Group items tagged

This study examines how adults learn from one another within a workplace environment. As the article highlights: "[Informal] learning at work constitutes a large part of the learning undertaken by adults . . ." The article determined that large worksites afforded a range and variety of communities of practice, informal learning opportunities, and types of learning within a worksite. However, very often, the people we learn from at work are not necessarily recognized as having a role that traditionally promotes learning.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and I found it logical that in the example of the Tiling Teachers, the article mentioned that they considered each other peers on the same level which would facilitate the learning that takes place within that group. I wonder how this learning would contrast from feedback or learning taking place from students in the class or even a superior like a Vice President of a program or a Senior Instructional Designer?

This was a great article and got me thinking a little deeper about communities of practice. So far this week, my studies have led to articles and examples of communities of practice in a learning or educational environment. I love how the focus was really on practices of communities of practice in the workplace. It was cool to realize that this process begins way before the class even begins. Thanks for sharing.

In this article faculty and graduate students at the University of Plymouth wrote about the growing use of blogging in higher education classrooms. The authors see connectivism as the theory that helps to legitimize the use of blogging in the teaching and learning environment. They acknowledge that Web 2.0 tools such as blogs give students the ability to easily make connections with their peers and others outside the classroom walls. One of the most interesting aspects of the article was that the authors advocated for the use of course blogs rather than individual blogs for the simple fact that it promotes a single platform for students to share and connect. The authors gathered much of the information for this article from a case study that they did with university students. They asked several students to complete a survey. Instead of a survey, the staff involved in the project were interviewed. Through this case study, the authors were able to produce both qualitative and quantitative data on the use of blogs. Overall, the results showed that blogs are an acceptable medium for using the connectivist model and that by and large, most students achieved the learning goals while completing the assignment.

Kelly, This is a very interesting article especially since I have had to use blogs for many courses and have considered having my own students use them as well. I definitely understand having a single platform, but I wonder if that takes away from the individuality students gain from getting to create their own.

Tiffany, I too am torn on the use of a single platform in the classroom. I love that it would be easier to manage one account rather than individual student accounts. I have over 100 Spanish 3 students (which doesn't include my Sociology and Spanish 2 classes). It could be a nightmare to monitor appropriate blog use of all of those students. At the same time, I agree that students lose the ability to create a personal site, and could be less engaged on the single platform.

This research effort developed by Barbara F. Hartigan, Ed.D. and Marialice B.F.X. Curran, Ph.D at University of Saint Joseph that looks at connectivism in the context of using social media as a mentorship program for pre-service teachers. It is based off the researchers witnessing teachers on Twitter who engage in the Twitter chat #kinderchat mentoring a first year kindergarten teacher through their weekly chats. This developed into a research project where they embedded social media into the program for 19 pre-service teachers. They used mostly Twitter, Skype, and blogging and found that all of the participants learn from and value learning and teaching ideas and methodology obtained from their social media interactions. They note that next steps would be to follow those educators into their classrooms to see their continued development using social media.

This source is a chapter in a book by several librarians from the IUPUI library system. The librarians set out to find ways in which they could collaborate with faculty to promote a more successful information literacy program on campus. The importance of this issue gave them the impetus to form a community of practice. This group consisted of both faculty and librarians who were all dedicated to discovering best practices for teaching and assessing information literacy concepts. The authors concluded the chapter with a discussion of some of the campus initiatives that came out of the CoP activities and what they may do in the future to further the growth and retention of student information literacy skills.

Thanks for sharing this article, Kelly. I appreciated the discussion of campus initiatives, including the student pre- and post-surveys, which yielded "abysmal" results. Even with those results, though, the initiative was successful in sparking the campus to start operating as a CoP.

Summary: Communities of Practice are all around us. They exist in most businesses and most professional communities. These communities are important because work is shared, revised, and organized; thus, making it better. The development of CoPs is dependent on leaders within these communities.

The sharing piece seems to be the most integral part CoP in my opinion. Also, before exploring these topics I feel my thinking was streamlined towards education, but I am understanding the need for CoP in all professions. If you are not sharing as a part of the community then you are not a contributor. This translates to the classroom and making sure all students play a role and have a place in the classroom's community! This starts as early as having a classroom "job."

A look at how an organization shares and uses knowledge, builds collaboration and innovation by using informal communities of interest. The paper looks at characteristics of CoP's, particularly with one group, and identifies how these characteristics can be transferrable to others.