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Pedagogical Dimensions
Community of Practice (or CoP)
"With a frog who never leaves the well one cannot discuss the ocean, because of spatial limitations; with a worm who does not survive the summer, one can not discuss snow, because of temporal limitations. Similarly, with a shallow scholar one cannot discuss the Great Tao because of the limitations of the dogma he learned."
Definition
The concept of a community of practice (often abbreviated as CoP) refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations. (Wiki, 2006)
The term was first used in 1991 by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger who used it in relation to situated learning as part of an attempt to "rethink learning" at the Institute for Research on Learning. In 1998, the theorist Etienne Wenger extended the concept and applied it to other contexts, including organizational settings. More recently Communities of Practice have become associated with knowledge management as people have begun to see them as ways of developing social capital, nurturing new knowledge, stimulating innovation or sharing existing tacit knowledge within an organization. It is now an accepted part of organizational development (OD). (Wiki, 2006)
Notable Theorists & Theories Involving Communities of Practice
Communities of Practice, Societies & Networks
Harvard Business School - 7-Principles for Cultivating CoP
Wenger's CoP Website & Wenger's Personal Homepage
Open Directory - Reference: Knowledge Management and CoP
Educational Community of Practice
The "Virtuous Circle" that drives the future of organizations
IBM - Communities of Practice & Organizational Performance (.pdf)
Online Academic Papers
Allee, V. (2000) 'Knowledge networks and communities of learning', OD Practitioner 32( 4), http://www.odnetwork.org/odponline/vol32n4/knowledgenets.html. Accessed December 30, 2002.
Hildreth P. and Kimble C. (2002) The Duality of Knowledge, Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 142 [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper142.html]
Kimble C., Hildreth P. and Wright P. (2000) Communities of Practice: Going Virtual, Chapter 13 in Y. Malhotra (Ed.) Knowledge Management and Business Model Innovation, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey (USA)/London (UK), 2001, pp 220 - 234.
Kimble C., Li F. and Barlow A. (2000) Effective Virtual Teams through Communities of Practice, University of Strathclyde Management Science Research Paper No. 00/9, 2000
Lesser, E. L. and Storck, J. (2001) 'Communities of practice and organizational performance', IBM Systems Journal 40(4), http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/404/lesser.html. Accessed December 30, 2002.
Ponzi L. and Koenig M. (2002) Knowledge Management: Another Management Fad? Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 145 [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper145.html]
Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The social/situational orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-social.htm.
Smith, M. K. (2003) 'Communities of practice', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_pratice.htm. Last updated: 19 April 2006 .
Wenger, E. (1998) 'Communities of Practice. Learning as a social system', Systems Thinker, http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml. Accessed December 30, 2002.
Wenger E., White N., Smith J.D., & Rowe K. (2005) Technology for Communities, CEFRIO Book Chapter 5(2)
Wenger E. (2005) Learning for a Small Planet: Research Agenda
Wegner E. (2004) Knowledge Management as a Doughnut: Shaping your knowledge strategy through communities of practice, University of Western Ontario: Richard Ivey School of Business, Ivey Business Journal, London (ON), Canada.
Wilson T.D. (2002) The Nonsense of 'Knowledge Management' Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 144 [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html]
See Also:
CoP Start-up Guide (by Etienne Wenger) (.pdf)
IT & CoP - Intranets (.pdf)
Book Review: Cultivating Communities of Practice
Canadian Journal of Learning & Technology - Social Capital in Virtual Learning Communities and Distributed Communities of Practice
CoP Resource Page - (2000) Fred Nickols