Week 3 - Blog Posting #6 -Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger 2007).

Communities of practice exist or can exist in almost any field. Teachers can come together to develop an excellent unit of study. Health care workers can interact to create a better method of caring for patients. Plumbers can meet to construct an innovative pipe system that works better than what is currently being used. Our students must be taught that working together in these communities of practice is something they will need for the future. How do we do that?

Well, we start now! For example, in my fourth grade math class, students come together to form communities of practice. Together, they work on long division. One person may be strong in multiplication, where another is strong in the area of subtraction and borrowing. When they all come together, they are able to pool their resources and do a better job than if they were working individually.

This reminds me of the Weakest Link game show on television. But, the community of practice is not as weak or as strong as the weakest link. Instead, when working together, a community of practice is more likely to perform better. According to Wikipedia, there are many benefits of these communities (“Communities of Practice”):

The knowledge that is shared and learned in communities of practice is social capital. People connect at various levels and across departments, both internally and externally of the company or organization, without the constraints of a formal company structure. As people connect with each other they are able to share their expertise and learn from other members. Benefits include the following:

Problem solving

Developing new capabilities

Leveraging best practices

Standardizing practices

Time savings

Increase in talent

Avoiding mistakes

Creating new knowledge

“Such communication results in the improvement of the knowledge of each participant in the community and contributes to the development of the knowledge within the domain” (Gannon-Leary 2007). This reminds me that old habits die young. It is still hard for me to let go of the peace and quiet in the classroom, even though I know that a lot of good can come from students working together for a common goal.

References:

“Community of Practice”. (2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 21, 2009 from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Communities_of_practice.

Gannon-Leary P. & Fontainha, E. (Septemner 26, 2007). Communities of Practice and virtual learning communities: benefits, barriers and success factors. http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&vol=5&doc_id=10219&docing=6

Wenger, Etenne. (2007). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Communities of practice. Retrieved September 21, 2009 from http://www.ewenger.com/theory.