Learning about communities of practice has caused me to wonder about all the different places I learn that may constitute as a community of practice. Yes, I’ve thought of the school environment I was involved with when growing up, the University classes I’ve taken over the years, and certain camps that I’ve attended during summers that undoubtedly fit into the category of a community of practice. Today, however, I spent some of my free time online where I am eager to continue learning. Does this constitute as a community of practice? Let’s see…
According to Erik Jacobson who wrote “Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators", there exist virtual communities of practice. He, as well as others (e.g. Dubé, Bourhis & Jacob, 2005; Murillo, 2006; Zarb, 2006; Hara & Hew, 2007; Murillo, 2008), agree that communication technologies (computer/internet) has allowed individuals around the world to collaborate and exchange information, and that despite not having a shared physical environment, the community is still based around “situated learning” in a “co-located setting” (Dubé, Bourhis & Jacob, 2005).
This idea has become so fascinating to some that there is current research being done on the subject by Gray, B. His research is titled “Informal Learning in an Online Community of Practice”, and he suggests that Online or Virtual communities of practice allow for the “enculturation of newcomers to a practitioners’ community”, which enables both “experienced and novice practitioners” to learn together and help shape personal identities of the members of the community.
This idea is also, unsurprisingly, fascinating to me. This fascination is catalyzed by the fact that I’m part of an online community called “Reddit” that I am so happy to have stumbled upon a couple years ago. With the help of this community, I have been able to expand my knowledge of just about everything, from politics to science to art and fitness. But does this truly constitute as a community of practice? In an attempt to figure that out, I will see if it fits the description of a “community of practice” by Wenger himself.
1. Firstly, Wenger mentions that there must be a domain of interest. This cannot simply be a club of friends- it must have an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Subsequently, if you’re a member of that domain, you might distinguish yourself from other people, and value learning from other members of your domain. à This seems to fit well with the description of Reddit. People who are members of reddit identify so much with the community that they call themselves “redditors”, and distinguish themselves greatly from other similar websites such as 4chan and digg (it is very commonly brought up within conversation on the website). In fact, redditors will often be seen wearing t-shirts with the reddit logo on it (a happy-looking alien). I must admit, I’ve been seen with one myself.
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| Reddit logo |
2. Secondly, Wenger suggests that there must be a community involved where members engage in joint activities and discussions. Within this community, the members must interact and learn together in the pursuit of their shared interests. à This as well fits within the description of Reddit. Redditors are constantly engaging in conversations that foster a very good learning environment, often maintaining a great amount of respect (mostly) in doing so. Respect towards others is often emphasized during discussions; so much so, that a post will often be made as a reminder to be kind and respectful if that rule was to be broken. This is part of the reason why I still frequent and enjoy the website, as I greatly value the idea of being able to share different views and ideas knowing that other members will give you respect regardless of their differing views. In addition to sharing interests and learning through them, redditors often meet up outside of the virtual world to have real-life physical interactions, which further connects them on a different level (joint physical activities! Bonus!)
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| An actual screenshot of people making posts about being respectful towards others on Reddit |
- Finally, Wenger mentions the need for a practice within the community. The members of this practice must develop a shared repertoire of resources, which takes lots of shared interaction. à On Reddit, there are many “sub-reddits” which consist of communities that are divided by specific interests. Take the “fitness” sub-reddit, for example, where redditors have a shared list of online resources linked specifically to learning about fitness. These websites are those that are recognized by the community as reliable and very useful.
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| Screenshot of a the "Fitness" sub-reddit |
So, it’s pretty clear to me now that communities of practice can exist online if they are able to have a shared domain of interest, joint activities and discussions, and are able to practice within that community. If I’ve sparked the interest of anyone to join the Reddit community, check it out and see what you think Perhaps I will even be able to learn from you outside the classroom as a result!!
References:
1. Dubé, L., Bourhis, A. & Jacob, R. (2005). The impact of structuring characteristics on the launching of virtual communities of practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 18(2): 145-166.
2. Hara, N. & Hew, K. H. (2007) Knowledge-sharing in an online community of health-care professionals. Information Technology & People, 20(3): 235-261.
3. Murillo, E. (2006). Searching for virtual communities of practice in the Usenet discussion network: combining quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the constructs of Wenger's theory. PhD thesis. University of Bradford.
4. Murillo, E. (2008). Searching Usenet for virtual Communities of Practice: using mixed methods to identify the constructs of Wenger's theory. Information Research, 13(4) paper 386.
5. Zarb, M.P (2006). Modelling Participation in Virtual Communities-of-Practice. LSE MSc ADMIS Dissertation: Distinction, Accessed from http://lse.academia.edu.
Maureen, I’m glad you chose Reddit as the topic of your blog. The validity of online communities of practice touches upon quite a hot topic. In the past, I have visited the Reddit website. I have also lost hours of time in the process of clicking, reading, and absorbing all that the site has to offer. Having said this, I most definitely do not feel part of the Reddit community of practice, it still seems like I am a little minnow in a vast ocean of many fish. A similar experience happened overseas when someone said: “You’re from Canada? Do you know Joe Taylor?” These experiences online and overseas remind me of how I am a small part of a much larger population. The fact that I have not yet registered on Reddit with a username, etc., suggests that I am more of a peripheral member of an active Reddit community. I’m sure if I logged in and took advantage of the specific sub-communities, I would play more of a participatory role and perhaps even feel as though I was indeed an integral part of this community. Nevertheless, your blog helped me to understand how being a part of something as large and all-encompassing as Reddit, Facebook, Youtube, or an entire nation could be considered a community of practice, according to Wenger. I have often heard that you get out of life, what you put in; never has it made more sense than when used to highlight Wenger’s idea of participating within a community of practice.
ReplyDeleteHi Maureen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for highlighting the role of technology in communities of practice. I have wondered about this since I started reading Wenger. Since his book was published in 1999, the world of technology has advanced significantly, and how much time we spend on-line, and in on-line communities has sky-rocketed.
Your reddit example helped clarify for me what might be considered an on-line community of practice. I've questioned if purely social sites could be considered COPs. I think Reddit as an example, is quite different from facebook, from the way you describe its focus on learning.
Your blog is a great example of combining theory and practice to explore how the communities we are involved in function to impact our learning.
Thanks!
Hi Maureen,
ReplyDeleteAs I read more of Wenger, one of his statements stood out as I was trying to understand how an on-line community may or may not be a community of practice. He says, "The difference between mere doing and learning or between mere entertainment and learning, is not a difference in kind of activity. It is not that one is mindless and the other thoughtful, that one is hard and the other easy or that one is fun and the other arduous. It is that learning- whatever form it takes- changes who we are be changing our ability to participate, to belong, and to negotiate meaning (p.226). This statement really helped to to understand that it is not the activity, or the website, or the context that I am in, but indeed if my ability to participation, feeling of belonging , or ability to negotiate meaning has changed. So, facebook could be a community of practice if it means that I am learning in these ways. By the same token, a group or organization, or social cause that I am connected to, may not be a learning community of practice if I am impeded from participating and cannot negotiate meaning with others.
Thanks again for this blog addressing the role of technology in communities of practice. It answered some of the questions I was also asking myself.