Group items tagged

This is a more technical site that better describes CoPs.  It talks about what a CoP is and what the requirements are.  I particularly like that the it states that the learning is not necessarily the primary reason for the existence of a CoP.  It also gives some sources for further study.

This article is an outline of Communities of Practice with description of relevant terminology outlined and defined. Identifies the three components of CoPs - domain, community and practice. This article says that the central component of this learning theory is to draw participants deeper into the community through the attractiveness of developing skills relative to the domain.

This one I didn't summarize, only because I really had a hard time grasping the three elements of the CoP, and I thought this site encapsulated it nicely. Incidentally, my creative assignment for this week was inspired by the reference to Star Trek fans in this post. Here are the three elements make up CoP, and again, this information below is taken straight from the source (long quotes), because the definition is so good: 1. There needs to be a domain. A CoP has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest (e.g. radiologists, Star Trek fans, middle school history teachers, Seahawks football fans, etc.); it's not just a network of people or club of friends. Membership implies a commitment to the domain. 2. There needs to be a community. A necessary component is that members of a specific domain interact and engage in shared activities, help each other, and share information with each other. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. In this way, merely sharing the same job does not necessitate a CoP. A static website on hunting in itself is not a community of practice. There needs to be people who interact and learn together in order for a CoP to be formed. Note that members do not necessarily work together daily, however. Wenger points to the example of Impressionist painters who sometimes met in cafes to discuss their painting styles. He indicates that even though these men normally painted alone, these kinds of interactions were essential to making them a CoP. 3. There needs to be a practice: A CoP is not just people who have an interest in something (e.g. sports or agriculture practices). The third requirement for a CoP is that the members are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources which can include stories, helpful tools, experiences, stories, ways of handling typical problems, etc. This kind of interaction needs to be developed over time. A conversation with a random stranger who happens to be an exp

Education access and achievement for the deaf and hard of hearing is gaining attention as more students attend neighborhood schools, and educators are becoming more familiar with options and opportunities to improve instructional delivery. Multimedia materials and environments can provide multiple representations of concepts that are more meaningful to students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

A mostly visual representation to explore connectivism as it occurs through an open learning system. Points brought up include learners making meaningful choices while exploring their personal interest in order to guide learning. And as participants engage in making connections, a natural result will be content development and eventually those more experienced students becoming mentors.

Great video that has a section about how our students are "different" than when we were in school. "They [Students] expect to learn from technology because that is what they are used to." As soon as ALL teachers realize and accept this fact, then we as teachers can be one step closer to helping our students achieve their FULL potential!

I like the idea of learners making meaningful choices. Anything that can guide students to make effective and relevant connections is a great resource. I also think teachers have a lot to learn about the way our students learn these days. The idea that students actually need to be a force in their own learning and that they expect instant gratification are concepts I have been seeing more frequently in my own classroom. Great resource!

This article discusses that learning should not be a passive learning dependent on artifacts but should be active learning utilizing evolving data and learning networks. This will provide for an environment to overcome socioeconomic differences.

Hi Daniel! I appreciate that this resource addresses how eLearning and networking can break down the barrier of socioeconomic differences that can really hinder some students' achievement. Thanks for sharing!

New MIlford High School uses Facebook and Twitter to connect with the community. The posts highlight student achievements and promote school events.

This article by Richard DuFour, one of the key voices in PLC professional development, identifies what distinguishes a PLC from other Communities of Practice. PLCs in schools are focused on student achievement, and creating a common understanding of what students should know and be able to do, how we will know when a student has reached mastery, and what we will do when a student is not successful.

I also had the opportunity to go through a training with the DuFours, but for three days last summer. I felt their were spectacular. Communication and problem solving are also important aspects of PLCs. #EdTechSN

I am developing my curriculum into a more blended environment. I think the professional learning communities and collaboration suggested here could really help me overcome some barriers. Thank you.

This study explores the empirical evidence of the effects of well-developed Professional Learning Communities, and finds that they have a positive impact on both teaching practice and student achievement.

IDLA is the current school I am teaching at and this is their main site. The best school to work for, ever!

Our mission is to serve the students, school districts, and the State of Idaho by providing high quality public school education, aligned with state achievement standards, utilizing innovative e-learning methods of delivery.

This article is about Mozilla Open Badges. These badges are encoded with data about how they were earned and offer a secure way to recognize the achievements of individuals. This is a free system to use and anyone can create and grant their own custom badges. From a school standpoint this becomes interesting to me since it gives students and community stakeholders an opportunity to show that an individual has mastered skills that are taught outside of school.

This article discusses the benefits of professional development and the correlation with student achievement.

This article at first glance focuses on the keys to success as an educator. Within this article though, there is a section explaining the importance of PLNs. One main point of the article states that PLNs (and PLCs) offer teachers an opportunity to have ongoing community that impacts a teacher's practice more than a traditional pro-d session.

The article discussed "connected learning communities" and how it is relevant in the digital age. There are three components (professional learning communities (PLCs), personal learning network (PLNs), and communities of practice (CoPs)) with these communities and different theories, experience and knowledge, effectiveness, anticipates growth or decline, challenges and dilemmas, and use of technology within each component.

The PLP (Powerful Learning Practice) model looked at three different learning connected learning communities to discuss what each one is, the effects on teacher professional development, challenges and use of technology to name a few. Personal learning communities, personal learning networks, and communities of practice were the three that were discussed. I like how in this article, Connectivism is tied into PLN's which demonstrates how these concepts of PLN's, CoP's, and Connectivism are interrelated. Within PLN's and CoP's, members are concerned about the content and "what they do" as well as interact amongst the group to achieve a higher purpose.

This article is fantastic as it encompasses all that we are studying right now! Each aspect was broken down very well and explained completely. I also appreciated that the authors talked about the anticipated growth, use of technology and value of a PLN, for instance. This is a great reference to refer back to later.

This essay makes an argument that organizations need to include social learning systems, such as communities of practice, in order to achieve success. The author explains social learning and explains why communities of practice are beneficial.

This article looks at communities of practice from different sections of a community such as individuals and organizations. The article starts with a social definition of learning and then takes a deep look at the structure of communities of practice and social learning networks.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) is the premier nonprofit organization serving educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. ISTE serves more than 100,000 education stakeholders throughout the world. The vision of ISTE is a world where all learners thrive, achieve and contribute.

Educreations is a community where anyone can teach what they know and learn what they don't. Our software turns any iPad or web browser into a recordable, interactive whiteboard, making it easy for teachers and experts to create engaging video lessons and share them on the web. Students can replay these lessons any time, any place, on any connected device. We're on a mission to dramatically improve student achievement by extending the reach of great teaching.

Educreations is a community where anyone can teach what they know and learn what they don't. Educreations software turns any iPad or web browser into a recordable, interactive whiteboard, making it easy for teachers and experts to create engaging video lessons and share them on the web. Students can also use Educreations to create videos.

This article discusses the University of Tazmania's drive to emphasize and encourage peer learning and communities of practice to help their students achieve more and be prepared for a life time of learning. The article explains that a CoP is a community of people with the same interest working together to learn and build knowledge.The article discusses how this strategy for learning can help in the higher Ed. The article also includes a worksheet to help brainstorm ways to start a new CoP.

Great short clip that explains communities of practice for educators.

This brief but detailed summary of Wegner's 1998 idea of Community of Practice gives a basic understanding of the idea. The videos included can be useful for seeing how the idea can be helpful in education.

This resource explains what CoP is and when the theory was developed. The concept of CoP was developed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. The author uses quotes directly from their book to explain CoP. There is a video that illustrates how CoP can be used in a K-12 classroom and another video that shows how CoP can be applied in other fields. The article also differentiates between Communities of Practice and Team members. The categories include objective, membership, organization, termination, value proposition, and management. My take away from the chart was that the major difference between CoP and being a team member is this: what will be the outcome of the participant?