Getting Started with Communities of Practice

Scholarly Resources

For a little more information on the value, applicability, generalizability, and difficulties in the design of controlled experiment, see the following:

• Communities of Practice, by Jean Lave of the University of California-Berkeley and Etienne Wenger of Wenger-Trayner
• Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems, by Etienne Wenger of Wenger-Trayner
• Becoming a lecturer in further education in England: the construction of professional identity and the role of communities of practice, by Anne-Marie Bathmaker of the University of Sheffield and James Avis of the University of Wolverhampton
• UTAS Community of Practice Initiative, by Jane Skalicky and Melody West of the Center for the University of Tasmania
• What is a Community of Practice and How Can We Support It?, by Christopher Hoadley of NYU

For more information, see also Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity by Etienne Wenger and Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger.

Additional quality resources are available from CPsquare and Connected Educators.

General Media

These sources would generally not be suitable for use in your assignments, but they may provide a useful general overview of the topic if you find yourself struggling with the more scholarly resources.

• Introduction to communities of practice, by Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner of Wenger-Trayner
• Community of Practice Design Guide, from EduCause
• The role of communities of practice in a digital age, by Tony Bates
• Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System, by Etienne Wenger of Wenger-Trayner
• Community of practice, from Wikipedia
• Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice, by Mark Smith of infed
• Communities of Practice: The Organizational Frontier, by Etienne Wenger and William Snyder in the Harvard Business Review
• Systems Convening in a Landscape of Practice, with Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner
• Online Communities of Practice: What Works, by Therese Mageau of T.H.E. Journal
• The Two Types of Online Communities That Can Drive Growth, from Daniel Burrus of Huffington Post Business