Communities of Practice

"Learning is central to human identity and we tend to think that it only takes place when we enroll for a workshop or course".

I read a book Communities of Practice by Wenger and found his view about how learning takes place very interesting. Learning is central to human identity and we tend to think that it only takes place when we enroll for a workshop or course.

According to Wenger people learn better in a community of practice (CoP).  This term was first used in 1991 by theorists Lave and Wenger who discussed the notion of participation.  Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. I see Skills Universe as a CoP. 

We share a passion for training and we learn through interaction on the internet via this website, on a regular basis. We share experiences and resources which help us to learn from each other. This learning takes place intentionally, but mainly unintentionally.

Development and learning takes place through a variety of methods:  problem solving, requests of information, discussing educational issues and trends … all of these happens on Skills Universe.

As social beings this type of learning suits our identity. Identity addresses different issues:  gender, class, ethnicity, age, etc.  To understand all these issues will contribute to understanding your learners and yourself. Discussing the different types of identities and how it affects our learning is another topic which I will still discuss.