It is my goal to create a Community of Practice in my youth development profession and the following research reinforces to me my interest in collaborative learning within my department.

Of course, communities of practice (CoP) are not a new phenomenon, however increasing interest in CoP has brought this learning practice into greater focus. CoP originated in the field of learning theory by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger-Trayner who wrote about it in their 1991 book Situated Learning. Lave and Wenger developed the term when they studied apprenticeship as a learning model and Wenger has expanded this concept throughout his career.

Wenger-Trayner’s work on Communities of Practice is defined as “Communities… formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavor” (Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Wenger-Trayner views CoP as social learning systems, which means that learning is a process that cannot be separated from the social context in which it occurs. This supports the research of Davidson, Vygotsky, Lave and Wenger and Gee as it relates to social cognitivism.

Wenger-Trayner is quick to point out, however, that not everything called a community is a community of practice as these three factors must be present:

Domain - A CoP is more than being part of a network; a CoP holds an identity among its members who have a shared interest and a commitment to the domain.
Community – members of the domain form a community when they interact through various activities and seek to learn from one another.
Practice – above all else, members of a community of practice are practitioners and they help develop resources within the community that can be shared.

“It is the combination of these three elements that constitutes a community of practice. And it is by developing these three elements in parallel that one cultivates such a community” (Wenger-Trayner, 2015). The end result is competence in a certain domain, although the learning really never ends. The CoP graphic below details the various aspects of this experience.

Nowadays, CoP continue to be applied in the educational field, but also to the business world, nonprofits, and to civic organizations. Wenger-Trayner discussed how organizations can create a social learning space and the benefits of engaging in that partnership at:

Additional Resources on CoP:

Brief Introduction to Communities of Practice. Retrieved from http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf

Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems

http://wenger-trayner.com/resources/publications/cops-and-learning-systems/

Frequently asked questions about communities of practice, networks, and social learning. By Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner http://wengertrayner.com/faqs/