Blog Post 6 - Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice (CoP) is a term that seems to have a very fluid meaning. Like some of the other concepts I have posted about, it seems that depending on the group the definition will change. In trying to understand CoP’s from an educational viewpoint I found a list of assumptions that CoP’s are based. They are that learning is, “Fundamentally a social phenomenon; knowledge is integrated in the life of communities that share values, beliefs, languages, and ways of doing things; the processes of learning and membership in a community of practice are inseparable; knowledge is inseparable from practice and that the ability to contribute to a community creates the potential for learning” (On Purpose Associates, 2008).

What this means to me is that we as a school, cohort and class we are communities of practice and that by creating lessons that are built on real world problems and encompassing real world technological solutions we are teaching knowledge not just understanding. It also suggests to me that by using forms of social media we can broaden or expand the type, size and number of CoP’s that are students are involved in to learn and create even more knowledge. Here is a video that explains this concept:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ZINuOYm2s

Greer, J (2008 December 4) Community of Practice EDD 8123.wmv [Video File] Posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ZINuOYm2s

Another good example of this was a study by two researchers who determined that when students in a cohort form a CoP they tend to stay in that CoP even after graduation. Further these students will grow the CoP and form others to pass the knowledge that they have gained on and to find new resources as well (Shacham & Od-Cohen, 2009). What this suggested to me and was backed-up by the research in this study is that CoP’s are another way to create lifetime learners. By creating a community and using social networking our learners can connect with others that learn, think and believe the same things that they do. In doing so they share information, discuss it and create new understanding and knowledge. They also create a regular habit of this and become lifetime learners. Isn’t this why we teach?

An effective way to start teaching learners about CoP’s is having them set up and create a blog page like this one. From there, others in the class can be asked to respond and reflect on the others pages. In doing so, the original writer and the responding students will be assessing the information presented, putting it into their own thoughts and presenting alternate views or showing where there was useful original thought. These are also skills that are essential in the 21^st Century work place. A 2009 study looked at this issue and found that by using blogs students had more time to reflect on others thoughts and challenge those opinions. The study participants also were able to discuss how theory could be used in actual situations and learn from each other based on the reflective responses (Yang, 2009).

References

On Purpose Associates. (2008). Communities of practice. Retrieved August 11, 2009, from Funderstanding Web Site: http://www.funderstanding.com/content/communities-of-practice

Shacham, M., & Od-Cohen, Y. (2009). Rethinking PhD learning incorporating communities of practice. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 46(3), 279-292. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from Education Research Complete.

Yang, S.-H. (2009). Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational Technology and Society, 12(2), 11-21. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from Education Research Complete.