Communities of practice

"...shared concern, improving practice and with social learning ... developing and improving their practice in a particular domain and .. look to other people of like mind, interests or similar experience and adopt a principle of mutual support"
(facilitated beyond geography by the "development of information and communications technologies")
(a counter to the shift to a more variable working context; support through change)

(OU, 2010, pp. 123-124).

"in response to complexity, needs for different kinds of support have arisen- social, professional and personal" (Blackmore, 2010, p. 103).

"The focus of a COP is not on the organisation, but on practice"
(OU, 2010, p. 124).

"COPs are everywhere" (Wenger, 1998, in OU, 2010, p. 125).

"Community" and "network" as two types of "structuring processes"; "Community emphasises identity and network emphasises connectivity. The two usually coexist." (Wenger, 2010, in OU, 2010, p. 126).

How do COPs relate to social learning and social learning systems?

Learning as practice: Learning as social phenomenon and "practice-based"; "learning and knowing manifest in processes of co-participation in a situation" (Wenger, in OU, 2010, p. 126).

Practice is seen as "a way of talking about the shared historical and social resources, frameworks and perspectives that can sustain mutual engagement in action"; doing in "historical and social context"; "practice is always social practice" (Wenger, 1998, in OU, 2010, p. 127).

i.e. learning as practice and practice as learning.

Three dimensions of a COP;

1. Domain
2. Community
3. Practice

(Snyder and Wenger, 2010, in OU, 2010, p. 127).

exa

Cf. Other types of groups and communities (OU, 2010, p. 129).

Consider: "what advantages and disadvantages might they have for learning and managing change in your situations of concern, when compared with other ways of operating (as in OU, 2010, p. 128-129)?

Questions:

• whether and how CoPs can be purposefully created 
• how we can know if they are functioning well in relation to managing systemic change  

(OU, 2010, p. 129).

Wenger's four components for a social theory of learning;

• community (learning as belonging), 
• practice (learning as doing), 
• identity (learning as becoming)
• meaning (learning as experience). 

(Wenger, 1998, in OU, 2010, p. 133).

Wenger's fundamental dualities (processes or dimensions of design for learning);

• participation versus reification, 
• designed versus emergent, 
• identification versus negotiability 
• local versus global 

(Wenger, 1998, in OU, 2010, p. 133).

An inquiry into Cops;

• examples of COPs
• others' experiences of COPs
• own experiences of COPs
• Critical appreciation of COP theory and concepts for managing systemic change
• exploring COPs resources
• theme(s) for deeper study
• Reflecting on COPs
• Conducting the inquiry

(OU, 2010, pp. 129-).

"build up a critical appreciation of the CoPs theory and concepts through relating them to your own and other people’s experiences. You need to be able to recognise strengths and limitations of using such theory in particular contexts and in your own use of it. "; "Developing your understanding of CoPs theory and practice for the purpose of managing systemic change in your situation(s) of concern will be part of the virtuous cycle of systemic inquiry" 
(OU, 2010, p. 132).

(OU, 2010, pp. 133-134, referring to Blackmore, 2010, Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice, Springer, London).

Choosing a theme for more in-depth study

• Design for social learning as a system (chs. 7, 10, 11) [T1].
• Developing and managing relationships with other stakeholders in your situations of concern (chs. 7,9,10,11) [T2].
• Using a CoPs model and CoPs tools for improving a problematic situation (chs. 7,10) [T3].
• [Other?]

(cf. OU, 2010, pp. 135-136).

"... it is now time to get on with it."

(OU, 2010, p. 136).