The main message of communities of practice wenger 1998 is that even in. Mar 01, 2009 communities of practice cops, which have been described by wenger and others as a type of informal learning organization, have received increasing attention in the health care sector. Wenger then significantly expanded on the concept in his 1998 book communities of practice wenger 1998. The practices of the constituent members reflect their understanding of what is important wenger, 1998. Communities of practice lave and wenger learning theories. Wengers 1998 work promotes an ethos of learning and practice based knowledge development through active engagement in practice within a cop. Shared repertoire is a crucial aspect of the practice that community members engage in. Individuals develop their sense of belonging and alignment to a community of practice and its way of thinking and doing through their active engagement in the cultural practice wenger, 1998. Wenger is a consultant on knowledge management and communities of practice and the author of communities of practice. These relationships, division of knowledge labour or transactive. First published 1998 reprinted 1999 first paperback edition 1999 printed in the united states of america. Communities of practice and social learning systems. Practice is considered as a set frameworks, ideas, tools, information, styles, language, stories, and documents wenger et al.
In this work, they put forward the idea that learning is a process of participation in communities of practice participation that is at first peripheral but that increases. Communities of practice have been around for as long as human beings have learned together. Having grown up in the frenchspeaking parts of switzerland, wenger achieved a b. The community develops its coherence through the negotiation of the joint enterprise wenger, 1998, p. Through this conception lave and wenger want to stress that a. It makes sense, therefore to call these kinds of communities communities of practice. Wenger on learning in communities of practice new learning.
Communities of practice cops develop around areas that matter to people. Communities of practice as a social theory of learning. Etienne wenger stated that the structure of the cop is based on three components. Learning as peripheral participation in communities of. Exploring the potential of communities of practice for. When these conditions are in place, communities of practice are a privileged locus for the creation of knowledge wenger, 1998, p. Scientific literature provides several definitions of communities of practice brown and duguid 1998, marathe 1999, wenger and snyder 2000, magnusson and davidsson 2001, andriessen et al. Lave and wenger propose that, a community of practice is a set of relations among persons, activity, and world, over time and in relation to other tangential and overlapping communities of practice 1991, p. It is doing in a historical and social context that gives structure and meaning to what we do. Situating learning in communities of practice jean lave what would happen if a different eye, culturally and historically sensitized by an excursion through forms of apprenticeship in different parts of the world, errc turned on specific contemporary cultural and historical features of learning pr. A community of practice cop is a group of people who share a craft or a profession. In this work, lave and wenger used an anthropological perspective to argue that learning is not just receiving or absorbing information. Introduction to communities of practice wengertrayner. Wed like to understand how you use our websites in order to improve them.
These individuals deepen their knowledge and expertise through regular interaction with each other wenger 2006. The usefulness of wengers framework in understanding a. The fact that individuals are motivated to join a cop primarily to develop a sense of identity and belonging is central to wengers 1998 belief. Communities of practice and organizational performance 2.
Communities of practice the organizational frontier etienne c. Pdf on jun 1, 2003, mellony graven and others published wenger, e. Learning mathematics in local communities of practice. At home, at work, at school, in our hobbies, we all belong to communities of practice, a number of them usually. Learning, meaning, and identity eiienne wenger communities ofpractice. This book presents a theory of learning that starts with the assumption that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we get to know what we know and by which we become. Educational theorist and practitioner, etienne wenger, argues that learning is an intrinsically social process and that one of the primary sites where learning occurs is in communities of practice. According to wenger 1998, cop members negotiation of meanings in practice leads to the development of three structural elements of cops. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance. Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor. Hara 2003 outlined four stages of design necessary to ensure that a cop is. However, the framework he developed in his seminal book communities of practice. Social, cognitive and computational perspectives paperback jan 2000. Selected writings by sylvia scribnet ethel iobach, rachel jaffee falmagne, mary b parlee, laura mwmartin, and aggie kapelman eds sociocultural studies of mind lames vwerisch, pablo del rio, and amelia alvarez eds.
An evaluation framework for mixed methods research the valuecreation framework as a mixed methods research tool 2017. This book has been cited by the following publications. Pdf designing for communities of practice james sheil. Communities of practice the basic argument made by jean lave and etienne wenger is that communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them whether that is at work, school, home, or in our civic and leisure interests. And we travel through numerous communities over the course of our lives. Situating learning in communities of practice jean lave what would happen if a different eye, culturally and historically sensitized by. Roles of communities of practice for the development of. General interest communities of practice by etienne wenger. This list is generated based on data provided by crossref. Joint enterprise refers to the fact that members of the community interact regularly. The grit in the oyster does an appreciation of threshold concepts in an adult literacies teaching qualification result in pearls of practice. Community of practice 1 what are communities of practice. Social, cognitive and computational perspectives series by etienne wenger. Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
The term community of practice is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is ageold. My assumption as to what matters about learning and as to the nature of knowledge, knowing, and knowers can be succinctly summarized as follows. A key premise of his theoretical work is that communities of practice can arise in any domain of human endeavour, for instance, the practice of creating new forms of artistic expression, or the practices involved in. Learning, meaning and identity is overlooked in the academic and popular business press, where the focus is most typically on managing a community of practice, rather than. The phrase communities of practice was coined by educational theorists jean lave and etienne wenger lave and wenger 1991 in the groundbreaking book situated learning. What it is about its joint enterprise as understood and. By etienne wenger, cambridge university press, 1998. Communities of practice refers to groups of people who share a concern or a passion for a topic, a craft, andor a profession wenger 1998, 2006. Jean lave, etienne wenger and communities of practice infed. Domain or mutual engagement, where an identity is defined and shared by a community based on the common goals or interests of its members. Learning, meaning, and identity cambridge university press, 1998. Communities of practice cops, which have been described by wenger and others as a type of informal learning organization, have received increasing attention in the health care sector. The ones marked may be different from the article in the profile.
Lave and wengers 1991 and wengers 1998 theoretical claims, and in others it was motivated by the assumptions put forth by other influential social learning theorists. Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared. According to wenger, 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. In some groups we are core members, in others we are more at the margins. Wenger 1998 identified three critical elements of communities of practice. As we have seen above, the work of lave and wenger 1991 moved. The concept has turned out to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. Communities of practice cops the term community of practice was coined by etienne wenger and jean lave in the early 1990s to describe a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis wenger et al. For a directory of programs that represents our potential community of practice in rural medical education, click here wenger, e. Learning, meaning, and identity eiienne wenger communities ofpractice learning, meaning, and identity etienne wenger instituteor researth on learning cambridge universiiypress. This cited by count includes citations to the following articles in scholar.
A cop can evolve naturally because of the members common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created deliberately with the goal of gaining knowledge related to a specific field. Communities of practice are everywhere wenger, 1998. The concept of practice connotes doing, but not just doing in and of itself. Ccooommmmuuunnniiitttiieeesss ooofff ppprrraaacccttiiccee. A search in the database for communities of practice wenger 1998 yields. Key theorist, etienne wenger, defines communities of practice as 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, 1998. Learning in a landscape of practice chapters on new developments in theory and practice 2014. Jean lave, etienne wenger and communities of practice. Learning, meaning and identity find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. The term community of practice is of relatively recent coinage, even though the. Some communities of practice are quite formal in organization, others are very fluid and informal.
In 1998, the theorist etienne wenger extended the concept and applied it to other domains, such as organizations. Communities of practice as a social theory of learning white rose. In social learning systems and communities of practice ss. While this may be the case, it is possible to examine an organisation and find empty spaces where opportunities to cultivate communities of. Membership is a result of participating in and contributing to the. Evolution of wengers concept of community of practice.
1158 1604 441 763 215 194 688 1027 990 34 825 1158 1212 114 1237 1255 1552 791 270 1246 1599 603 1470 891 353 698 849 1451 1380 786 530 1468 537 170