9. Communities of Practice

CoPs: A Social Discipline of Learning

By Etienne Wenger

Another of the Webinars in the Social Networking Event by Avealmec and Arcall was delivered by Professor Wenger. He is author of several books on CoPs (Communities of Practice), and he states that a CoP is a group of people who:

-share a challenge, passion or interest

-interact regularly

-learn from and with each other, and

-improve they ability to do what they care about

CoPs are a great example of social learning and learning partnership, in which people can collaborate to do something together, share knowledge, information or criticize their own works. In a CoP people not only share tips, discuss and help each other, but they interact with the world and make knowledge a way of living. Every CoP has three elements:

-A domain, in which the negotiation of topics takes place

-A community, this includes people and hierarchical relationships

-Practice, usually led by technology stewards.

These technology stewards are people with enough experience of the workings of a community to understand its technological needs with interest in technology to take leadership in addressing those needs. Stewarding usually includes selecting and configuring tech, as well as supporting its use in the practice of the community. The stewarding activities include community understanding, technological awareness, selection and installation of tools, adoption and transition, and, finally, everyday use. Stewarding strategies include:

-use what you have

-go for the free stuff

-build on an enterprise platform

-get a commercial platform

-use open-source software

-patch elements together

On the other hand, community activities are oriented to: community cultivation, context, relationships, access to expertise, projects, meetings, open-ended conversations, content publishing, and individual participation, among others.

Almost at the end of his presentation, somebody asked what to do with lurkers. Lurkers are people who read messages from the community and take advantage of file sharing, but never participate actively by writing or giving opinions. Prof. Wenger answered that you have to love them, since not all individuals can be active and can participate all the time. He said that lurkers are great and because they give balance to the community.

A video on how teachers can use Communities of Practice to connect with one another and share ideas, resources and content. From the National Association of Agricultural Educators