A Learning Community of Practice

Lave and Wenger (1991) likened apprenticeships to the establishment of Communities of Practice (CoP), defining them as a network of people that share an interest, who work together to find better ways to do things through regular contact (Bathmaker & Avis, 2005). This social context is important as it creates a supportive environment with member participation.  Through this engagement, the members experience meaningful learning as it is the framework for a social learning system (Wenger, 2010).  He goes on to say that a person’s concept of their professional identity is a central element of the creation of a CoP.  Members look to define competence, experience and knowledgeability in that practice. 

In our Graduate Certificate Learning and Teaching class context, we are participating in a CoP for education and professional development.  Our discussions potentially can influence new thinking, redesign of resources and teaching tools (Wenger, 2010).  My engagement with my CoP has been limited but enlightening.  Two areas of engagement – discussion threads and Collaborate meetings – have linked our CoP or our Community of Learning.  With a range of highly qualified lecturers, I immediately learned to respectfully listen to others as they are much more experienced in various academic spaces.  The two meetings undertaken brought up questions in technology and assessment concerns.  Genuine sharing of ideas and competencies was evident, creating a memorable experience. I now understand that learning from my peers is very effective, as stated in Lave and Wenger’s work (1991). Teacher feedback is also formative in our CoP.  However, while participation is voluntary, member commitment is necessary for this CoP to be termed successful. Hassan and Crawford (2003) wrote a most interesting paper analyzing success factors of communities of learning. Their main findings were that there needed to be a specific activity for the group focus; trust needed to be established; and the purpose of the community needed to be clear. Our class CoP to date provides a genuine sense of emotional support between the members but I feel that participation would improve if we revisited the purpose and activities to be achieved. With future studies ahead, the benefit of CoP knowledge sharing spurs me on to persist in weekly meetings. 

In contrast, as a member of Torrens University, I am also included as a member of the CoP of the Learning and Teaching team.  Being more of a newcomer to this space, I have experienced academic support, evidenced role models in online teaching methods, experienced social connection, stretching my academic knowledge.   I intend that in creating this blog, as well as other learning activities, I will engender my own student CoP. 

References

Bathmaker, A. & Avis, J. (2005). Becoming a lecturer in further education in England: The construction of professional identity and the role of communities of practice. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 31(1), 47-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607470500043771.

Hasan, H., & Crawford, K. (2003). A Multifaceted Approach to Distributed Communities of Learning and
Practice, Organizational information systems in the context of globalization. 37-47. https://ro.uow.edu.au/commpapers/2873

Kenyon, C. & Hase, S. (2001). Moving from Andragogy to Heutagogy in Vocational Education. Research to Reality: Putting VET Research To Work.  https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED456279

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press.

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. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-133-2_11

Figure 1. Learning is a collaborative process depositphotos.com image ID 253593684. https://depositphotos.com/253593684/stock-photo-group-people-sitting-circle-chairs.html