"Communities of Practice are groups of people who share an interest in or passion for an activity and who interact voluntarily and regularly to learn how to do that activity better."Sounds like computer-mediated learning, doesn't it? Basically, Communities of Practice are computer-mediated learning platforms that also act as a place to house self-contained learning packages. If I was a student and I was interested in learning more about a topic, I would want to find a Community of Practice focused on that topic because it would be like finding the motherlode of information about that topic. I would be able to find find information such as self-contained courses, independent learning objects, current news stories, case studies, etc. I would also be able to look on discussion threads or find people to answer any questions I might have about the topic. Finally, I would be able to find innovations and learn about current trends in the topic, from the experts who are participating on the Community. It's a computer-mediated one-stop-shop of learning!
Find Information
Most Communities of Practice house a myriad of valuable resources, such as best practices, videos, outreach toolkits, webinars, e-learning courses, news articles, interactive event calendars, case studies, training models, and more. A good Community should encourage sharing (user posting) of user-found resources. Most Communities make it easy to find resources by grouping information and providing common ways to search for the information you require. Information sharing on Communities of Practice is unique because it’s reciprocal – users obtain AND provide information of value.
Find People, Find Innovations
A good Community of Practice should provide perspective on its topic, through features like Blogs, which bridge the gap between experts and students, and the informal, easy-to-read format encourages conversation and comments. It should also encourage an open and vibrant Q&A dialogue via computer-mediated learning features like Discussion Boards and Live Chat features, which are a great place for learners to ask questions and have their peers or experts answer them. The Community of Practice manager often facilitates discussions by asking an appropriate expert to answer a question that has been posted by a learner.
There are many online education spaces on the web today that claim to be “Communities of Practice.” However, through personal experience, I have found that not every website that claims to be a Community, really is. A true Community of Practice is an actively managed, computer-mediated learning platform that virtually brings together experts and learners in order to share resources (self-contained learning packages, independent learning objects) and brings together people to learn from each other. In my experience, Communities seem to be a "best of both worlds" type of deal, where you can use a computer-mediated learning platform to deliver self-contained course materials as well.
My question to you all would be, have you ever used a Community of Practice before? Do you think that they're useful as computer-mediated learning platforms? Do you think that they're adequate in delivering self contained course material? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
A think I have used something like a Community of Practice for teachers of English as a foreign language. The site had advice about planning lessons, information about how tax laws would affect freelance work in certain countries, and a message board. In some ways it was like a professional support group.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the more I learn about computer-mediated communication and self-contained materials, the more I think of examples of those two mixing! -JD
JD, I think you're right on. Self-contained materials are great and are being developed at an increasing pace these days, since the tools to develop them are becoming widespread and easily available to even novice instructional designers. The question then becomes, where do we store all the great learning materials we've developed, so that people can find them again? That's where online platforms like Communities of Practice come in. They provide a great place for us to store and catalog learning materials around a particular topic or area of professional practice, and a place for us to interact with other professionals, all in a convenient one-stop-shop. It sounds like the place you visited was a Community of Practice. Kudos to you! You're on the cutting edge :)
ReplyDeleteKristen and J.D.,
ReplyDeleteYou're engaged in an interesting, insightful discussion re: learning objects and communities of practice.
I wonder, too, what part authorship, ownership, power/control, copyright, etc. and leadership, cooperation, teaming, desire to share for the good of all, etc. play here?
What do you think?
Linda
Linda, that's a very good question. Typically, it seems that Communities of Practice eliminate all threads of "ownership" over a learning object. I don't know about other types of LO repositories, but in my experience with Communities, once you submit something to be posted on there, it's up there for the good of all. But, that's kind of the idea -- share what you know, share what you've got, because others don't want to re-invent the wheel. What we find is that the authors of such content end up getting "paid" for it in spades, because they are now seen as an "expert" on the subject that their learning object, blog, or whatever was about. The more folks put themselves and their learning materials out there on a Community, the more the Community members see them as an authority, the more likely they are to get booked for speaking engagements, etc. It's always good personal publicity to share nicely on the net :)
ReplyDelete