Task 3b Theories relating to networking

Communities of Practice can be defined, in part, as a process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in a subject or area collaborate over an extended period of time, sharing ideas and strategies, determine solutions, and build innovations. Wenger gives a simple definition: “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.” Note that this allows for, but does not require intentionality. Learning can be, and often is, an incidental outcome that accompanies these social processes.
https://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html

COP first being developed by Jean lave and Etienne Wenger explores the three main ideas of 
The community:
How a group of people link together and allow them to share ideas and thoughts. Its all about interacting and learning together. Not necessarily always in the same place at once but being a part of a community is everywhere. You cannot live life without a part of any community. 

The Practice:
As a practitioner we share experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems normally in  different environments such as school,work, or even catch ups in a coffee shop. A lot of time people do not realise that they are talking about their community for example a group of people on a lunch break who talk about their work are actually talking and comparing stories of their work community whilst not intuitionally doing so.

 I find it easier to understand if it is split into different scenarios;
http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Problem solving

“Can we work on this design and brainstorm some ideas; I’m stuck.”

Requests for information

“Where can I find the code to connect to the server?”

Seeking experience

“Has anyone dealt with a customer in this situation?”

Reusing assets

“I have a proposal for a local area network I wrote for a client last year. I can send it to you and you can easily tweak it for this new client.”

Coordination and strategy

“Can we combine our purchases of solvent to achieve bulk discounts?”

Building an argument

“How do people in other countries do this? Armed with this information it will be easier to convince my Ministry to make some changes.”

Growing confidence

“Before I do it, I’ll run it through my community first to see what they think.”

Discussing developments

“What do you think of the new CAD system? Does it really help?”

Documenting projects

“We have faced this problem five times now. Let us write it down once and for all.”

Visits

“Can we come and see your after-school program? We need to establish one in our city.”

Mapping knowledge and identifying gaps

“Who knows what, and what are we missing? What other groups should we connect with?”

i love this use of scenarios as it really clears all the different methods in my head.

For now i am going to give myself a bit of time to emerge myself fully into researching more and let it settle in my mind a bit more.