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By: Eitenne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder Wenger, E. C., & Snyder, W. M. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard business review, 78(1), 139-146. The first article I started with was a Harvard Business review entry regarding communities of practice within organizations. While my other articles focused on the education world and describe actions within the social environment, this article took a different approach in explaining the inner workings CofP's play in the office. The fundamental meaning communities of practice represent go unchanged, but it is interesting that this article puts a table and explanation for the differences other office groups represent, such as an informal network, project team, and formal work group. This distinction allows for other varied communities of practice to be represented. Such as the education field and social psychology. Wenger and Snyder then take the article one step further by explaining the uses of CoPs for management and how to facilitate their growth for strong company cultures.

This article is great that CoPs and PLNs (PLEs) build upon one another to drive a foundational strategy. The primary group might only be a few people but will continue to build to the point that the entire organization is involved. I also think it is important to discuss how this is utilized not only in education but also in business (or other fields). Great pick Jason!

I liked some of the real world examples for benefits of CoP's. The story of the technician who came up with the pneumatic tube idea that was ulitmately adopted because of support from his fellow technicians was really cool to hear.

Very interesting article. This article discusses findings of interactions and supports for communities of practice or both student-to-student and teacher-to-teacher. It goes on to describe the challenges for student-to-student communities and their dealings with conflict, and the corresponding support provided for the instructor who struggled with having student communities struggle in cohesion. There is a useful graphic on page 291 showing the gathering's (read: community's) intentionality and strength of their social bond - where both are high, there emerges a community of practice.

This study explores the pitfalls of virtual teams within the business world. While I realize this paper doesn't focus on schools specifically it still applies in its exploration of communities of practice. This paper follows a few case studies while it explores virtual teams rather than teams working in the same space or building. Traditionally, virtual teams, have more challenges and communities of practice are introduced as a way to help overcome these challenges. Communities of practice are also defined and stages of participation are explored.

This article discusses the use of communities of practice for libraries and library science. Due to the nature of university libraries being located far from one another geographically, communities of practice tend to be online. Additionally, this article talks about the differences in communities of practice, communities of inquiry, and communities of learning.

This document is a compilation of readings and resources for a community of practice. It includes infographics as well as summaries of information of theories of COP's.

This article had mentioned a good point about communities of practice: not all communitites are communities of practice. They gave the example of a neighborhood, it is a community where people are living, but they are not necessarily practicing a common interest. However if you have a neighborhood watch group to watch and protect the surrounding homes, them that would be a community of practice because they have the same goal and are working together. It stated that learning can be the reason for the group to come together, or it can be an outcome of someone's actions.

This article describes the process of growth of the community of practice of SEDA, the Staff and Educational Development Association. Members of the community went from being on the outskirts, learning from others but not bringing anything new to the table. Then, as they grew, they later became mentors and trainers to those around them. In particular, phrases like "element of selflessness" and "stewarding knowledge" best describe the feeling and attitude of the article.

This article discusses the uses of communities of practice in specifically religious education contexts. Key line on page 126 about how "community of practice as rhetoric becomes community of practice as reality." This seemed to argue that as members more and more participate, the more beneficial communities of practice become and more and more of "what they are supposed to be" - the development of a community of practice takes commitment and time.

Learning communities help to share the responsibilities of student success within a school system. Since PLNs require a shared goal, when used in a school it helps align the vision for students, teachers, and administrators. PLNs are a continuous cycle of research, planning, and implementation. They are data driven and reflected upon. Everyone within the PLN is responsible for the development and implementation of the community. When everyone participates it creates an environment of trust and expertise that can be shared equally amongst all of the members. The learning that takes place within PLNs helps to keep school systems aligned and functioning.

This was a very interesting article that really had me thinking deeper bout PLN. One specific line " Learning communities convene regularly and frequently during the workday to engage in collaborative professional learning to strengthen their practice and increase student results" really caught my eye. How does one find time for such intensive participation? Separate from that I like the idea of learning being a group responsibility and not just an individual one.

Hi Ryann, I love this article and how it chunks the topics into easy comprehension for the reader. Collective responsibility stuck out to me the most. I think this is so important whenever tackling a project as a team. The team is interdependent and I think its important for each member to take responsibility of their strengths that they bring to the table. Nice article!

"Communities of practice (CoPs) are among the professional development strategies most widely used in such fields as management and education." This article expresses the use of Communities of practice as a part of the healthcare sector. I enjoyed reading about the similarities of needs among these professions and education, as all professionals should be involved in various communities of practice.

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.

This website defines and describes communities of practice. There are examples of what each element looks and sounds like. It also offers examples of how communities of practice are being implemented in different settings.

This study evaluated the CoPs in State Farm Insurance to study various variables and their impact on the effectivenss of CoPs. SOme of the varialbes include level of trust among members, connectedness, member committment, community leadership strength, perceived impact on job performance, and perceived community effetiveness.

This is a training resource that I came across from a school district in Indiana. It focuses on how professional learning communities or communities of practice can avoid becoming a passing fad in educational reform. It gives three "big ideas" that educational CoPs need to focus on to truly be successful. They are: ensuring that students learn, creating a culture of collaboration, focusing on results by holding themselves accountable.

Thank you for sharing this. Just today, my school discussed starting PLC's and I feel that is important to focus on those three big ideas. I feel that this article makes us look closely at the questions and the answer to those questions before we begin creating networks and communities. Makes me think of the UbD-approach and how we should think about what the goals are and what we want our PLC's to do specifically before making them vent sessions amongst teachers.

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.