Group items tagged

This article comes from the OD Practitioner journal, Fall/Winter 2000. This article focuses on the basics of Communities of Practice, defining the dimensions, purpose and changes from knowledge sharing now rather than in the past. This article focuses on the industrial and business world. It shares that knowledge in the past was knowledge was to be horded for power, while today it is to be shared to grow said power "in multiples" (Allee, 2000). The article goes on to share the benefits for everyone as far as the business, community and the individual. I appreciate the call for possible new communities of practice to meet new business community challenges.

I like how this article, even though it focuses on the industrial/business world, still has some great applications to the world of education. It's also interesting to find out more about some surrounding groups to CoPs and how they are related. A quote from the article (pay close attention to the last sentence in regards to education) says, "Communities of practice emerge in the social space between project teams and knowledge networks. When multiple project teams are engaged in similar tasks the need to share what they know often will lead to community formation. From the other direction, a loosely organized knowledge network of people who share common interests can gel into a focused community when people recognize new shared opportunities or begin to seek a significant breakthrough. Those who would support communities need to learn what conditions foster their emergence and create an environment in which they can flourish."

In my research surrounding the topics of communities of practice, PLNs, and connectivism I kept coming back to the Wenger-Trayner website. There were many helpful writings and diagrams produced by Bev and Etienne (Team BE), however this blog post stuck with me. When I attended undergrad at Michigan State University these practices were newer and not taught. Does anyone know of programs that use these topics in their curriculum authentically? Are their teacher prep programs or universities that have really embraced these concepts?

I appreciate the example that John Brown lays out in his paper "Growing Up Digital". He speaks about the Xerox company sending in anthropologists to study how tech reps fix broken machines. They learned it is all about the communication and storytelling, never do reps use the manual. After developing an online presence for tech reps (CoP) to communicate, Xerox saves $100 million a year while the learning curve of the reps has grown by 300%. This is a great case study to get a better understanding of a CoP analyzed and at work today.

This study explores the pitfalls of virtual teams within the business world. While I realize this paper doesn't focus on schools specifically it still applies in its exploration of communities of practice. This paper follows a few case studies while it explores virtual teams rather than teams working in the same space or building. Traditionally, virtual teams, have more challenges and communities of practice are introduced as a way to help overcome these challenges. Communities of practice are also defined and stages of participation are explored.

Dr. Etienne Wenger discusses communities of practice in this brief interview conducted by the Project Management Institute. Dr. Wenger provides his professional background with respect to communities of practice (CoPs). He also discusses learning partnerships, purpose and definitions of CoPs, tools utilized by CoPs, and the distinction between technology tools and CoPs.

In this article Wegner continues to expand upon CoP's by defining their role in organizations and highlighting the success of organizations in using CoP's in coordination with social learning systems. Through this process organizations are able to meet a greater variety of needs for their employees. Wegner highlights how this process is the antithesis of normal "management styles" which is usually a top-down format. However, by working and associating in a variety of learning systems throughout regions or areas, people are more knowledgeable within their field.

The authors propose seven principles that they believe will allow communities to be "alive" and connect with members.

The seven principles for designing, implementing, and evolving a community of practice is the focus of this article. It does a very good job of describing these activities in terms of promoting a growth model within the community and the members. This desire to attract and connect with more and more people will only serve to grow the communities knowledge and abilities (this is somewhat mentioned in principle #2) by opening the conversations among those who are in and outside of the community.

In this particular video, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach is delivering a keynote at ULearn08 in New Zealand. This is a short snippet of that keynote speech. Nussbaum-Beech briefly discusses the primary differences between communities of practice and personal learning networks.

This research was published by the U.S. Department of Education on the role on Online Communities. Essentially, the research found that online learning Communities of Practice produce a wide range of values for educators, including immediate and potential value. The primary focus of this research was the role of Community Designers and the questions, concerns, and topics that must be addressed when creating a successful learning community involving educators. While member participation is the key to a successful community, there are other factors that play a major contribution in a group's success as a learning community that are addressed in this research.

Contains a broad review of the theory of connectivism and discussion of the LaaN view of knowledge ecology. Compares knowledge ecology to CoP, knot, intentional networks and coalitions...to name a few that I had not heard of before. Also some interesting comparisons of learning theories.

This article breaks down what a community of practice actually represents. It lays out the purpose of said groups, the roles of people involved, among other things. I liked this article because it was simplistic in describing a community of practice as an active group full of participation.

This article looks at four major definitions of communities of practice.

This paper compares four different resources on community of practice. The paper breaks down the different versions of communities of practice by looking at multiple topics: concept of community, view of learning, power and conflict, change, formality, diversity, and level. This is a great resource to learn about different views on communities of practice.

Harold Jarche offers a look at the concept of organizations moving from hierarchies to wirearchies. An argument that communities of practice prove more able to get things done in the real work--a-day world and offer a safe place for members to do highy concentrated work. My college still puts out an org chart every year showing the heirarchy of the organization. But everyone knows who the real people are that you need to connect with to get anything done.

I thought this article provided new insight in how to combine social networks and communities of practice into the workplace. Ideally, the workplace should be collaborative and cooperative, but I think most traditional organizations still operate on a hierarchy structure. I thought the term introduced in the article of "wirearchy was extremely creative.

A book by Meredith Honig, Chapter 2 outlines Communities of Practice. Takes on the viewpoint of COPs and implementing policy in education. Quote: "A growing body of policy research supports the notion that teachers' professional relationships play an important role in teacher learning."

Discusses communities of practice and how they play a role in a time where connectivism is being introduced.

A whole book on Google Books about Communities of Practice. Chapter 6 highlights teaching with technology!

Online Communities of Practices are not just a technology project but to make it work careful planning is needed. Starting small is also the key. Countless collaboration initiatives have failed due to an expensive requirement that focused on technology.