used to facilitate the connections.

The author discusses the potential of learning environments in eLearning and how these LEs can bring together more authentic contexts for learning. The paper also reviews the different purposes and uses of Personal Learning Environments. Through PLE, individuals are responsible for many aspects of their own learning within the most useful contexts. Blogging was also covered as a way to incorporate informal learning. Attwell considers the challenges associated with continued LEs after a course is over, and points out the overarching questions regarding the responsibility for institutions or teachers to continue to support this ongoing learning.

Attwell, G. (2007). Personal Learning Environments-the future of eLearning?. eLearning Papers, 2(1), 1-8. In Graham Attwell's article he offers some insight and ideas towards why personal learning Environments may be essential to learning in the future. . He details the technology behind the buzz surrounding personal learning environments and examples of how we can use them going forward. What I enjoyed about the article was the notion that everyone's learning environment, style, context, and situation are different and PLE's enable the learner to pace themselves and grow on their own terms. While detailing lifelong learning the author grabs the theory of self-driven education being helped by personal learning environments. Graham does a good job of not following into a common misconception that technology directly correlates to better learning, but rather approaches the aspect of what technology could do for learning as well as what personal learning environments could do for learning as well. From his own personal PLE list of software to explaining the next steps in adopting personal learning environments on a wider scale Graham makes sense of a complicated theory.

This article is an outstanding review by Mark K. Smith of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger's theories of social learning through communities of practice. It gives a great overview of the theoretical foundations as well as additional explanations of those theories.

This article outlines the theory and practice of communities of practice, and discusses the idea that learning is social and comes from of our experience of participating in daily life. The authors identify a variety of types of CoPs that all humans are engaged in, even if they are not formally identified as such. A CoP is defined along three dimensions: what it is about, how it functions, and what capabilities/resources it has produced. Also emphasized are the importance of the relationships formed between the people within the CoPs - hence, the community in CoP. Stemming from that, they extend the idea of CoPs to apply to the classroom culture and environment and discuss the need for educators to cultivate a similar idea to best facilitate learning among their students.

The point that I learned from this article is that communities of practice go beyond the acquisition of knowledge and skill. They build relationships where people within the community work together to share their skills, knowledge, and interests they have learned in order to complete new or more complex tasks. We learn best through active participation.

Articles like this one make it clear that we are actively involved in communities of practice every day, without even realizing it. This is largely due to the internet; now, if one needs to reach out to another person for advice on baking, for example, one can use online forums or message boards to connect to others in their community of practice. This was not possible before the internet, or at the very least it was difficult to accomplish so easily. I'm interested to learn a little more about what COPs might have looked like before the internet.

Learning is social and takes place by participating in daily life. Learning takes place situationally in communities of practice. These communities of practice exist all around us: home, work, school, etc. As we pursue our goals within our groups, learning occurs. Members off s community of practice (CoP) are united by common activities and by what they learn through participating in those activities. A community of practice is defined by three factors, "what it is about," "how it functions," and "what capability it has produced." For a community of practice to be effective, it needs to "generate and appropriate a shared repertoire of ideas, commitments and memories." There also need to be resources like documents, tools, procedures, and a shared vocabulary. The the developers of this theory, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, focused on the kinds of "social engagement" that caused learning to take place. People join groups and initially learn from the periphery. Eventually, they become more proficient through their participation as they move toward the center of the group. The situation in which the learning occurs has a significant effect on the learning.

After reading through this article, I kept coming back to this quote: "Rather than looking to learning as the acquisition of certain forms of knowledge, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger have tried to place it in social relationships - situations of co-participation." These are ideas I try to integrate into my classroom on a day-to-day basis because healthy social relationships can enhance learning experiences due to students becoming vested in goals. Students are more willing to put their feet outside of the box, without fear of sharing and participating in these learning environments---and they become active inside members of these groups, rather than outside onlookers.

This chapter by Hoadley breaks down a community of practice (CoP) and explains the theory behind it as well as well as its history. An interesting piece of the chapter compares a CoP to other groups and how each works a bit differently. It was also interesting to read about how technology is used in successful CoPs.

I learned the feature-based as well as the process based definition of communities of practice. I also learned how we can support a community of practice. It was valuable to learn how technology ties into communities of practices in the form or presentation or communication abilities, integration in content and context, etc. The article mentioned C4P framework, which encouraged me to take a deeper look at the C4P framework.

This is an exhaustive article that covers the definition and history of COPs, thoughts on how to sustain COPs, and ideas on how technology can support and enhance COPs in the 21st century. It is practical, useful, and interesting. While I found it to be perhaps a little too detailed, it was nonetheless a good article.

The concept of communities of practice has been used as both a theory to explain how learning occurs, and a "metaphor for how instruction should take place." From an anthropological view, knowledge is not completely contained within individuals, but is more often found in groups/communities. Knowledge can be "sticky" or "leaky". "Sticky" knowledge is difficult to disseminate, perhaps because it is highly technical, or because the target audience does not absorb it. "Leaky" knowledge is knowledge (like trade secrets) the disseminates despite efforts to keep it secret. Knowledge involves practice in context. One way we learn with situational learning is by peripheral, or tangential, participation. Learners should be allowed to "lurk" before participating, much as beginner social media users do. A knowledge building community and a community are practice are not the same thing. A knowledge-building community seeks to learn and build knowledge, while a community of practice wants to improve some type of work function. The learning may be the same, but the goals are different. Forced knowledge-building communities may never read the stage of community of practice depending on the level of connectedness and peripheral participation. Technology can facilitate communication and collaboration for CoPs.

This explains what a Community of Practice is, it goes into two definitions, features-based and process-based. It also discusses how communities of practice and technology often go hand-in-hand and how this has changed and developed over time.

This chapter provides an overview and history of communities of practice. There is a nice description of the theoretical assumptions underlying its development. The differences of communities of practice and other knowledge communities are explained thoroughly. There is an appreciation for how technology plays a role in today's communities of practice, how it can support it and how it is not less effective than face to face communication. It is explained that the key to a successful community of practice is "connections, conversations, content, and information context."

Christopher Hoadley explains CoPs, focusing on definition and practice. Essentially, Hoadley illustrates that CoPs are informal yet highly connected, constructivist in nature, and supported by technology like social media. He states that technology supports communities of practice by "linking people with similar interests, providing a shared repository of resources, directly supporting communication, and providing awareness of various resources within the information context" (Jonassen & Land, 2012). Additionally, he goes on to express that individual learning fails when it comes to application but that group learning often creates deeper, more meaningful understanding especially when built upon authentic situations.

This article gives two separate definitions for communities of practice, a feature based definition and a process based definition. Between the two it explains how learning through practice can be more beneficial than following a manual or example. It also states how participation is important as well as being viewed as a member of the community of practice. The article then goes into explaining how technology has played a positive role in communities and has helped with communication to allow a community of practice to function even better.

I found the phrase "shared experience over time, and a commitment to shared understanding" to be very powerful. It is the underlying foundation of a community of practice. Each member has something to contribute to the overall goal of understanding the same material.

An article that claims the success of communities of practice comes down to two things: "shared experience over time and a commitment to shared understanding." It further explains that not only are the experiences key, but it is crucial that those experiences have variety and diversity.

I appreciate this piece because then intent is to build a concrete definition for communities of practice for an encyclopedia. It explores the sociological implications of the term and offers rich language that can be used to adequately define this particular type of community. According to the author there are two primary conditions in order for a collection of people to be considered a community of practice: commitment to the same shared understanding and a shared experience over time. These communities act as a tool to familiarize participant's with the world using the lenses of the group's interests.

Concise definition and description of Communities of Practice. Focus is on relation to speech communities.

This article gives a straightforward explanation of communities of practice. The author discusses the role of linguistics in this approach, explains its value, and how it can be successful.

This article talks explains the idea of community of practice and how one might compare their community to others. The ability to establish the purpose of the community of practice in which you are participating will allow for differentiation amongst other communities of practice. Although it wasn't a major focus of the paper it was one of the things that I took from this article that hasn't really been brought up in others.

This article was written for the Encyclopedia of Langauge and Linguistics. The article discusses how communities of practice are "collections of people who engage on an ongoing basis in some common endeavor". They are based not on shared characteristics or co-presence, but rather on shared practices. The author also points out that there are two crucial conditions, "shared experience over time, and a commitment to shared understanding". The article then discusses communities of practice in the sense of linguistics.

This article defines and explains the unique qualities of communities of practice. It also provides examples of how communities of practice are much different than other groupings we may identify.

The author lists the needs of sharing experience over time and the commitment to share understanding to make the community of practice work. Collaboration between all parts of the CoP. The article describes how a Community of Practice does not only have to be educational. Examples like book clubs, bowling teams or a church congregation are used by the author in the article.

Communities of practice is described by Penelope Eckert. Communities of practice develops ways of doing things, views, values, power relations, and ways of talking. Two main parts of the meaning include shared experienced over time and a commitment to shared understanding.

This article summarizes the concept of Communities of Practice (CoPs) and examines this concept as the basis of a social theory of learning. CoPs are defined as "a collection of people who engage on an ongoing basis in some common endeavor." The primary virtue of a CoP lies in shared practice among members, which is a totally different idea then social groups based on gender, class, or physical location such as neighborhood or workplace. While this article focused particularly on the linguistic/speech field, the general theory behind the development of and discussion of benefits of CoPs was applicable to all domains.

This article gave a lot of information on Communities of Practice. I liked how they discussed the two crucial conditions of CoPs. The first is that they are a shared experience over time. As the group develops over time, there is a great level of consistency. It provides more opportunities for joint sense-making and deepening participants' knowledge. The second condition is that they are a commitment to shared understanding. Participants in the CoP practice collaborating by placing themselves in a group with respect the world around them. There is a commitment to mutual engagement, shared knowledge, and a sense of predictability.

Megan and Amy, I like the idea of commitment presented by this article. It's one thing to belong to a COP, but another to be committed to it. We can't just "join" a COP without actively participating in it and contributing to it. I think that's an important thing to remember.

I also like the idea that at it's heart a COP is about mutual sense-making. The article mentions the idea of that being conflictual or consensual which I think is important to remember. A COP doesn't have to be all roses and unicorns to be effective.

This was a very interesting article to read by Penelope Eckert. The focus of this article takes on language and linguistics in CoPs, and Eckert claims that a "community of practice is thus a rich locus for the study of situated language use, of language change, and of the very process of conventionalization that underlies both." At its core, the claim being made is that language and linguistics is always evolving in CoPs and this helps with "identity construction" within a CoP.

This was an interesting read, though perhaps not particularly relevant to our class. It discusses communities of practice, what they are, where the theory came from, but it goes on beyond that to connect linguistics into it. I never would have considered that link if I had not read this.

This brief encyclopedia entry about communities of practice gives a succinct summary of the theory and discusses how CoPs affect, and perhaps are affected by, language.

This brief encyclopedia entry about communities of practice gives a succinct summary of the theory and discusses how CoPs affect, and perhaps are affected by, language.

Penelope Eckert explains that "a community of practice is a collection of people who engage on an ongoing basis in some common endeavor." CoP was developed by developed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger and is based on the social learning theory. The author discusses the two conditions that are necessary to have a successful community of practice and provides scholarly research on the linguistic factors of CoP.

This article discusses the origins of Communities of Practice and then expands on the concepts by using examples that adhere to Anthropology and Linguistics.

This article explains what a community of practice is. It gives two aspects that are necessary for a community of practice which are "shared experience over time, and a commitment to shared understanding." The article also contrasts communities of practice with groups of speakers. It also explains that a child's linguistics are much more related to a child's communities of practice as opposed to their parents' social class.

This is a great resource with videos about communities in practice. I really enjoyed the table about communities of practice vs teams.

This resource had both videos and a visual table to explain communities of practice. I liked how they described it using the terms: "Communities of Interest and Communities of Action". I think that is important because people can access their own specific interest catered directly to them.

I think this is a great resource to have for Communities of Practice. It provides a clear definition of Communities of Practice and also provides videos and visuals to provide further clarification.

CoP's a great place to share ideas, resources, post questions/concerns with other professionals within your contetn area. Great video and explanation of CoP!

This is a great place to get started because there are videos as well as text. The diagram toward the bottom of the page by Heather Smith and James McKeen from the School of Business at Queen's University is particularly useful. Often knowing what something is is easier when you know what it is not! Good stuff, thanks.

This article discusses that the idea of communities of practice (CoP) is that learning occurs in social contexts that emerge and evolve when people who have common goals interact as they strive towards those goals. It mentions the negotiation of meaning which involves two components: reification and participation. The article also compares communities of practice with teams and community of practice as knowledge management.

This article describes in detail the development of CoP and the work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. There is a short video embedded that gives an example of CoP in the workplace at Caterpillar University. At the bottom of the article it shows a table that contrasts teams and CoPs. This gives a good visual on what the differences are in each category.

I especially like the way that this resource outlines the difference between teams and CoPs. It makes complete sense and is very intuitive but it is extremely useful to have it outlined in the chart format.

Lave & Wegner are the originators of the idea of 'Situated Learning' which is described as being fully engaged and "learning to talk instead of learning from talk." Within CoPs, participants engage in frameworks with structure. Alcoholics Anonymous was a good example from this article.

Sometimes when I spend time researching and learning about new concepts, I get lost in the details of definitions and citations. What I liked about this article was the table comparing CoPs to Teams. It breaks it down and compares the two in a way that makes sense.

As many have already commented on, this article gives a nice foundation for what CoPs are and their framework and purpose in society. I especially like the analogy chart made between CoPs and teams, showing what makes up each, how they may be similar, but how they are different.

This article summarizes the work of Lave and Wenger on the theory of communities of practice. It discusses how participation in communities of practice leads to learning and contributing to community goals. The article also includes a helpful chart that outlines the differences between communities of practice and other types of teams or focus groups.

This article explains the idea of communities of practice (CoP) and has some great videos to further explain giving examples. There is also a nice chart that shows the difference between a team and a CoP, which can be a common misconception that they are not the same thing.

This article gives insight to Wenger's components of learning, and then discusses the differences between teams and CoPs. I found this very helpful, as it can be easy to confuse the two at first. Through this chart, one can better understand the objective, membership, organization, termination, value proposition, and management of CoPs and compare this information to that of teams.

The communities of practice concept is explained in detail with many references to the work of Lave and Wenger. The article speaks to communities of practice as social learning in the workforce for organizational development, change management, and knowledge management.

This article offers an introduction to communities of practice. It also examines impacts on learning, makes distinctions between teams and offers direction for benefits for knowledge management.

Communities of practice, credited to Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, is a concept that claims that learning occurs through social interactions when people have a common goal and they interact while moving towards obtaining the goal. These communities are best ran with reification and participation. The alignment of these two concepts are what directs the communities of practice to their common goal. A community of practice is different than a team. A team has a goal, but their goal is to finish a specific task or project while a community of practice's goal is to share knowledge and learning on a particular subject. Teams also have a leader and disperse once the goal is completed while communities of practice are self organized and only disband when there is no interest left in learning that topic.Communities of practice facilitate the exchange process of knowledge.

A CoP evolves when people (educators) have common goals and collaborate to meet those goals. The chart comparing CoPs and teams was really helpful. The objectives, membership, and values are all distinctive differences when comparing CoPs and teams. Thanks for a great link!

This short article outlines what communities of practices are and provides a useful table showing the differences between them and teams. This chart is from Heather Smith and James McKeen from the School of Business at Queen's University (2003). They discuss the objective, membership, organization, termination, value proposition and management through the lenses of communities of practice and teams.

This article is a good, brief description of a CoP. I found analyzing the chart helpful for a a better understanding of a CoP. I previously considered a CoP to be a formal learning group. Now, based on the article you've provided, I can see how a CoP can be informal and include marginal group members.

Re"construction of his/her identity through these communities" Finding your voice and place in a CoP is important, as you need to be an active member to achieve the greatest return.

This site goes over, in detail, what a community of practice is. I had a little trouble understanding what the concept was referring to from the class material, but after reading this site, I was no longer confused. It defines a Community of Practice and breaks it down on a basic level. It provides the three requirements and explains what a CoP basically does. It is very informative.

Article describing communities of practice. Where they come from, and where they are being applied.

Wenger 2006, I chose this article because I recognized his name from my 503 reading. He does explain CoPs well. Wenger states there are three charateriestics crucial to being a CoP. They are: domain or the common interest; community or the interaction, and practice or the fact that the members are practitioners. He coined the phrase community of practice in reference to the living curriculum of apprentices.

Etienne Wegner is a leader in the field of CoP. He along with Jean Lave coined the term. This is his website and it provides a direct introduction to the concept and the application of communities of practice.

This is the website of Etienne Wenger, one of the leading researcher's of communities of practice. This website contains an overview of his theory and links to his papers. Wenger studied the learning process in apprenticeship situations and found that most learning and sharing of knowledge actually takes place between the community of advanced apprentices and journeymen.

Wenger defines what makes a CoP different from a group of friends who like some of the same things, people who share the same occupation, or 30-somethings who all like romantic comedies. CoPs must consist of a group of people who pursue a certain focus and help the members obtain more skills/knowledge in the process. He explains where the term came from and various ways in which it is applied today.

I'm sure many people have listed this one but it does seem like the place to start; at the source. I do like that the wenger does speak in plain language, especially in the call out boxes.

I agree with Richard, especially since the term gets used loosely and tends to mean many different things. One of the articles I found deals with contrasting four different definitions of Communities of Practice.

In this Web site Etienne Wenger introduces the concept of "communities of practice" and defines them 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" and describes why they are useful for learning in many different contexts. A community of practice has 3 characteristics- 1) an identity defined by a shared domain of interest 2) a community of members that engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information and 3) members who are practitioners. These communities develop their practice through activities such as sharing information, problem solving, and mapping knowledge. Communities of practice are ubiquitous and can be small or large, local or global, meet face-to-face or online, informal or formal.

Wegner describes three characteristics necessary for a community to be a "community of practice." These are the domain of interest, a community of members that engage in activities and discussions that allow them to learn from one another, and the actual practice or application of that learning. Wegner also describes what CoPs look like, the theory behind CoPs, and the environments in which they are used.

This site by Etienne Wenger gives an overview of what a community of practice is. You will find definitions and descriptions, as well as applications. There are also resources listed concerning application and learning theory.