DOCSLIB.ORG

Exploring Communities of Learning Practice

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Exploring Communities of Learning Practice Exploring Communities of Learning Practice Value creation enabled by community participation and the interplay of social networks and peer feedback Triantafyllia Dingyloudi München 2017 Exploring Communities of Learning Practice Value creation enabled by community participation and the interplay of social networks and peer feedback Triantafyllia Dingyloudi Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie an der Fakultä t fü r Psychologie und Pä dagogik der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München vorgelegt von Triantafyllia Dingyloudi aus Alexandroupoli, Griechenland München, 26. Juni 2017 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Jan-Willem Strijbos Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Frank Fischer Mündliche Prü fung: 17. November 2017 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my first supervisor Prof. Dr. Jan-Willem Strijbos, who has been a tremendous mentor. Thank you for supporting me throughout my doctoral journey with your knowledge, feedback, patience and encouragement. Your selfless time and care were sometimes all that kept me going. Thank you for letting me be myself (i.e., flourish, hyperactive, side-tracked) and giving me the ground to test my (and your) limits. I would also like to deeply thank my second supervisor Prof. Dr. Frank Fischer for welcoming my research project at his chair and for allowing it to act as a support structure for the master students of the Munich Center of the Learning Sciences. Your critical comments and suggestions were always moving the project forward. My deep gratitude and appreciation extends to my international supervisor Prof. Dr. Maarten De Laat, who enormously contributed in shaping my research at an early stage and extending its potential. Without your advice I would not have looked at learning communities and value creation the way I did. My special appreciation also goes to Sarah Varney-Burch, Ed. D., for being an amazing mentor in my first research endeavor with learning communities at the University of Brighton. Your question: “Do you know that book by Lave and Wenger?” and your personal view towards learning communities opened up a whole new world to me. Thank you for all your inspiration. I would also like to cordially thank Prof. Dr. Anne Frenzel for acknowledging, supporting and promoting the value of the learning communities within the master’s program at the Munich Center of the Learning Sciences. Thank you for letting this grow even after the end of my research project. Moreover, I would like to express my endless appreciation and special thanks to all participants in the community events, who gave life to the communities of learning practice with and through their participation. You made me experience how a community of learning practice looks and feels like! Thank you for every single minute of your participation. My special appreciation also goes to all students and colleagues who were involved in my research project as interns, coders, or student assistants and massively facilitated the set-up of the study, the video recordings and coding of data. I am particularly grateful to Stella Bellou, Maria Fysaraki, and Katerina Vasilaki for their major contributions in the data analyses! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and took the most out of this experience. I gratefully acknowledge the enormous help and technical support by Mr. Georg Kuschel. Without your support I would have ended up using a voice recorder and field notes only. It was a pleasure to be part of our research group with Maryam Alqassab, Markus Bolzer, Mirja Fowler, Ji-hye Kim, and Florence Kyaruzi. Thank you guys for always being there for me willing to help in any possible way. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family. Words cannot capture how grateful I am for all your sacrifices and endless love that enabled me to finalize this dissertation. To my son Alexandros Table of contents Zusammenfassung in Deutscher Sprache/ German summary .................................................. i 1. General introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Researcher’s theoretical positioning: A social learning theoretical framework ........................ 2 1.2. A conceptual framework and research setting: Communities of Learning Practice ................ 3 1.3. Core phenomena of examination .................................................................................................... 5 1.3.1. Phenomenon 1: Value creation in Communities of Learning Practice ............................... 5 1.3.2. Phenomenon 2: Peer feedback in Communities of Learning Practice ................................ 6 1.3.3. Phenomenon 3: Social networks—Connections between peer-feedback, personal, and academic networks ............................................................................................................................. 8 1.4. Methodological orientation ........................................................................................................... 10 1.4.1. Research context ..................................................................................................................... 10 1.4.2. Methodological overview ....................................................................................................... 12 1.5. Structure of the dissertation and research questions ................................................................. 15 1.6. References....................................................................................................................................... 17 2. Community representations in learning communities ........................................................ 22 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2. Community: A contested construct .............................................................................................. 24 2.3. The community construct in sociology ........................................................................................ 25 2.3.1. Early sociological community perspectives .......................................................................... 25 2.3.2. Prominent sociological community perspectives ................................................................. 27 2.4. The community construct in community psychology ................................................................. 30 2.5. The community construct in learning contexts ........................................................................... 32 2.5.1. Learning communities in informal learning settings .......................................................... 34 2.5.1.1. Communities of Practice ................................................................................................................ 35 2.5.1.2. Communities of Interest ................................................................................................................. 35 2.5.1.3. Communities of Innovation ........................................................................................................... 36 2.5.2. Learning communities in formal learning settings.............................................................. 36 2.5.2.1. Communities of Inquiry ................................................................................................................. 37 2.5.2.2. Communities of Learners .............................................................................................................. 37 2.5.2.3. Learning communities in Higher Education ................................................................................ 38 2.5.2.4. Knowledge-Building Communities ............................................................................................... 39 2.6. Learning communities: What communities are we talking about? .......................................... 39 2.6.1. Classical human ecology ........................................................................................................ 41 2.6.2. Relational ................................................................................................................................ 42 2.6.3. Functionalist ........................................................................................................................... 42 2.6.4. Social complexity .................................................................................................................... 44 2.6.5. Network ................................................................................................................................... 45 2.6.6. Sense of community ................................................................................................................ 46 2.7. Implications and conclusion.......................................................................................................... 46 2.8. References....................................................................................................................................... 49 3. A recombinant notion of learning community: Communities of Learning Practice ........ 56 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 57 3.2. Setting the stage: Influential psychological perspectives on human development as foundations
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Forming Communities of Practice in Higher Education: a Theoretical Perspective
    FORMING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE Maria Jakovljevic University of South Africa, South Africa [email protected] Sheryl Buckley University of South Africa, South Africa [email protected] Melanie Bushney University of South Africa, South Africa [email protected] Abstract: 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. The current problem is that there is no specific guidance to form communities of practice (CoP) in higher educational institutions to guide learners’ practical and theoretical knowledge and learning experiences. This comparative action research study will investigate, explore and describe ways of developing learning communities at institutions of higher education in South Africa and Europe, as well as determine the feasibility of doing so. In this research project entitled ‘Women in research’ the team of researchers who are predominantly women will focus on how learner learning can be stimulated through learning in communities of practice. Communities of practice recognise the diverse needs of the increasing numbers of learners entering university with different academic and cultural backgrounds and with varying social expectations and experiences. This study consists of six phases: developing a theoretical framework for communities of practice; exploring preliminary learners’ attitudes toward communities of practice; forming pilot communities of practice; evaluating pilot communities of practice groups; implementing action research to pilot communities of practice; and applying the communities of practice model to other groups. The aim of this paper is to highlight phase one of the study, that of developing a theoretical framework for communities of practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Displays of Connection
    Public displays of connection J Donath and d boyd Participants in social network sites create self-descriptive profiles that include their links to other members, creating a visible network of connections — the ostensible purpose of these sites is to use this network to make friends, dates, and business connections. In this paper we explore the social implications of the public display of one’s social network. Why do people display their social connections in everyday life, and why do they do so in these networking sites? What do people learn about another’s identity through the signal of network display? How does this display facilitate connections, and how does it change the costs and benefits of making and brokering such connections compared to traditional means? The paper includes several design recommendations for future networking sites. 1. Introduction Since then, use of the Internet has greatly expanded and today ‘Orkut [1] is an on-line community that connects people it is much more likely that one’s friends and the people one through a network of trusted friends’ would like to befriend are present in cyberspace. People are accustomed to thinking of the on-line world as a social space. Today, networking sites are suddenly extremely popular. ‘Find the people you need through the people you trust’ — LinkedIn [2]. Social networks — our connections with other people — have many important functions. They are sources of emotional and ‘Access people you want to reach through people you financial support, and of information about jobs, other people, know and trust. Spoke Network helps you cultivate a and the world at large.
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Networks and Urban Poverty: Preliminary Findings
    brazilianpoliticalsciencereview ARTICLE Personal Networks and Urban Poverty: Preliminary Findings Eduardo Marques University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil Center for Metropolitan Studies / Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning (Cem/Cebrap), Brazil Renata Bichir, Encarnación Moya, Miranda Zoppi, Igor Pantoja and Thais Pavez Center for Metropolitan Studies / Brazilian Centre for Analysis and Planning (Cem/Cebrap), Brazil This article presents results of ongoing research into personal networks in São Paulo, exploring their relationships with poverty and urban segregation. We present the results of networks of 89 poor individuals who live in three different segregation situations in the city. The article starts by describing and analysing the main characteristics of personal networks of sociability, highlighting aspects such as their size, cohesion and diversity, among others. Further, we investigate the main determinants of these networks, especially their relationship with urban segregation, understood as separation between social groups in the city, and specific forms of sociability. Contrary to much of the literature, which takes into account only segregation of individual attributes in the urban space (race, ethnicity, socioeconomic level etc), this investigation tests the importance both of networks and of segregation in the reproduction of poverty situations. Keywords: Social networks; Urban poverty; Urban segregation; Sociability; São Paulo. Introduction ecently, a diverse set of studies have considered the importance of social networks to the Rsociability of individuals and to their access to a wide variety of tangible and intangible goods. In debates on poverty and inequality, relationship networks are frequently cited as key factors in obtaining work, in community and political organization, in religious behaviour and in sociability in general.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Communities of Practice in Cloud Skills Executive Summary
    Achieving Digital Transformation: The Role of Communities of Practice in Cloud Skills Executive Summary Digital transformation has become central to the success Successful digital transformation, however, doesn’t just happen of nearly every major industry. According to a recent IDG in the IT department. It requires all employees to buy in, as well report, 93% of surveyed enterprises have a digital-first as a commitment by the organization to cloud-skills training strategy for their business, encompassing everything from that goes beyond a single one-day class or a few online courses. enhanced data availability to the development of new Organizations need a comprehensive skills development program. revenue streams. A third of the respondents reported that This begins with identifying skill gaps throughout the workforce and digital business has already helped their organization includes creating a strong strategic communication plan to bring all achieve revenue growth.1 Digital transformation has become employees onboard. a critical trend for industry leaders, as organizations harness the power of technology to create better customer experiences and improve worker productivity. Cloud fluency has become a major component of that transformation. In a recent survey by the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, companies that move to the cloud can improve service levels, shorten times to market, and reduce IT overhead costs by up to 40%.2 © 2020, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2 Such a program incorporates both formal teaching methods (classroom training, digital training, certification exams) and informal approaches (workshops, peer mentoring). Among these informal processes, communities of practice have garnered a great deal of attention from industry leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Networks and Marketing
    Social networks and marketing Carolin Kaiser Copyright GfK Verein Copying, reproduction, etc. – including of extracts – permissible only with the prior written con- sent of the GfK Verein. Responsible: Prof. Dr. Raimund Wildner Author: Carolin Kaiser GfK Verein Nordwestring 101, 90419 Nuremberg, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)911 395-2231 and 2368 – Fax: +49 (0)911 395-2715 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.gfk-verein.org Abstract Internet users are spending increasing amounts of time on social networking sites, cultivat- ing and expanding their online relationships. They are creating profiles, communicating and interacting with other network members. The information and opinion exchanges on social networking sites influence consumer decisions, making social networks an interesting plat- form for companies. By monitoring social networks, companies are able to gain knowledge about network members which is relevant for marketing purposes, so that by introducing the appropriate marketing measures, they can influence the market environment. The multiplici- ty and versatility of the information in tandem with the complexity of human behavior exhib- ited on social networks is posing new challenges for marketing. The present contribution illustrates how market research can assist marketing on social networks. In the first instance, it describes the potential benefits inherent in analyzing the information obtained from social networks, such as profiles, friendships and networking, for identifying and forecasting prod- uct preferences, advertising effectiveness, purchasing behavior and opinion dissemination. In the second instance, it discusses the opportunities and risks of marketing measures such as advertising, word-of-mouth marketing and direct marketing, on social networks. In each part, insights obtained from literature are summarized and research questions of relevance to consumer research are derived.
    [Show full text]
  • Delay of Social Search on Small-World Graphs ⋆
    ⋆ Delay of Social Search on Small-world Graphs Hazer Inaltekin a,∗ Mung Chiang b H. Vincent Poor b aThe University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia bPrinceton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States Abstract This paper introduces an analytical framework for two small-world network models, and studies the delay of targeted social search by considering messages traveling between source and tar- get individuals in these networks. In particular, by considering graphs constructed on different network domains, such as rectangular, circular and spherical network domains, analytical solu- tions for the average social search delay and the delay distribution are obtained as a function of source-target separation, distribution of the number of long-range connections and geometri- cal properties of network domains. Derived analytical formulas are first verified by agent-based simulations, and then compared with empirical observations in small-world experiments. Our formulas indicate that individuals tend to communicate with one another only through their short-range contacts, and the average social search delay rises linearly, when the separation between the source and target is small. As this separation increases, long-range connections are more commonly used, and the average social search delay rapidly saturates to a constant value and stays almost the same for all large values of the separation. These results are qual- itatively consistent with experimental observations made by Travers and Milgram in 1969 as well as by others. Moreover, analytical distributions predicted by our models for the delay of social search are also compared with corresponding empirical distributions, and good statistical matches between them are observed.
    [Show full text]
  • Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept Etienne Wenger
    Communities of practice and social learning systems: the career of a concept Etienne Wenger The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition. It has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory (Lave, 1988; Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984; Foucault, 1980; Vygostsky, 1978). But the concept of community of practice is well aligned with the perspective of the systems tradition. A community of practice itself can be viewed as a simple social system. And a complex social system can be viewed as constituted by interrelated communities of practice. In this essay I first explore the systemic nature of the concept at these two levels. Then I use this foundation to look at the applications of the concept, some of its main critiques, and its potential for developing a social discipline of learning. The concept of community of practice does not exist by itself. It is part of a broader conceptual framework for thinking about learning in its social dimensions.1 It is a perspective that locates learning, not in the head or outside it, but in the relationship between the person and the world, which for human beings is a social person in a social world. In this relation of participation, the social and the individual constitute each other. When I refer to “the theory” in what follows, I refer to this version of social learning theory. A social systems view on learning: communities of practice as social learning systems A community of practice can be viewed as a social learning system.
    [Show full text]
  • Practicing Community: Outline of a Praxeological Approach to the Feeling of We-Ness
    Klückmann Practicing Community Practicing Community: Outline of a Praxeological Approach to the Feeling of We-ness Matthias Klückmann Ludwig-Uhland-Institut für Empirische Kulturwissenschaft University of Tübingen Germany Abstract Community, once a backbone of the social sciences as well as the study of folklore, has lost its status as a framing concept. My aim in this article is to argue for the analytical value of community for the study of expressive culture and the everyday. Based on assumptions of practice theory, especially the work of Theodore R. Schatzki, I propose to understand community as a feeling of we-ness that evolves and transpires through bundles of practices and arrangements among participants of these practices. The praxeological perspective allows comparing communities of different types in order to gain general insights into aspects of boundaries as well as spatial and temporal orders of communities. usic played in the distance. I entered the district through a leafy graveyard. It was a hot summer day and immediately I missed the shadow I had been enjoying for the last few minutes. The streets around me—with their brick Mstone buildings, their small shops, bars and cafés on the main street, the allotments, the church and the school in the near distance—make up a small neighborhood in Stuttgart, a city in the southwest of Germany. The neighborhood is part of my fieldwork; the fieldwork is part of my research on the feeling of home and diversity in multi-ethnic neighborhoods. The neighborhood is commonly called Nordbahnhofviertel—literally translated ‘North Station Quarter’.1 It was built for railroad employees toward the end of the nineteenth century, in conjunction with a newly constructed freight station.
    [Show full text]
  • Motivation for Information Exchange in a Virtual Community of Practice: Evidence from a Facebook Group for Shrimp Farmers
    Motivation for Information Exchange in a Virtual Community of Practice: Evidence from a Facebook Group for Shrimp Farmers Guenwoo Lee1 and Aya Suzuki2 May, 2018 PRELIMINARY AND INCOMPLETE PLEASE DO NOT CITE OR DISTRIBUTE WITHOUT PERMISSION Abstract In order to reveal the motivation of information exchanges between farmers, we take a case of one Facebook group, which share a common farming crop and the majority of the members are farmers. We construct a monthly panel data to addresses a Facebook group member's motivation for information exchange between January 2015 and May 2017. Based on Poisson and negative binomial regressions, we found that: (i) members who have previously asked questions are more active in sharing information than people who have never asked; (ii) other members' positive expressions to previous information shared (such as clicking likes) promote future information sharing; (iii) the act of information sharing by one’s peer promote his/her own information sharing, and (iv) the more the member shares information in the past, the more s/he asks information today. These findings suggest that reciprocity does play a significant role in motivating information exchange even in the virtual communities of practice, similar to the communities of practice. We also confirm that professional reputation is one of the motivations for information sharing and that there is a positive effect of peer’s prosocial behavior. Keywords: Peer effect; Reciprocity; Reputation; Shrimp farming; Virtual community of practice JEL Codes: D80; O33; Q10 1 Corresponding author: Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Environmental Studies Building #706, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba-ken 277-8563 Phone: +81 80-4726-6874 email: [email protected] 2 Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo 1 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Communities of Practice Approach for Knowledge Management Systems
    systems Article Communities of Practice Approach for Knowledge Management Systems Sitalakshmi Venkatraman 1,* and Ramanathan Venkatraman 2 1 Department of Information Technology, Melbourne Polytechnic, Preston, Victoria 3072, Australia 2 Institute of Systems Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119615, Singapore; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-3-9269-1171 Received: 26 August 2018; Accepted: 24 September 2018; Published: 27 September 2018 Abstract: In this digital world, organisations are facing global competition as well as manpower pressures leading towards the knowledge economy, which heavily impacts on their local and international businesses. The trend is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to cope with these problems. With the advancement of technologies and social engineering that can connect people in the virtual world across time and distance, several organisations are embarking on knowledge management (KM) systems, implementing a community of practice (CoP) approach. However, virtual communities are relatively new paradigms, and there are several challenges to their successful implementation from an organisation’s point of interest. There is lack of CoP implementation framework that can cater to today’s dynamic business and sustainability requirements. To fill the gap in literature, this paper develops a practical framework for a CoP implementation with a view to align KM strategy with business strategy of an organization. It explores the different steps of building, sharing, and using tacit and explicit knowledge in CoPs by applying the Wiig KM cycle. It proposes a practical CoP implementation framework that adopts the Benefits, Tools, Organisation, People and Process (BTOPP) model in addressing the key questions surrounding each of the BTOPP elements with a structured approach.
    [Show full text]
  • Homophily and Online Networks: Young Adult Relationships in Myspace Jennifer Turchi Clemson University, [email protected]
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2007 Homophily and online networks: Young adult relationships in MySpace Jennifer Turchi Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons Recommended Citation Turchi, Jennifer, "Homophily and online networks: Young adult relationships in MySpace" (2007). All Theses. 131. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/131 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HOMOPHILY AND ONLINE NETWORKS: YOUNG ADULT RELATIONSHIPS IN MYSPACE _________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University _________________________________________________ _________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science Applied Sociology ___________________________________________________________ by Jennifer Ann Turchi May 2007 __________________________________________________________ __ Accepted by: Dr. James Witte, Committee Chair Dr. Melinda Denton Dr. Ellen Granberg ABSTRACT This paper examines the characteristics of online social networks. The researcher collected the data used in the study between January 3, 2007 and Janu ary 10, 2007. 150 networks were collected from MySpace.com, an online social networking site, along with six features from the profiles of those in the networks —race/ethnicity, education, religion, reasons for joining, profile background, and music. Two r egression models were used to determine the effects of homophily on network density and network embeddedness. The regression models show that homophily for race/ethnicity, religion, music, and reasons for joining did not significantly affect network embedd edness or network density.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Networking Sites and Our Lives
    Social networking sites and our lives How people’s trust, personal relationships, and civic and political involvement are connected to their use of social network ing sites and other technologies Keith N. Hampton, University of Pennsylvania Lauren Sessions Goulet, University of Pennsylvania Lee Rainie, Pew Internet Project Kristen Purcell, Pew Internet Project June 16, 2011 Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project 1615 L St., NW – Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036 202-419-4500 | pewinternet.org http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks.aspx Contents Summary of findings ................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ..................................................................... 6 Part 1: Introduction .................................................................... 7 Part 2: Who are social networking site users? ................... 8 Part 3: Social networking site users have more friends and more close friends ............................................................ 22 Part 4: Trust, support, perspective taking, and democratic engagement .......................................................... 32 Part 5: Conclusion ...................................................................... 42 Appendix A: Methodology ....................................................... 43 Appendix B: Additional Tables .............................................. 47 Appendix C: Regression Tables ............................................. 50 Appendix D: The scale-up
    [Show full text]