Community of Practice

My Community Of Practice 
 Definition

Firstly I had to find a definition of Community of Practice  (CoP).  My initial concept certainly changed by the end of my posting. The term Community of Practice was coined by Jean Lave and Etienne Wagner.  The basic principle is that learning occurs in social contexts where people have common goals and interact as they strive towards these goals.  A community is a group, but a community of practice is a group of practitioners, professionals, and in the education field teachers or other educationalists. This made me think of my school practice, the staff and leadership meetings that we have and other groups such as Mindlab, to name a few. But on further reading I discovered there was more to defining a CoP.

Cited in Innovative Learning, Smith and Mckeen compare a CoP with Teams which gave me more clarification to make a judgement on what I belonged to:

* A CoP is a forum where you can share knowledge and promote learning in a particular area.

* You can be a part time, marginal or active member.

* Membership of the group is voluntary, and the group is self organising, informal and can have a leader or facilitator.

* Identity, a common interest underpins the group formation.

* The groups evolve and are fluid. It disbands only when there is no interest.

* The group discovers value in exchanges of knowledge and information and this sustains the group and ensures topics relevant and exciting.

In comparison a Team is selected, not voluntary and there is an expectation to contribute. It is hierarchical with a leader and the group delivers value in the result it produces and can involve co-ordination of many tasks.

 My CoP's

After this research, I was ready to make my decision.  I discovered CoPs could not only be work related but also home and leisure. A matrix with criteria would be helpful with this! Hence some of my CoPs are:

A follow up group from Mindlab on a Monday afternoon where we discuss topics, is voluntary, open to anyone interested and, who knows how long we will keep going!

A CoP of 2! I meet and work with a colleague. We have a shared identity of being Mindlab members and have established a community of collaboration, meeting and doing assignments together.

My students and I are part of a CoP. We have an elective programme where students and myself follow our passions and meet every Friday. I am the facilitator and learning from and with the children. We are able to share ideas, learn off each other and work collaboratively.

Teacher facebook could be considered a CoP. I belong, although I am not an active contributor. Using Google+ as part of Mindlab is also a CoP.

The above were not what I  had thought of at the beginning of this posting. They all involve social interactions, a shared identity,  working collaboratively and based on a focus of learning.  The challenge for me is that they can be temporary, especially the ones connected to Mindlab and what will I belong to after that ends? Being a member does add value/energy to what I do.  There are many established groups online I could ‘follow’ through twitter or selected BLOGS. I prefer groups that are not so large that you feel disconnected and unable to form a relationship with. CoPs evolve through interaction , so who knows what next? This needs further investigation as to what’s out there.

References:

 Innovative Learning:

http://www.innovativelearning.com/teaching/communities_of_practice.html

EDpuzzle ‘Cultivating Communities of Practice. Making them Grow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk