June 8th: Cultivating-Communities-of-Practice
A community of practice can be defined as "groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on ongoing basis." Before reading this article and this definition, if somewhere were to ask me to define "a community of practice," I would most likely be able to take a guess, but I'm not sure how accurate my definition would be. I have never really heard of this concept before so I would say out of all the articles I have read this week, this is the one that I gained the most knowledge from that I did not previously have. They gave a lot of great examples of "communities of practice" that helped me understand the concept such as, "soccer moms and dads take advantage of game time to share tips and insights about the subtle art of parenting." This something I knew happened, but I did not know they could be defined as a community of practice.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteGreat post today, I agree with you on your statement if you were asked to define what a community of practice is. I would probably relate it to religion since religious people act as a community and practice what they believe in but I would never relate it to an online concept at all until reading today's article. The way I understood the article was that a community of practice basically brings a group of people together to complete a certain task such as an assembly line. Each person has their "authentic task" and they use communication to get the job done efficiently. The craziest thing to think about the whole concept is that all of this occurs online.
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ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI believe you explained the Cultivating Communities of Practice text very well! Before I read this assigned reading, I was also unaware of what communities of practice were and probably guess that it has to do with something along the lines of practicing forming communities. It was interesting that you noted that seeing soccer moms and dads utilizing game time to share tricks and tips was something that you noticed happening, however you did not know it was considered a community of practice. I believe that communities of practice are a great way for individuals to learn from one another and form different perspectives. Do you believe these can be utilized as a tool within a work environment in order to effectively get more work done? Great job!
I agree with what you said in the beginning, I wouldn't have been able to define what a community of practice is. When first assigned I assumed it was a community of people that all practice the same thing, after reading the article I learned it's a little more than that. Thinking about the examples given I can see it how it works and it makes a lot more sense to me. I can say now that if I was asked the definition I would be able to answer it confidently. Great post overall explaining it.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. The example of Moms and Dads sharing comments or ideas on the side lines of a soccer field watching their children play did not make me think of this as a “community of practice.” Then again, I was probably very young at the time. I think a better example would be the company or group that develops outstanding ad campaigns. Think of the Super Bowl ads we have viewed through the years and the collaboration that had to go into creating the campaign. Who would have ever thought frogs in a Budweiser commercial would be so popular. What do frogs have to do with selling beer? That most have been quiet a brainstorming idea. The collective minds sharing one goal, get recognized as one of the best Super Bowl ads of all time.