Mindlab - Week 25 - My Community of Practice
The article 'Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems' (Wenger, 2000) argued that organisations are defined by their effectiveness to enable it's participants to engage with and learn social systems which, in turn, defines a community. For example, in a scientific community, knowledge is a competence that members are engaged in learning about and value, imparting a social learning system to allow their experience to develop within that community.
A 'Community of Practice', therefore can be defined as a paradigm of sorts: whereby members can share collective learning, values and resources and, by participating in this way, define their own identity within it. As noted by Wenger, it can be applied to any group, society, guild, church, institution, corporation, online community or any formal organisational structure. In some respects, this is a theory of epistemology combined with anthropology. In others, it's a theory of effective business management. It is Wenger's contention that by reflecting on the structures involved in Community of Practice, it can be built into a more effective system for progress.
As a teacher, my own school community describes a community of practice based on social learning. It's made up of a network of communities, including my own Department of Science that encompasses eight teachers of Science. Each teacher has their own speciality (Physics, Biology and Chemistry) with a Head of Department for each discipline and an overall Head of Department who is also Head of Physics.
Communities of Practice define 'competence' in three ways (Wenger, 2000): Members are bound together and accountable to a joint enterprise or shared goal, trusted relationships of mutuality are developed through interaction, and a shared repertoire of communal resources (including routines, sensibilities and language, etc).
In my own practice, the enterprise is clearly identified through our departmental goals, which are reviewed each year, but remain essentially focussed on creating a successful programme of study for students within which grades and assessments set targets. The teachers within the school are employed in the long term, along with support staff, so there are various levels of mutualism developed in informal ways. Collaboration is an integrated part of the process of developing a programme of study and sharing the resources necessary to teach any particular part of it. Under these criteria, as an experienced teacher, I must therefore be competent member of my community! However, this community also extends towards the students I teach (as well as the wider community/ whanau) - on a structurally different but more professionally significant level.
While fellow teachers can look to their wages and careers to create a joint enterprise, mutualism and a shared repertoire, students have no such incentive. Some criticism of CoP being 'one size fits all' (Pemberton, Mavin, 2007) is somewhat exemplified by the dichotomy between a generally harmonious implementation of CoP for teachers, and the issues of adopting the ideas to the inherently hierarchal structure of a typical high school classroom.
The Mindlab course has sought to emphasis 21st century key competencies and integrate modern digital technology in a process that, ultimately, is more democratic in design. As such, I can possibly make it a point of personal development in trying to create a community that evolves to be more of a joint enterprise, with mutualism and a shared repertoire at the heart of it.
References:
Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization Articles. Vol 7 (2) 225-246
Pemberton, J., & Mavin, S. (2007). Communities of practice - one size fits all?. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Hi Rory,
ReplyDeleteGreat post, very interesting to see this from a secondary teachers point of view.
I was just wondering how you see yourself as a part of this community of learning. What is your relationship to the group.
Hi Katie, I tend to see my own role in the community of learning as a leader or at least facilitator of effective thinking among students. My values, which I guess is informed by my Science background, are trying to help students explain their own observations and carry out valid thought processes towards their own critical understanding of ideas.
ReplyDeleteWe do have a good department where healthy debate and inquiry is a normal matter of discourse. In a sense, we are collectively trying to invite our students and wider community into this paradigm and establish it as a collective value.
Hope this answers your question!
Your post has highlighted the many and varied communities of practice we as teachers can be exposed to. The ability to transition between communities as you have discussed shows a need to be adaptable and resilient.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to be collaborative within a community allows it to be dynamic and evolutionary to gain it's best effect for both teachers and students alike. The ability to move from being a leader of one community to a community member in another shows dexterity and better understanding of how these communities work.
The ability to move outside of the hierarchical paradigm of schools and become more inclusive to ensure that the community of practice provides the best teaching and learning outcomes for all.