Learning Battle Cards - A learning method : Communities of practice 10/28

Introduction

I've made communities of practice the hub of my/our learning ecosystem, in this article I will tell you what they are and why they are so powerful in my opinion. I will give elements of theory about them based on the work of Etienne Wenger, and give my personal reasons for using this modality or "learning method" in a life long learning strategy.

Elements of theory about Communities of practice

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. "

Wenger, refers to communities of practices as a triangle

Life cycle of a community of practice

 Source (usaid Learning Lab)

Communities of practice and the LBC framework

In our strategy, they are the anchoring point of 3 dimensions of learning process – People or Community - that is the The target Group of the LBC framework ; Domain(s): Needs and answer to the needs (that would be in the central part of the Framework : Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes) and Practices that would roughly correspond to the implementation stage of the LBC framework.

What I really think about Communities of Practice

A 25 second video

When did it start for me?

I belonged to communities of practice before I really started to work on a subject 12 years ago, in theory and practice. I've been writing about the subject on my blog regularly for the last 15 months, at least. The latest article (in French with large quotes in English about Jean Lave's book: "Cognition in Practice - Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life")

At the end of 20th century I belonged to a 10 000 members strong community of e-learning professionals, with intense and deep exchanges on this learning method.

At that time I was then in charge of pedagogy and language products with Studi.com one of the first French Start-ups in the field. I Still have the shirt (good quality, it lasted longer than that the company that was blown up in 2001).

Communities of practice are very powerful institution, but they require strong facilitation skills, and, in large companies, a high level sponsor that can see the value and get the minimum required means (at least some time and a little money for the facilitator or community manager, core member and ordinary members)

How do I personnaly use the communities of practice I belong to?

They are at the center of my learning ecosystem, some people I've known for 30 years some for 20 years, and some for 10 years or less, but we are sharing our "competitive intelligence" and "curation work" - some of the members have introduced me to new clients or directly given me interesting missions. We are still helping each other, 3 of members are creating their own business, this year, and we interact on a regular basis.

The start-up story

I will use the start-up story to illustrate the 10 learning methods.

I used to belong to belong to a start-up, when I joined there where 7 people in the company, when I left, two years later, 47. A community of practice is a way to integrate learning and work in a fluid manner. 

Now, I have two start-up in mind, when I tell you the story, the companies that will host our community if you join me at the end of this series. Atolia and Tamashare, my partners to deliver custom made collaborative learning processes.

The earth as a client story 

will be resumed in Article 20) and I will really need your participation, then

I want to simulate but in an asynchrous way, the collaborative construction of a LEARNING PROCESSS for people living along a large river in Europe: The Rhine.

The idea came to me last Friday when I was attending the 4th Research seminar on Communities of practice organised by Karine Goglio Primar on behalf of the Knowledge Communities Observatory.

There, I was really convinced by the intervention of Catherine Trautmann, VP of the Eurometropole organisation, a strong political personnality on the French and European scenes.

What will come in article 20 and onwards?

In article 20 we will set-up the context: define client and budget, Goals and KPIs, Target groups, and Needs and Critical Factors. Article 21 to 27 will deal with the 7 windows of the framework, and in Article 28 I will conclude with this experience

To be continued...

Tomorrow : Learning Battle Cards - a learning method : Project based learning 11/28

Previous articles

Article 1: Why should you use the Learning Battle Cards (TM)?

Article 2: How to get familiar with the Learning Battle Cards and Framework (TM)?

Article 3: Learning Battle Cards - Anatomy of a card

Article 4: Learning Battle Cards - Overview of the framework

Article 5: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Client and Budget

Article 6: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Goals and KPIs

Article 7: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Target Group

Article 8: Learning Battle Cards - Context: Needs and Critical Factors

Article 9: Learning Battle cards - a selection of 10 learning methods