Essential Update #5: Communities of Practice and Organizational Training

Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger coined the term “Communities of Practice,” although the concept is based on practices that date back millennia. In a joint paper in 1991, Lave and Wenger laid out and expanded upon a theory of “social learning” or “situated learning.” As Wenger (now Wenger-Trayner) describes it in these videos from 2016, social learning theory asks what happens if we separate the concept of learning from teaching. Often, learning has been conceptualized as something that (1) has a beginning and an end, (2) is separated from our other activities, and (3) is the result of teaching (Wenger, 1998). Wenger characterizes this understanding as cognitive learning theory and contrasts social learning theory, where learning is understood as something that occurs among a group of people involved in a community of practice.

The image below shows some attempts to make some of the distinctions between cognitive learning theory (and the classroom model that it has brought forth) and social learning theory:

How, then, do we define a Community of Practice (CoP)? Wenger defines communities of practices using three attributes:

(1) Domain, which is the practice that is shared among members of a community of practice. Members of the community have a shared expertise, not simply a shared interest (e.g., a community of practitioners might be a group of film reviewers, while an interest group could simply be a group that shares an appreciation of movies/films).

(2) Community, which specifies that community members develop relationships that enable them to learn from each other. Members have discussion, share problems, and engage in joint discussions. Our film reviewers would have to discuss the art of the film review, possibly read and critique each others’ work, and potentially develop shared vocabulary and understandings around their film reviews in order to check this box for Wenger.

(3) Practice, which says that members of Communities of Practice have to, well, practice. Learning in a community of practice takes place when ideas shared in that community are tested out. Etienne Wenger-Trayner, who is now an independent consultant alongside his wife Beverly Wenger-Trayner, suggested at the 2016 Learning Colloquium that learning happens in CoPs when the members go away, practice new ideas, and return to the group with feedback. These shared feedback loops occurring in CoPs over time are a key component of the resultant learning and improvement of practice. (All from Wenger 2013).

The Wenger-Trayners now make a business out of helping organizations of all kinds develop Communities of Practice, but they caution that not every problem or organization needs a CoP. Talking about the classroom, they specify that a classroom with an instructor at the head is, by definition, not a Community of Practice, and has not grown out of social learning theory--however, an instructor can embody some principles of Communities of Practice by being representative of their own practice, rather than simply a deliverer of a curriculum. This could mean “demonstrating the meaningfulness” of your discipline as an instructor. I felt that this was a useful concept for those of us who are involved in teaching, since social learning theory cuts out (or perhaps more accurately does not describe) the role of the teacher.

Others, like Penelope Eckert, in the paper linked below have applied the idea of Communities of Practice to linguistic groups and other sociological areas. Communities of practice are everywhere; in "formal" education, apprenticeships are a key example of CoPs.

In my own work, I have recently changed roles and organizations, and I found myself thinking about social learning theory and CoPs through the lens of my past and current work and organizations. In my previous role, I was a manager and team-lead responsible for helping a team to develop competencies in a pretty complex environment. A lot of my philosophy as a manager was to make space for people to share expertise and problems, rather than to myself deliver “trainings” using a top-down approach. Without realizing it, I was working to develop a community of practice among my team and our counterparts believing that the most effective learning for my organization was learning that happened peer to peer in a social and informal environment. The resultant groups were, I think, true Communities of Practice, checking each of Wenger's three boxes.

In my new role, I’m part of a team tasked with developing best practices, guidelines, and trainings at the organizational level. One struggle I have been having is with the idea of developing trainings from the top down. Having not worked in these particular teams, I realize that I am somewhat resistant to the idea of creating trainings that may not solve the most pressing problems. Grappling with this, it’s helpful to think about applying the principles of a Community of Practice and social learning theory, although my group is more in the “instructor” role. This will mean being “representative of our practice,” using my past experience and it may also mean developing communities, which can incorporate at least aspects of a true CoP, that can inform my work.

Sources:

Summary of development of social learning theory and communities of practice: http://valenciacollege.edu/faculty/development/tla/documents/CommunityofPractice.pdf

Penelope Eckert, “Communities of Practice” - http://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/eckert2006.pdf

Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice: A Brief Introduction - http://www.uwoakville.org/wpv3/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Communities-of-Practice-introduction-docum...

Videos of Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner visiting the Teaching and Learning Colloquium 2016 - https://connect.xjtlu.edu.cn/user/aec/interview-with-etienne-and-beverly-wenger-trayner