Group items tagged

Authors discuss the random, fluid, and brief nature of most social media interactions, noting that these give little opportunity for meaning construction but facilitate information gathering and individual sense-making. The restrictive nature of social media interactions presents opportunities to find new means of utilizing the technology in learning. Circulating knowledge does not generate meaning, but collaboration does, especially on tight time scales. The authors further present and discuss the term, generative learning communities, which appear to be similar to communities of practice.

This article applies communities of practice as learning networks specifically for the purpose of life-long learning. The need for life-long learning continues to rise, and the authors reviewed research and applied findings to design a framework for an improved model that looks at life-long learning within these newer visions based on developing theories. The authors point out that lifelong learners are not only consumers of learning, but benefit as active contributors that also creates an enduring membership of the community. Included are learning network model diagrams to show the relationships in the learning community network. In the conclusion, the authors admit the work is still in an exploratory phase and much work is still needed to refine the framework and improve the evaluation of effectiveness in practice.

This article discusses how communities of practice can help organizations to improve their performance. They can do this by their members sharing and learning together. They draw their conclusions from looking at seven organizations that have created and used communities of practice.

I have to confess--I found this difficult to read. It just did not hold my attention. But I did like the chart where they showed the different organizations and how they have used their communities of practice. It was well laid out and easy to understand!

Provides ides for increasing classroom communication as a way of engaging students and parents. Facebook pages, Twitter reminders, blogging, Pinterest show and tell were a few of the suggestions.

High school level project using a wiki and ning community. Students from multiple classrooms around the country contributed resources and responded to research within the wiki. They participated and communicated in Ning, an online social network.

This site explains how facebook was setup at one learning center and some of the perceived accomplishments. It indicates increased communication and promotion of services and events with community.

This article addresses the fact that learners have multiple identities as they cross into their various communities (work, school, home, church) but must maintain a strong sense of self within each community. This article briefly discusses the impact of situational cognition on education. They suggest that if learning is truly acquired by doing, then educational institutions must adapt and offer opportunities to hands-on, real-world experience.

This brief article, while focused primarily on online communities of practice in healthcare, has clear implications for learners in other fields as well. One key quote about the value of online CoPs: "an OCoP provides a safew engagement space to enhance knowledge development, strengthen social ties, and build social capital...OCoPs can develop from knowledge networks as relationships strengthen, and motivation to work together on common problems increases." Who wouldn't want to be part of this?

The Activity Theory model breaks down PLE's into subject, object, tools, rules, community and division of labour.Context is not an external container but it is constituted through an activity.The most common context for PLE's takes place through Higher Education (31%) and Lifelong Learning (15%), followed by enterprise,organisations and workplace (9% each).

This paper included many diagrams documenting personal learning environments. The PLE is broken down into six distinctive parts. The subject is the person with the object leading the subject to the outcome. Tools connect the subject and object within a community where the subject acquires knowledge. Rules are present to minimize conflict and help to guide the subject toward the object and possibly most importantly, the PLE has a division of labor. This is how the community is organized and includes contributions from all subjects. Without any one of these parts, the PLE would not function which would lead to the loss of knowledge within a community of practice.

A helpful--if lengthy--article explaining what a PLE is, and how to conceptualize the structure and role of a PLE in terms of Activity Theory. Helpful section distinguishing PLEs, PLNs, and CoPs on p. 24.

The Encyclopedia of Informal Education entry on communities of practice referenced an innovative school in Utah experimenting with CoPs; this article details the researcher's experiences. The article suggests that the CoP approach represents neither the instructor directed or student directed approach to education that most people in Western culture are familiar with, and thus is often met with initial resistance.

The primary focus of this article is on the way blogs, wikis, and RSS can be used to create personal learning networks and communities of practice in the field of public affairs education. There are useful definitions of both PLNs and CoPs and an overview of how connectivism is contributing to collaboration within the classroom environment.

How three theories have shaped distance learning over the years. Connectivist theory shows how learning is about forming connections with others through human and digital interaction. Developed in the digital age and assumes access to social networking technologies.

This is a March 2011 journal article that highlights the shifts in technology and theory for distance learning. First, there was the cognitive-behaviorist with it's focus on read, watch, and recall. As the web developed, we saw constructivism shift the teachers duties from content creator to a guide through the content as students synthesized. Connectivism promotes the teacher as a "co-traveler" helping students to explore, connect, and create.

A straightforward government-issued document on Communities of Practice that focuses on a variety of benefits for both organizations and individuals. Uses business at the working guide- not education- but the principles are the same. Very easy to comprehend document.

Thanks - I read this because it was not aimed at education which is where my interest tends to take me. I liked that there were examples with benefits but did find the description was probably a little narrow in stating that, ". .. who often collaborate via established Web sites. These community Web spaces are designed to allow community members to share ideas and knowledge in several ways" Enjoyed reading it though. Thanks.

This slideshare presentation by Xiaoyu Wen outlines the main points of each chapter of the Cultivating Communities of Resources book by Wegner, McDermott, and Snyder. I think the best part is the list of linked resources on the final slide.

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.

Video details what a CoP is and how it will work. Also talks about joining existing versus starting a new CoP for what best suits you. I think the video is short enough and to the point that it is a valuable resource for someone who is starting out and trying to find more information about a community of practice.

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.