What is a community of practice? A community of practice (CoP) exists of people that share a common interest or a common passion. A CoP consists of a ‘place’ where people -often professionals- share analyses, and inform and advise one another. In addition, they develop new practices related to their field of interest. The members of a CoP are not only driven by a common interest, but also by a common quest (this is the main difference from a community of interest).

A CoP is often focused on the renewal of a current situation. This is accomplished by looking at the underlying patterns and values of a problem. This often requires input from different disciplines, or a multidisciplinary team. When the people in a CoP work together on a common quest, they learn from one another and build on eachothers knowledge and experience (duurzaamdoor).

The type of learning related to a CoP is called ‘double-loop-learning’. Double-loop-learning is focused on the renewing of a given situation. This is necessary when existing solutions no longer apply. Someone who learns at this level reflects and questions each problem. Previous experiences need to be adjusted. By doing so, he or she reflects on the way in which he or she learns, and reflects on the underlying insights and frameworks. Double-loop-learning is therefore a very conscious way of learning (Twynstra Gudde & leernetwerkeducatie).

Communities of practice can be used in various circumstances. But increasingly, CoP’s are used for complex social questions and challenges. Where CoP’s were first employed by multinationals as a management strategy, CoP’s are now especially used in situations that transcend borders, sectors and fields. An individual’s mind will not be able to solve these sorts of quests or problems on its own. So collaborative intelligence is needed, something that is increasingly made possible by technological inventions (Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. 2017).

In this video, Joe Justice tells his story of how he created a CoP in order to achieve extraordinary results in designing a new car.

Cope, B., and Kalantzis, M. (2017). Conceptualizing e-learning. In B. Cope and M. Kalantzis (Eds), e-Learning Ecologies. New York: Routledge.