A community of practice is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and who learn to do it better through regular interaction with one another. The concept was first proposed by the cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and the educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, and Wenger substantially expanded it in his own 1998 book, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. The framework treats learning as something that happens through participation in a social group organized around shared practice, rather than as a purely individual, internal process.
Facts
Core ClaimPeople who share a concern or passion for something they do form a community of practice, learning to do it better through regular interaction with one another rather than through formal instruction alone. 2 Classification
Education Level FAQs
What makes a group a community of practice rather than just a club or a network?
A shared domain of interest; a community whose members interact and learn together; and a shared practice built over time.
According to the Wenger-Trayner introduction to communities of practice, not everything called a community is one, and three characteristics are crucial. The first is a shared domain of interest, with members committed to it and sharing a competence that distinguishes them from other people. The second is the community itself: members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other and share information, so having the same job or title is not enough unless members interact and learn together. The third is the practice: members are practitioners who develop a shared repertoire of experiences, stories, tools and ways of addressing recurring problems, which takes time and sustained interaction. It is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice.
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Developed By
Source Wikipedia: Community of Practice
Source Wikipedia: Community of Practice
In Approach
Source Wikipedia: Community of Practice
Sources
1. Community of practice (Wikipedia)
a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularlyView the Source 2. Wikipedia: Community of Practice
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia Community of practice, lead paragraph, sentences 1-2
A community of practice (CoP), also called a vertical community, is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning.
In Approach: Constructivism, Lead paragraph, in-approach
A community of practice (CoP), also called a vertical community, is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly".
Developed By: Jean Lave, Lead
The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning.
Developed By: Étienne Wenger, Lead
The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning.
In Group: Learning Communities and Networks, Lead
A community of practice (CoP), also called a vertical community, is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly".
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