Communities of Practice:

Promoting Learner Autonomyin ICT-Delivered Courses

MITM6:

Neda mafakheri-Mandana sadeghi saboor

Ehsan kazem- mehdi bostanchi

          www.Modiriran.ir

          

          Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

session overview

slide 1

Introduction to CoPs – some definitions...

Theory: what are CoPs?

Reflection: how do CoPs relate to me?

Application: how can CoPs affect online teaching?

Resources

www.Modiriran.ir

“A distributed community of practice (CoP) consists of a group of people who communicate with each other synchronously and/or asynchronously, concerning a topic of common interest.”

Jones, C. 2002

          

          

introduction

slide 2

“A CoP is a group of people who share an interest in something, and come together to develop knowledge around this topic, in order to use it in practice.”

Wenger, E. 1991

virtual

physical

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

introduction

slide 3

know your place...

from vertical to horizontal...

“The goal of the community (CoP) is to advance the collective knowledge of the group about the subject area at the same time that the individual's knowledge is increasing. Thus, all participants have a genuine need to learn from each other.”

Jones, C. 2002

and... ???

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

theory

slide 4

community knowledge

explicit & implicit knowledge

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

theory

slide 5

voluntarynegotiated goals

roles: assigned - - - - emergent

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

theory

slide 6

reflection social scaffolding

negotiated meaning

artefacts

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

application

slide 7

scaffolding

creative practice

competencies

constructivist

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

students

          

          

application

slide 8

self

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

skills

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

reflection

slide 9

Do you belong to any informal networks, similar to CoPs?How are they similar/different?

Consider: 

-         Are they online / f2f?-         Are they focused on implicit/explicit knowledge?-         What are the main roles and who holds them?-         Is your participation voluntary or imposed?-         What are the goals (if any)? How are they arrived at?-         Does your network produce any ‘artefacts’?-         Do negotiation and reflection have a role?

 

Do you see any area(s) in your professional life where an onlineCoP might be helpful to you?

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

          

          

resources

www.tcm.com/trdev/cops.htm

www.ewenger.com/ewCoPToC.html

www.learningalliances.net/CP_bib/

groups.yahoo.com/group/com-prac/

slide 10

Communities of Practice: Promoting Learner Autonomy…

www.Modiriran.ir

Thanks!