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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?

This article discusses communities of practice from a business perspective, which I found interesting because CoPs truly to exist in all professions; they aren't strictly and education trend. The merit of CoPs, according to the author, is that people share their experiences and knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to solving problems. They discuss the various benefits of CoPs and then examine why they aren't more prevalent, concluding that though the concept has been around for centuries, it hasn't been widely accepted yet and therefore companies (and education) haven't spent a long time cultivating them and helping people learn to effectively develop them. They refer to CoPs as the new frontier and predict that they will become a more and more important part of knowledge acquisition for professionals in the future.

This is a great resource that focuses specifically on the use of communities of practice in business environments. However, the information is easily transferred to other areas of industry or academia. It addresses the fact that CoPs are different than the traditional approach of working in teams in that their success and usefulness can be difficult to measure. The author gives tips for how to evaluate the success of a CoP through the sytematic gathering of anecdotal evidence.

This is a great resource for businesses to gain insights into the use of Communities of Practice. In this article, Wenger and Snyder discuss Communities of Practice and their value for organizations.

Classroom management and technology integration

This article by Wenger and Snyder in the Harvard Business Review is a great reflection of a community of practice (CoP) by the creators themselves in a well-known publication. While the article is in-depth and covers every aspect of a CoP, the included chart may have been the most helpful part of this article to really break down a CoP and the difference between that and other groups.

In this article the author provides an introduction to the concept of communities of practice, describes benefits and utility for business, and strategies for implementation in that context.

The highlight of this article for me is that CoPs have to be organic in their organization and management.

E2E or End to End supply chain management refers to the entire supply chain operation being designed so that there is greater interoperability among the different pieces of the supply chain puzzle.

A Facebook page I created to list some strategies for managing your digital footprint.  

Here is my positive digital footprint plan, and one quick quote "I've usually don't see people get hired for their online reputation but I've seen them get fired for it." - Roy Hansen(my wise brother) http://toddhansenlearninglog.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/managing-digital-reputations/

This post discusses George Siemens 2005 article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and examines the limitations of this theory as well as its relevance to teaching and knowledge management practices. The relationship of connectivism to learning in a MOOC is described. It is suggested that widespread adoption of connectivism in formal learning will face resistance because of its stance that 1) the network is more important than content 2) knowledge is a process rather than an artifact 3) and knowledge can be retrieved rather than memorized.

This source is actually a summary/review of a different article, but it provides some good insight. The author argues that the explosion of technology and internet sources has changed the way that we acquire knowledge. Different pieces of information are accessible by tapping into different sources. The author also discusses how connectivity can be used in the classroom and how some people may resist the use of the connectivity theory.

I found it valuable to go through Siemen's fundamental principles of connectivism. Siemens considers connectivism as a significant departure from previous learning theories because connectivism includes learning occurring outside of the learner, within the network. I also found it valuable to go through the applications of connectivism in classroom and managing knowledge.

This paper discusses how Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) integrate formal and informal learning and help students self-regulate learning in "higher education contexts" through social media. Connectivism has given rise to the idea that "the community is the curriculum", so institutions should foster the creation of communities among their students to allow them a more personalized education. PLEs are the tools, services and communities that learners choose to use as they pursue knowledge. PLEs are an attempt to deliberately unify formal and informal learning, especially in e-learning situations. PLEs specifically address social media use and the creation of a cultivated online identity to enhance learning in the learner's chosen arena. In order to fully leverage PLEs via social media, students must use personal knowledge management (PKM) skills. S involves "creating, organizing and sharing digital content and information" and balancing contexts, among other skills. Students cano sumo mine their PLEs, but this requires knowledge management and self-regulation.

I like how this article views PLNs from the angle as if the user already has a social networking account. Most of the article I've come across have a list of steps that a person has to follow and sites that they need to sign up for, but this article assumes the reader has these log ins (because they probably do). It shows how to take what you are probably already using and turn it into a PLE to foster and grow knowledge.

This study delves into the formal and informal aspects of networks. It highlights the need for informal in a teachers' complex job, but the struggles with qualifying/managing the occurrence. It also speaks to administrations delicate roll as a "gate-keeper" or "barrier". Interesting read. 

Nice find Cassie. While the study is lengthy to read it is full of excellent information. I believe the ladder half of the text (discussion and key points sections) is where the most valuable information lies. I always appreciative objectivity and honesty, and the authors of this study were clear that networks aren't for everyone. Everyone is a unique and distinct learner so to blanket the idea of a network as something that is a "must" for effective professional development wouldn't be fair. Yet, it does acknowledge that from a team initiative perspective, networks are a blank canvas and platform for maintaining open communication so all parties involved grow.

Great problem-solving, simulation, game for business students. The object is to become the Carnival Manager: A local fun-filled carnival / theme-park urgently requires a virtual managing director to oversee ride and attraction construction, the hiring of staff, general park management, strategic planning, and financial budgeting.

Wondering what is the role of blockchain in transaction management? You have landed on the right page. The article below explains the concept of blockchain, illustrates how it is different from traditional approaches and what are its role in the transaction system.

KM stands for knowledge management. This article talks about CoPs in terms of the need to do away with canonical practice because the rules and procedures inhibit problem solving abilities. There is something I cannot identify that annoys me with this article. I do like the " Empowerment is key to learning" statement.

This article looks at Communities of practice and the implications to knowledge management. Communities of practice is a term originally developed by Lave and Wenger (1991). It describes a learning theory with a strong relationship to the social construction of knowledge. http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/communities-of-practice.html

"Communities of practice is a term originally developed by Lave and Wenger (1991)." A community of practice is a group with common goals and interests. It is important to note that they are not a team. The goal is not to acquire specific information but to be part of a group to share information. It is unstructured dialog which leads to problem-solving and innovation.

Due to mobile world there are new types of learners. They might already know social networking but do they really know how to manage and use this correctly? They need to be taught to deal with information overload, provide information back into a network, and learn how to stay current.

This article contains a you tube video by Wendy Drexler discussing the connected student and the usage of Web 2.0 tools to create student PLN's

Connectivism is a pedagogical approach where the person has control over when, where, and how they learn.

Simple, positive classroom management, and parent engagement. Used by over 35 million teachers, parents, and students.

Build wonderful classroom communities with parents and students by using Class Dojo to track behavior (positive & negative), see timelines of student progress over time, send photos & announcements to parents as well!

This article provides an excerpt from the book, Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge by Wenger, McDermott, and Snyder. This pieces notes what CoPs are and what makes them successful. It explores seven design principles to help CoPs thrive and evolve. Each principle is explained and supported with understandable real-world examples.

This does give a really complete explanation of each one. I agree that the examples are relevant and helpful. I think this is a great resource.

I like this article. Much of what I read dealt with what communities of practice are. This article focuses more on how to set up and maintain a successful community of practice. Each of the elements brought up is very detailed. I like this article because it details what a community of practice is indirectly. In describing what a successful CoP looks like you can easily see what it is and how valuable it can be. Good find!