The term ""community of practice"" is of relatively recent coinage, even though the phenomenon it refers to is age-old. The concept has turned out to provide a useful perspective on knowing and learning. A growing number of people and organizations in various sectors are now focusing on communities of practice as a key to improving their performance. This brief and general introduction examines what communities of practice are and why researchers and practitioners in so many different contexts find them useful as an approach to knowing and learning.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Etienne Wenger
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This essay argues that the success of organizations depends on their ability to design themselves as social learning systems and also to participate in broader learning systems such as an industry, a region, or a consortium. It explores the structure of these social learning systems. It proposes a social definition of learning and distinguishes between three `modes of belonging' by which we participate in social learning systems. Then it uses this framework to look at three constitutive elements of these systems: communities of practice, boundary processes among these communities, and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Etienne Wenger
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
A slide presentation for a talk given at the 2008 meeting of the Informal Science Education Association (ISEA) (Texas) annual conference that explores the following questions: Is ISEA about informal science education? Or about getting better at informal science education? Or about getting better at getting better at science education?Inverness Research Associates has served as the external evaluator to NISE, TexNET, COMPASS and other networks in both the formal and informal field.
The idea that learning involves a deepening process of participation in a community of practice has gained significant ground in recent years. Communities of practice have also become an important focus within organizational development and have considerable value when thinking about working with groups. In this article we outline the theory and practice of such communities, and examine some of issues and questions for informal educators and those concerned with lifelong learning.
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Mark Smith
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This book was used as a part of the CAISE Convening on Organizational Networks, November 2011. It describes how to contextualize and strategically build communities of practice.
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Hubert Saint-GeorgeDebra Wallace
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Companies have increasingly shifted from innovation initiatives that are centered on internal resources to those that are centered on external networks (said another way, a shift from firm-centric innovation to network-centric innovation). In this paper, we combine insights from product development and network theory with evidence from an extensive field study to describe the nature of a hub firm’s orchestration processes in network-centric innovation. Our analysis indicates that network orchestration processes reflect the interplay between elements of innovation design and network design
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Satish NambisanMohanbir Sawhney
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In the experience of health professionals, it appears that interacting with peers in the workplace fosters learning and information sharing. Informal groups and networks present good opportunities for information exchange. 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; however, the lack of uniform operating definitions of CoPs has resulted in considerable variation in the structure and function of these groups, making it difficult to evaluate their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Linda LiJeremy GrimshawCamilla NielsenMaria JuddPeter CoyteIan Graham
Increasingly, collaboration between business, non-profit, health and educational agencies is being championed as a powerful strategy to achieve a vision otherwise not possible when independent entities work alone. But the definition of collaboration is elusive and it is often difficult for organizations to put collaboration into practice and assess it with certainty. Program evaluators can assist practitioners concerned with the development of a strategic alliance predicated on collaboration by understanding and utilizing principles of collaboration theory. The Strategic Alliance Formative
This article describes elements of an approach to research and development called design-based implementation research. The approach represents an expansion of design research, which typically focuses on classrooms, to include development and testing of innovations that foster alignment and coordination of supports for improving teaching and learning. As in policy research, implementation is a key focus of theoretical development and analysis. What distinguishes this approach from both traditional design research and policy research is the presence of four key elements: (a) a focus on
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bill PenuelBarry FishmanBritt Haugan ChengNora Sabelli
A NSF EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) was awarded to Principal Investigator John Fraser, PhD, AIA, in collaboration with co-Principal Investigators, Mary Miss and William Solecki, PhD, for City as Living Laboratory for Sustainability in Urban Design (CaLL). The CaLL project explored how public art installations can promote public discussion about sustainability. The project examined the emerging role of artists and visual thinkers as people with the skills to encourage conversation between scientists and the public. The grant supported an experimental installation
Leaders of the only two large-scale assessments of environmental literacy used in the U.S. to date (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] and the National Environmental Literacy Assessment [NELA]), led by an experienced PI representing the North American Association for Environmental Education, to develop a new, comprehensive, research-based framework for assessing environmental literacy. By bringing together, for the first time, experts in research, assessment, and evaluation from the fields of science education, environmental education, and related social science fields -
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Joe E HeimlichNorth American Association for Environmental Education
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Cosmic Serpent (NSF No. DRL-0714631 and DRL-0714629) is a professional development effort that supports collaboration with integrity between science museum professionals and Native communities and/or tribal museums. Cosmic Serpent aims to create awareness of the value and integrity of Native science paradigms among museum practitioners, support them in connecting Native worldviews to Western science learning; and nurture sustainable collaborations between science museums and Native communities around featuring multiple worldviews of science in informal settings. The primary component of the