"Community of Practice"

Consider the concept of a “community of practice.” How can such a community offer opportunities for learning?

I think when people have a shared goal it changes the interaction of the community completely. One way it offers opportunities for learning is when a new member of the group needs to learn the social practices that group has. Members can share knowledge, inspire the new member, & help develop their skills. When it is a community, the members work together instead of following the social norm of our individualistic culture. We tend to not view the world as a community over here in the western hemisphere, we are not a collectivist culture. I think a "community of practice" is a good way to balance our individualistic tendencies.

I know for the last major assignment we did, it was necessary that we all worked together as a group. This changed the interaction of the class completely. People had to speak up, gather information, ask questions. We all needed to gather the data & we were all dependent upon one another to finish the assignment. Hopefully, those who hadn't used Google Docs before learned something new from others in the class. I know I learned how to use the Google Doc graphs. When you work for a common goal, like in a "community of practice", people are more engaging, and therefore more likely to learn something.