Blog #6 – Communities of Practice

Networks make it happen – now distance is not an issue and the world is as small as we want it to be. Knowledge is a competitive advantage, a social advantage, and an educational advantage. Interaction is the key to this globalization of information and communication. Instead of working collaboratively within a physical space, we can now interact through almost any virtual or real, world-wide community that we choose.  This is the beauty of a community of practice.

These networks are only as valuable, however, as the connections we make. Now that these networks are more visible and useful and connected through social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis and other social forums, we can make connections with anyone for any reason. We can make connections with those people that have things in common with us, that we need to collaborate with, that our interests, research or paths collide with, or simply that we want to get to know better.  According to Etienne Wenger, who has written extensively on “Communities of Practice”, actually coining the modern term, “dynamic knowing” is the new database.  There are joint enterprises, mutual engagements, and shared repetoires of communal resources (Wenger, 1998) just waiting for us to collaborate within. He states that we need to engage people through participation and the process of creating, refining, communicating and using knowledge. This is exactly why Communities of Practice are important within the business world, but desperately so on the educational stage.
 http://books.google.com/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC&lpg=PP1&ots=kcoa-l7z5g&dq=communities%20of%20practice&pg=PR8#v=onepage&q=&f=false

The following video shows why Art Education, as an example is just as important as any other curriculum area to this idea of community.  And why creative problem solving and collaboration is so easily taught through the fine arts as a bridge to understanding and connecting for people.

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=112187&title=The_Importance_of_Art_in_Education

References

Community of practice. (2009, June 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:27, June 21, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Community_of_practice&oldid=29776733

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=112187&title=The_Importance_of_Art_in_Education

 http://books.google.com/books?id=heBZpgYUKdAC&lpg=PP1&ots=kcoa-l7z5g&dq=communities%20of%20practice&pg=PR8#v=onepage&q=&f=false