Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept. In C. Blackmore (Ed.), Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice (pp. 179-198). London: Springer London.

Reflecting back on a theory of learning he helped establish 20 years earlier, and in response to his critics, Wenger explains that although a community of practice is "an informal and dynamic social structure," this focus on focus on the social aspect of learning "is not a displacement of the person. On the contrary, it is an emphasis on the person as a social participant, as a meaning-making entity for whom the social world is a resource for constituting an identity."

But Wenger does warn that a community can become "too much of a community, too strongly identified with itself, prone to groupthink, closed, or inbred," and then it might be time to "shake it up and open its boundaries."

This is the blog of Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois. Dr. Schroeder offers no commentary on the blog, instead he uses it to curate articles, news and research pertinent to online learning. I subscribe to this site through RSS readers on my laptop, iPad and phone.