30.2: What is a “Community of Practice” ?

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The term “community of practice” (CoP) was proposed by Lave & Wenger (1991) to capture the importance of activity in integrating individuals within a community and of community in legitimizing individual practices. Barab et al. (2002, p. 495) defined a CoP as “a persistent, sustaining social network of individuals who share and develop an overlapping knowledge base, set of beliefs, values, history, and experiences focused on a common practice and-or mutual enterprise.”

Wenger (1998) proposed three key features of a CoP:

mutual engagement,
joint enterprise, and
a shared repertoire.

Mutual engagement involves both work-related and sociocultural activities, achieved through interaction, shared tasks, and opportunities for peripheral participation. Joint enterprise refers to the need for the group to respond to its own, rather than an external, mandate. Finally, a shared repertoire involves the “routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, symbols, genres, actions or concepts that the community has adopted in the course of its existence” (Wenger, 1998, p. 83).

So we can see that the concept of a CoP is complex and multidimensional, and as instructors make the shift from a teaching focus to a learning focus, CoPs provide an important avenue for e-learning practitioners to expand their repertoire. An online CoP can serve two key purposes:

it can provide a place for instructors to share their experiences and learn from one another; and
it can provide a place for students to interact with one another and the instructor, and to work in teams.

Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)

An Online CoP for Teacher Education “In 2005, the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong in Australia implemented the online community of practice called the BEST site: Beginning and Establishing Successful Teachers (http://www.uow.edu .au/educ/students/best.html). The site has been developed specifically for primary and early childhood teachers, although it is being further developed for other specialized cohorts, such as physical and health education teachers” (Herrington, Herrington, Kervin & Ferry, 2006, para. 18).

Case study: Simon Fraser University Co-operative Education Program

The Co-operative Education (Co-op) program (http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/) at Simon Fraser University uses an online community that provides innovative and continued learning and reflection opportunities through technologies that enhance the Co-operative Education curriculum. Although its overall goal and intended value were specifically aimed at the delivery of co-op and career materials for students, co-op students were continually encouraged to create their own content so that the community became a resource “for students, by students.” The community has since opened to include other membership types such as alumni and co-op employers. To foster this growth, the community coordinator and community host ensure that the community’s body of knowledge expands to meet specific member needs and interests.