Website #6- Communities of Practice - 6 views
janetclarey.com/...ing-vs-communities-of-practice
education Edtech543 resources learning technology web2.0
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Jaime Bennett on 11 Sep 12This blog describes some differences between social learning and communities of practice. While it is written by an instructional designer in the corporate sector, many of the details and examples are still applicable to education.
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ShellyWalters on 11 Sep 12The author's viewpoint on the learner interaction with content was interesting. Social learning is me and COPs are us.
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Ilene Reed on 20 Jun 13This article makes the reader think. Janet Clarey poses the question "are social learning and communities of practice the same thing?" Her idea is that they are not. She makes the distinction between them as social learning is taking in all information from social settings. It cannot be tracked as far as acquisition of knowledge. Communities of practice focus on sharing and collaboration of information and can be tracked.
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Molly Large on 21 Jun 13It's an interesting article. I think social learning might be part of a community of practice - I certainly use it that way. I use my professional network to learn and question and explore, much like Clarey describes. But it's within my community of practice, because I also share, invite, and collaborate as part of the process. I believe there is little dialogue in life that can be classified as cleanly as Clarey defines these terms - I think we fluidly move from one position to another.
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Cate Tolnai on 21 Jun 13This article compares and contrasts "social learning" and "CoPs." The major difference in my eyes has to do with the formality of the latter. CoPs aim to track the conversations and bring like-minded people with similar goals together to grow alongside each other. I appreciate this article as it gave me a clearer vision of CoPs.
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vanessa botts on 22 Jun 13This post's author discusses the differences between Social Learning (where learning is generally unorganized and done by observing, talking, questioning and learning is often not formal or unintenational) and Communities of Practice where learning is more intentional and happens between communities of individuals with common interests.
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Forrest Doud on 07 Sep 13This post aims to distinguish between social learning and communities of practice. It offers an interesting take on the two sides. What I really got most out of it was actually from the first comment from another reader who offers an amazing example of a community of practice. The author of the comment uses Professional Chefs as an example of a community of practice which was one of the best real world and simple to understand explanations I have seen. "My favorite example of a community of practice is professional chefs. They are a community in every sense of the word even though no one maintains a membership list. Chefs identify with one another. They spend time together. They share their knowledge and swap secrets with one another. They enrich the practice of the profession. They nurture people entering the professional and guide their professional development. They set and maintain standards. You can even spot them by the clothes they wear. What brings them together is the "practice." That's terrible term, for it's subject to misinterpretation. We're talking practice as in legal practice or medical practice, not as in piano practice or football practice." Their goal is not making profits; it's furthering the practice.
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Kelly Kenney on 01 Sep 15CoPs are becoming much more popular with the use of technology. Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave are two of the most respected names when it comes to communities of practice. CoPs are groups that are focused on collaboration of common interests while having a purpose and motivation.