Communities of practice are social phenomena that are getting a lot of attention lately because of the power they offer for knowledge exchange. These communities exist everywhere. Hobby groups, co-workers, and even the neighbourhood watch are all examples of communities of practice. The social aspect of communities of practice makes them highly useful in learning environments. If learning providers make intelligent use of the necessary technologies and processes, a community of practices promises sustained, meaningful interactions between learners, coaches, and the learning providers themselves.

Communities of practice in online learning

Asynchronous learning opportunities, flexible time management, guided learning journeys, and a relatively comfortable user experience all weigh in favour of online learning. What is potentially lost are the precious opportunities to have learners interact with one another in a social learning context. There is a silver lining – learning providers can create thriving, online communities of practice without having to invest in new tools. Using the technology already at their disposal, learning providers are in a prime position to begin implementing communities of practice within the online space.

According to Wenger, a successful community of practice contains three component elements. These elements are the domain, the community, and the practice. The domain consists of the forum wherein the actions take place and the interests which fuel the objectives of the community of practice. Community refers to both the actual members of the community of practice, but also the feeling of community reflected in the social dynamics of these members. Finally, the practice describes the whole body of knowledge, methods, and resources and the processes whereby they are utilised by the community of practice as a whole and of the members as individuals.

Creating a feeling of community, online

As Schlager et al note, a discussion board or a mailing list alone is not a community of practice. At most, they are aides to be used by a community of practice to strengthen the community ties between members. Learning management systems must therefore adopt measures to ensure that the growth and development of an emergent community of practice are enabled rather than frustrated by the online format.

An obvious first responsibility of a coach in a community of practice is to function as a moderator for community exchanges. Moderators should not police the community and act in an instructional manner. Rather, moderators must provide the opportunities and incentives for the community to engage, guiding knowledge exchange rather than establishing an authoritative relationship with the group.

Using platforms to their full potential

When operating correctly, a moderator-coach within a community of practice can ignite learner engagement and develop the learner’s knowledge base. This can be achieved with several online tools, such as the capability for online coaching and group learner engagement, the establishment of Facebook and LinkedIn closed groups to supplement learning experiences and multi-platform exchanges that benefit the learner’s application of knowledge and the creation of new knowledge through community-based interaction.

CPS fully recognises the importance of communities of practice and has created a network of internal and external communities of practice aimed at knowledge exchange and creation. Contact us to find out more.