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Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice

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upposing learning is social and comes largely from of our experience of participating in daily life? It was this thought that formed the basis of a significant rethinking of learning theory in the late 1980s and early 1990s  by two researchers from very different disciplines - Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Their model of situated learning proposed that learning involved a process of engagement in a 'community of practice'.

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Being alive as human beings means that we are constantly engaged in the pursuit of enterprises of all kinds, from ensuring our physical survival to seeking the most lofty pleasures. As we define these enterprises and engage in their pursuit together, we interact with each other and with the world and we tune our relations with each other and with the world accordingly. In other words we learn.

Over time, this collective learning results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of our enterprises and the attendant social relations. These practices are thus the property of a kind of community created over time by the sustained pursuit of a shared enterprise. It makes sense, therefore to call these kinds of communities communities of practice. (Wenger 1998: 45)

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Members are involved in a set of relationships over time (Lave and Wenger 1991: 98) and communities develop around things that matter to people (Wenger 1998). The fact that they are organizing around some particular area of knowledge and activity gives members a sense of joint enterprise and identity. For a community of practice to function it needs to generate and appropriate a shared repertoire of ideas, commitments and memories. It also needs to develop various resources such as tools, documents, routines, vocabulary and symbols that in some way carry the accumulated knowledge of the community. In other words, it involves practice (see praxis): ways of doing and approaching things that are shared to some significant extent among members.

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members are brought together by joining in common activities and by 'what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities' (Wenger 1998)

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everywhere

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everywhere

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communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

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communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

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communities

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communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by hshort

Supposing learning is social and comes largely from of our experience of participating in daily life? It was this thought that formed the basis of a significant rethinking of learning theory in the late 1980s and early 1990s  by two researchers from very different disciplines - Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Their model of situated learning proposed that learning involved a process of engagement in a 'community of practice'. 

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Jean Lave was (and is) a social anthropologist with a strong interest in social theory, based at the University of California, Berkeley. Much of her work has focused on on the 're-conceiving' of learning, learners, and educational institutions in terms of social practice.

Highlighted by rogerchaz

Jean Lave was (and is) a social anthropologist with a strong interest in social theory, based at the University of California, Berkeley. Much of her work has focused on on the 're-conceiving' of learning, learners, and educational institutions in terms of social practice.

Highlighted by rogerchaz

we often assume that learning 'has a beginning and an end; that it is best separated from the rest of our activities; and that it is the result of teaching

Highlighted by lmilne

Supposing learning is social and comes largely from of our experience of participating in daily life? It was this thought that formed the basis of a significant rethinking of learning theory in the late 1980s and early 1990s by two researchers from very different disciplines - Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Their model of situated learning proposed that learning involved a process of engagement in a 'community of practice'. 

Highlighted by lindseybp

Their model of situated learning proposed that learning involved a process of engagement in a 'community of practice'. 

Highlighted by lmilne

Jean Lave (1993) and Etienne Wenger (1999) set the scene for some significant innovations in practice within organizations and more recently within some schools

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learning involved a process of engagement in a 'community of practice'. 

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When looking closely at everyday activity, she has argued, it is clear that 'learning is ubiquitous in ongoing activity, though often unrecognized as such' (Lave 1993: 5).

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Communities of practice

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The basic argument made by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger is that communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them

Highlighted by youenn

Being alive as human beings means that we are constantly engaged in the pursuit of enterprises of all kinds, from ensuring our physical survival to seeking the most lofty pleasures. As we define these enterprises and engage in their pursuit together, we interact with each other and with the world and we tune our relations with each other and with the world accordingly. In other words we learn.

Over time, this collective learning results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of our enterprises and the attendant social relations. These practices are thus the property of a kind of community created over time by the sustained pursuit of a shared enterprise. It makes sense, therefore to call these kinds of communities communities of practice.

Highlighted by youenn

Over time, this collective learning results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of our enterprises and the attendant social relations. These practices are thus the property of a kind of community created over time by the sustained pursuit of a shared enterprise. It makes sense, therefore to call these kinds of communities communities of practice. (Wenger 1998: 45)

Highlighted by rogerchaz

communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them -  whether that is at work, school, home, or in our civic and leisure interests.

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Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope. In a nutshell: 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. (Wenger circa 2007)

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Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in a shared domain of human endeavour

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members are brought together by joining in common activities and by 'what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities'

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According to Etienne Wenger (1998), a community of practice defines itself along three dimensions:

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In some groups we are core members, in others we are more at the margins.

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What it is about – its joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members.

How it functions - mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity.

What capability it has produced – the shared repertoire of communal resources (routines, sensibilities, artefacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) that members have developed over time

Highlighted by youenn

Over time, this collective learning results in practices that reflect both the pursuit of our enterprises and the attendant social relations. These practices are thus the property of a kind of community created over time by the sustained pursuit of a shared enterprise. It makes sense, therefore to call these kinds of communities communities of practice. (Wenger 1998: 45)

Highlighted by lindseybp

Members are involved in a set of relationships over time (Lave and Wenger 1991: 98) and communities develop around things that matter to people (Wenger 1998). The fact that they are organizing around some particular area of knowledge and activity gives members a sense of joint enterprise and identity.

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A community of practice involves much more than the technical knowledge or skill associated with undertaking some task

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common activities

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However, members are brought together by joining in common activities and by 'what they have learned through their mutual engagement in these activities' (Wenger 1998).

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The characteristics of communities of practice

According to Etienne Wenger (c 2007), three elements are crucial in distinguishing a community of practice from other groups and communities:

The domain. A community of practice is is something more than a club of friends or a network of connections between people. 'It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people' (op. cit.).

The community. 'In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other' (op. cit.).

The practice. 'Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction' (op. cit.).

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shared practice

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Communities of practice can be seen as self-organizing systems and have many of the benefits and characteristics of associational life

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domain

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The domain

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'It has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest

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commitment to the domain

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shared competence

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community

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joint activities and discussions

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The community

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build relationships that enable them to learn from each other'

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practice

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develop a shared repertoire of resources:

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Legitimate peripheral participation and situated learning

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Rather than looking to learning as the acquisition of certain forms of knowledge, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger have tried to place it in social relationships – situations of co-participation

Highlighted by youenn

The fact that they are organizing around some particular area of knowledge and activity gives members a sense of joint enterprise and identity. For a community of practice to function it needs to generate and appropriate a shared repertoire of ideas, commitments and memories. It also needs to develop various resources such as tools, documents, routines, vocabulary and symbols that in some way carry the accumulated knowledge of the community.

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involved in a set of relationships over time

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organizing around some particular area of knowledge and activity gives members a sense of joint enterprise and identity

Highlighted by klefstadj

It not so much that learners acquire structures or models to understand the world, but they participate in frameworks that that have structure. Learning involves participation in a community of practice. And that participation 'refers not just to local events of engagement in certain activities with certain people, but to a more encompassing process of being active participants in the practices of social communities and constructing identities in relation to these communities'

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joint enterprise and identity

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develop various resources

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a shared repertoire of ideas, commitments and memories

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The interactions involved, and the ability to undertake larger or more complex activities and projects though cooperation, bind people together and help to facilitate relationship and trust

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to develop various resources such as tools, documents, routines, vocabulary and symbols that in some way carry the accumulated knowledge of the community

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the ability to undertake larger or more complex activities and projects though cooperation, bind people together and help to facilitate relationship and trust

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Initially people have to join communities and learn at the periphery. As they become more competent they move more to the ‘centre’ of the particular community. Learning is, thus, not seen as the acquisition of knowledge by individuals so much as a process of social participation

Highlighted by youenn

Rather than looking to learning as the acquisition of certain forms of knowledge, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger have tried to place it in social relationships – situations of co-participation.

Highlighted by lindseybp

social capital

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Learners inevitably participate in communities of practitioners and… the mastery of knowledge and skill requires newcomers to move toward full participation in the socio-cultural practices of a community

Highlighted by youenn

It not so much that learners acquire structures or models to understand the world, but they participate in frameworks that that have structure. Learning involves participation in a community of practice. And that participation 'refers not just to local events of engagement in certain activities with certain people, but to a more encompassing process of being active participants in the practices of social communities and constructing identities in relation to these communities' (Wenger 1999: 4).

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social relationships – situations of co-participation

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It not so much that learners acquire structures or models to understand the world, but they participate in frameworks that that have structure.

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Initially people have to join communities and learn at the periphery. The things they are involved in, the tasks they do may be less key to the community than others.

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apprenticeships

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a relational view of the person and learning

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Learning is, thus, not seen as the acquisition of knowledge by individuals so much as a process of social participation. The nature of the situation impacts significantly on the process.

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This way of approaching learning is something more than simply 'learning by doing' or experiential learning

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Learning is, thus, not seen as the acquisition of knowledge by individuals so much as a process of social participation

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nature of the situation impacts significantly

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situated learning depends on two claims:

  • It makes no sense to talk of knowledge that is decontextualized, abstract or general.
  • New knowledge and learning are properly conceived as being located in communities of practice

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What is more, and in contrast with learning as internalization, ‘learning as increasing participation in communities of practice concerns the whole person acting in the world’ (Lave and Wenger 1991: 49). The focus is on the ways in which learning is ‘an evolving, continuously renewed set of relations’ (ibid.: 50). In other words, this is a relational view of the person and learning (see the discussion of selfhood).

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a concern with identity, with learning to speak, act and improvise in ways that make sense in the communit

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'the purpose is not to learn from talk as a substitute for legitimate peripheral participation; it is to learn to talk as a key to legitimate peripheral participation'. This orientation has the definite advantage of drawing attention to the need to understand knowledge and learning in context. However, situated learning depends on two claims:

  • It makes no sense to talk of knowledge that is decontextualized, abstract or general.
  • New knowledge and learning are properly conceived as being located in communities of practice (Tennant 1997: 77).

Highlighted by lindseybp

his way of approaching learning is something more than simply 'learning by doing' or experiential learning. As Mark Tennant (1997: 73) has pointed out, Jean Lave's and Etienne Wenger's concept of situatedness involves people being full participants in the world and in generating meaning

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Situated learning

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concept of situatedness involves people being full participants in the world and in generating meaning.

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being full participants in the world and in generating meaning

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the purpose is not to learn from talk as a substitute for legitimate peripheral participation; it is to learn to talk as a key to legitimate peripheral participation

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no sense to talk of knowledge that is decontextualized, abstract or general

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There is a risk, as Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger acknowledge, of romanticizing communities of practice.

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New knowledge and learning are properly conceived as being located in communities of practice

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'In their eagerness to debunk testing, formal education and formal accreditation, they do not analyse how their omission [of a range of questions and issues] affects power relations, access, public knowledge and public accountability' (Tennant 1997: 79).

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Acknowledging that communities of practice affect performance is important in part because of their potential to overcome the inherent problems of a slow-moving traditional hierarchy in a fast-moving virtual economy. Communities also appear to be an effective way for organizations to handle unstructured problems and to share knowledge outside of the traditional structural boundaries.

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the community of practice is weak or exhibits power relationships that seriously inhibit entry and participation

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professionalized and bureaucratic institutions such as schools

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there have been some significant explorations of how schooling, for example, might accommodate some of the key themes and ideas in Jean Lave's and Etienne Wenger's analysis

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communities of practice affect performance

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Conclusion - issues and implications for educators

The notion of community of practice and the broader conceptualization of situated learning provides significant pointers for practice

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an effective way for organizations to handle unstructured problems and to share knowledge outside of the traditional structural boundaries

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Learning is in the relationships between people

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means of developing and maintaining long-term organizational memory

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formal education institutions have been less ready to embrace these ideas.

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Perhaps the most helpful of these explorations is that of Barbara Rogoff and her colleagues (2001). They examine the work of an innovative school in Salt Lake City and how teachers, students and parents were able to work together to develop an approach to schooling based around the principle that learning 'occurs through interested participation with other learners'.

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how schooling, for example, might accommodate

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Educators work so that people can become participants in communities of practice

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prioritize 'instruction that builds on children's interests in a collaborative way'

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Learning is in the relationships between people. As McDermott (in Murphy 1999:17) puts it:

Learning traditionally gets measured as on the assumption that it is a possession of individuals that can be found inside their heads… [Here] learning is in the relationships between people. Learning is in the conditions that bring people together and organize a point of contact that allows for particular pieces of information to take on a relevance; without the points of contact, without the system of relevancies, there is not learning, and there is little memory. Learning does not belong to individual persons, but to the various conversations of which they are a part.

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There is an intimate connection between knowledge and activity

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Learning is in the relationships between people.

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Learning is in the relationships between people

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Learning is in the conditions that bring people together and organize a point of contact that allows for particular pieces of information to take on a relevance; without the points of contact, without the system of relevancies, there is not learning, and there is little memory

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Learning does not belong to individual persons, but to the various conversations of which they are a part.

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One of the implications for schools, as Barbara Rogoff and her colleagues suggest is that they must prioritize 'instruction that builds on children's interests in a collaborative way'. Such schools need also to be places where 'learning activities are planned by children as well as adults, and where parents and teachers not only foster children's learning but also learn from their own involvement with children' (2001: 3). Their example in this area have particular force as they are derived from actual school practice.

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Educators work so that people can become participants in communities of practice.

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Educators work so that people can become participants in communities of practice

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implications for schools

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must prioritize 'instruction that builds on children's interests in a collaborative way

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to extend associational life within schools and other institutions

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There is an intimate connection between knowledge and activity.

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There is an intimate connection between knowledge and activity

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intimate connection between knowledge and activity

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the extent to which education involves informed and committed action

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