Community of Practice

This article discusses the role of practices and people's participation in practices in conceptual accounts of organizing, learning, and organizational learning. Specifically, the discussion takes its point of departure in Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger's account of learning as legitimate peripheral participation in practices, and Theodore Schatzki's practice theory account of organizing and organizations. Both accounts center on the role of practices as people come to know, and as changes occur in social activity and organizational settings. However, the two accounts are based on different ontologies. Borrowing the terminology of John Dewey and Arthur Bentley, Lave and Wenger instantiate a substantivist, and ultimately individualist, ontology, whereas Schatzki's event ontology is relational. It is argued that both ontologies have merits of their own, but the article seeks to integrate the two approaches by utilizing Ole Dreier's notion of the life trajectories of persons across social practices. In this perspective, organizational learning shows when people's life trajectories are affected by the bundles of social practices they engage with, and when the bundles of social practices are transformed by the way people enact the practices.

Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publicationTransformations of education in changing Europe are multifaceted. One of the latter is the process of strengthening the cooperation among universities in this part of the world. This cooperation is carried out in many fields – from joint projects and researches – to joint analyses, discourses and publications. This monograph – a collection of reflections, thoughts and polemics deriving from theoretical and empirical researches, carried out as a part of a joint research project simultaneously undertaken at both these universities under the name “Problems and challenges of modern education” – constitutes one of the fruits of the cooperation between Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Cracow University and the University of Ljubljana

Neste artigo, apresentam-se episódios da prática de um grupo de estudos, formado por professores e futuros professores que se constituiu em uma Comunidade de Prática de Formação de Professores de Matemática, com o objetivo de evidenciar aspectos dessa comunidade que proporcionaram a sua constituição, a sua energização e o seu cultivo. Para fundamentar as análises, foram utilizados os conceitos de Comunidades de Prática na perspectiva de Wenger (1998) e de Wenger, McDermott e Snyder (2002). As análises indicam que o engajamento mútuo e os empreendimentos articulados, fomentados pelas oportunidades de interação, de partilha de repertórios, de trocas de experiências e de ações planejadas pela coordenadora-formadora possibilitaram a negociação de significados e, por conseguinte, a aprendizagem docente. Fatores como a solidariedade, a criatividade e a confiança entre os membros foram essenciais para energizar e cultivar a Comunidade que se mostrou como um espaço fértil para a formação de...

Supporting context-based collaboration among online users is an important issue to computer-mediated collaboration to fulfill specified tasks. However, several problems make it difficult to be aware of the context. The context of the user task can be (i) dynamic (i.e., changing over time), and (ii) mixed with multiple sub-contexts together. We propose a novel ontology-based platform to overcome these problems.

The Bachelor of Nursing (BN) program at Central Queensland University requires students to complete industry based clinical practicum in each of the 3 years of their program. Students spend 40– 60% of their week off campus in clinical practicum. The Bachelor of Nursing Program Gateway (BNPG) is the application of the traditional Blackboard course management system from a single course to a whole program. It has pushed the boundaries of online course management creating an online learning community that consists of students, lecturers, clinical laboratory managers, administration staff, program advisors and industry clinical staff from three Central Queensland University campuses (Rockhampton, Mackay and Bundaberg), one hub (Noosa) and Flexible delivery. This paper will adopt Wenger, McDermott, and Synder's (2002) seven principles of communities of practice to discuss development strategies that have proved successful, as well as some of the pitfalls experienced and lessons learn...

This paper reports on a case study in which a textile-sloyd teacher sent a message to an internet-based community of practice seeking advice from other textile-sloyd teachers regar- ding how to cope with unruly boys. Two major themes emerged from a interview and the discussion on the Internet: 1) behaviour analysis and 2) coping attempts The analysis also revealed two themes related to the exchange of experiences: 1) descriptions of the problem as pertaining to the pupils, the process, classroom management, freedom of choice, or conne- ction to everyday life and 2) suggested solutions, such as area of activity, competences, leadership and techniques. The article concludes with a discussion demonstrating that the collegial exchange about disorderly boys appears to have strengthened and challenged this internet-based community of practice.

ABSTRACT The process of apprenticeship is one means of entering a new profession. Along with the technical skills entailed in learning a new job, apprentices need to acquire proficiency in appropriate ways of communicating in order to construct a convincing professional identity. Data collected on a New Zealand building site provides evidence of the extent of the situated learning in which building apprentices engage. Becoming an accepted member of the community of practice centrally involves learning to recognize and respond appropriately to a wide range of differently encoded directives, for instance. But membership also entails developing an understanding of more subtle interactional norms, such as acceptable topics of small talk and appropriate forms and quantities of humour on the job. This article examines evidence that suggests these understandings develop gradually as apprentices move from peripheral to core status in their chosen professional community of practice. We also explore the implications of the analysis for a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of the community of practice framework.

This paper describes a study of a social media knowledge community designed to induct preservice teacher candidates into the unstructured domain of teaching, The goal of the analysis was to examine the development of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and resilience among preservice teachers within a highly immersive entry experience course. The paper presents social media as a viable platform for developing teacher learning and development. Surveys and content analyses of curated social media content offer data for the study. Findings from the study indicate that social media learning communities provide an engaging platform for knowledge building in the case of preservice teachers.

Over the past decade the rapid pace of technological innovation has changed the knowledge-based society and gradually changed the way teaching and learning are conducted (Hargreaves, 2003). Teachers are increasingly viewed as not only the knowledge providers, but also the facilitators of a learning process. These changes have been difficult for teachers to adapt to, requiring substantial amounts of professional development. In Indonesia, the government has continually developed a number of strategic education policies and implemented various pathways to improve the professionalism of teachers. Nonetheless, there are still a large number of teachers who struggle to access the professional development support provided by the Indonesian government for a variety of reasons. This is particularly the case for teachers who work in rural and remote areas, because many of the current Teacher Professional Development (TPD) practices still focus on teacher-centred approaches instead of collaborative approaches, and often only in the format of face-to-face interaction. Research has shown that an Online Learning Community (OLC) can support TPD and facilitate collaboration among teachers. As an open and voluntary form of gathering that involves education practitioners concerned with the general practice of teaching or specialist disciplines or areas of interest (Lloyd & Duncan-Howell, 2010), OLC promotes active and collaborative learning processes (Helleve, 2010) and gives an opportunity for teachers to engage in reflective practice that can lead to transformative professional development (Windschitl, 2002). This thesis presents the results of a study that set out to develop and implement an OLC to support the current TPD practices in Indonesia. This online learning community was called the Online Learning Community for Teacher Professional Development (OLC4TPD). The study investigated the facilitating and inhibiting factors of OLC4TPD implementation in Indonesia, and analysed how OLC4TPD supported TPD within the Indonesian context.

Musical activities are often an integral part of the home life of young children and their caregivers. Activities include songs and rhymes that coordinate the daily routine, as well as opportunities for learning and engagement in a wider world. Music groups for caregivers and young children are also included within programmes of activities for families in early education and care settings. Additionally, such settings may have specific targets and outcomes that seek to improve the life chances of young children in disadvantaged circumstances; one key target may be the development of young children's communication skills. There is the suggestion, based on evidence from large-scale studies, that young children from disadvantaged backgrounds lag behind their more advantaged peers in language skills. Music can help children develop language and the associated skills necessary to be ready for school. In the early education and care setting context, it can be seen that music group sessions may serve various non-music targets and outcomes. This chapter overviews the evidence that appropriate musical activities are beneficial to learning and language development, challenging a view that words are the best starting point for communication. It seeks to offer a model of an effective musical pedagogical approach, developed through action research with an interdisciplinary team of early childhood music-arts practitioners and speech and language therapists for caregivers and young children in early care settings. The chapter aids reflection on children's emerging communication through musical activities, as well as some practical ideas for working with children with communication difficulties. Finally, the main findings from two projects are presented as practical implications, seeking to contribute new knowledge about working with children and their caregivers through music in early education and care settings.

Construction is an experience-based discipline, knowledge or experience accumulated from previous projects plays very important role in successful performance of new works. More and more construction organizations have adopted commercial Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) for developing their own Knowledge Management (KM) functionalities. The existing KMS's are mostly developed based on Communities of Practice (COPs) for knowledge sharing and exchange. Such

A prominent phenomenon in education in Europe and internationally is the demand for research-based education, which is also the case in Sweden, the context of this study. Therefore, greater academic demands have been placed on teachers, which can present a distinctive challenge for teachers who were educated when teacher education prioritised practical teacher training rather than academic training. Therefore, it is especially important to explore what and how experienced teachers learn and develop when moving towards a research-based education. The theoretical framework builds on communities of practice and social learning. The empirical data consists of written reflections from 50 teachers in preschool, compulsory and upper secondary school, who participated in action research projects that aimed to help build research-based education. The findings show that the teachers’ professional learning entailed changes in the ways they think, act and relate to others in three areas: teaching, research and collaboration. The study offers insights into the importance of a professional development process being based on a bottom-up perspective, collaborative, context-specific and integrated in teachers’ work. Lastly, the study points to the benefit of engagement on multiple levels – principals, lead teachers, teachers and researchers – to achieve lasting success in building research-based education.

How should lecturers teaching postgraduate creative writing in an online master of arts build and maintain e-community to
support and socialize learners? The study proposes that such programs need to attend to writers’ investments in developing
identities while promoting socialization and sense of belonging. Grounded in literature on communities of practice, imagined
community, and identity, the study draws on social constructivist and poststructuralist insights and contributes to the
relatively unexplored area of pedagogy for teaching writing online. The study uses qualitative descriptive analysis to narrate
themes from two datasets in the form of a métissage. Data from lecturer-e-moderators and students indicate that strategic
e-moderation encourages collaboration and maximizes pedagogical potential in forums. Strategic e-moderation builds a sense
of community by fostering critical friendships. The study emphasizes the need for e-moderators to develop participants’
investments in working in communities. The study reveals that although postgraduate writing students come to value learning
via critical friendships and communities, they also demand particularized feedback from e-moderators and peers. Findings
suggest that students need to develop writing identities and voices can be met by a pedagogical approach that harnesses the
potential of community while offering response to individual development. The study concludes that pedagogies of community
in teaching writing online need to benefit both collectively and individually. This works when writers apply discipline-specific
literacies and professional skills in critiquing peer texts, while responding to feedback from their community of practice,
facilitated by e-moderators.

MUN simulations can be considered a community of practice since they possess Wenger's (1998) three criteria-mutual engagement, a negotiated joint enterprise, and a shared repertoire. House (2003) argues that ELF too can be considered a community of practice since "its diffuse alliances and communities of imagination and alignment fits ELF interactions well because ELF participants have heterogeneous backgrounds and diverse social and linguistic expectations" (p. 573). Speaking English as an L1 offers no guarantee of an ability to interact successfully with a wide variety of interlocutors; there are many varieties of English, many of which are mutually incomprehensible (Ur 2010) and similarly, native speakers of these many varieties of English are not guaranteed to be successful interlocutors with users of ELF (Litzenberg 2013). Indeed, English native speakers are in especially acute need of training to adjust to a lingua franca world (Carey 2013). This short paper will report on observations of ELF-speaking MUN delegates from Japan and Germany to get a sense of some of the shortcomings that native speakers display when communicating with ELF speakers in the context of MUN simulations and will make recommendations for their training. The speaker must choose a comprehensible [verständlich] expression so that speaker and hearer can understand one another. (J. Habermas (1979) cited in: W. Ulrich (1983), Critical heuristics of social planning, p. 123).

This study describes how a group of early childhood educators from a diverse range of classroom cultures and pedagogies came together to form a network of support and collaboration, what Gorodetsky and Barak (Teach Teach Educ 24(7):1907–1918, 2008) define as an ‘edge community of practice.’ This year-long study involved a group of nine educators, who met for monthly workshops to discuss their teaching pedagogies, struggles, and successes. This article explains how this group of educators engaged in thoughtful deliberations about common educational concepts, such as ‘assessment’ and ‘classrooms’, and from these discussions, emerged from the experience with new and innovative perspectives on teaching young children. These educators, while quite different in their pedagogical approaches, critically examined their own practices, formed supportive relationships, and emerged with new and innovative understandings of early childhood education.

avvy executives recognize that a company's core organizational and operational processes are cru- cial to realizing its competitive potential. These organi- zational processes integrate the goals of the business into its employees' day-to-day activities via routines. Executives also know that a primary route to the devel- opment of such processes and practices is the study of best practice. The enterprise's

This article introduces the concept of academic social space as a useful construct to understand and interpret the academic language socialization of individuals in English second language academic spaces. Academic social space builds on the concepts of community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and production of space (Lefebvre, 1991). The article then reports on a study that adopted the notion of academic social space to examine the language socialization of one international student in a tertiary institute in New Zealand. Data about this case from various sources including diaries, interviews, class observations, field notes, institutional documents, and video/audio recordings of classroom interactions are presented. The analysis of findings from this study showed the student displayed three differential participation patterns in the three social spaces in which he was engaged. He presented himself as an active participant in his English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course, a silent participant in the first mainstream social space, and a changing silent-active participant respectively in the classroom and online domains of his second mainstream social space. The findings also showed that the concept of academic social space enables thick description (Geertz, 1973) about the language socialization experiences of additional language learners in tertiary contexts. Understanding the various aspects of social space enables researchers, educators, policy makers, and teachers to revisit their notion of space by considering it as an active, dynamic, and organic participant in the learning process of second language learners.