Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity

Item

Title

Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity

Abstract/Description

This book presents a theory of learning that starts with the assumption that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we get to know what we know and by which we become who we are. The primary unit of analysis of this process is neither the individual nor social institutions, but the informal 'communities of practice' that people form as they pursue shared enterprises over time. To give a social account of learning, the theory explores in a systematic way the intersection of issues of community, social practice, meaning, and identity. The result is a broad framework for thinking about learning as a process of social participation. This ambitious but thoroughly accessible framework has relevance for the practitioner as well as the theoretician, presented with all the breadth, depth, and rigor necessary to address such a complex and yet profoundly human topic.

Author/creator

Wenger, Etienne

Date

1999

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Textbook

Language

en

Open access/full-text available

en No

Peer reviewed

en No

ISBN

978-1-107-26837-1

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (Cambridge University Press)

Citation

Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.

Cited in

Classroom Teaching and Learning as the Focus for Improvement Research

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 7 Citations

Handbook Chapter 20 Citations

OB Citations - Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Evaluating Improvement Networks

OB Citations: Teacher Collaboration in School Improvement

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