Informal and incidental learning are pervasive, organic, and managed by learners themselves. Communities of Practice (CoPs) rely on this intrinsically motivated learning for their vibrancy. Yet organizations have increasingly sought to set up, support, and leverage CoPs to meet performance goals. This chapter describes a model of CoPs in Catalan Public Administration and examines research in two departments to portray the tensions that may emerge when informal learning is mandated and credentialed. Specifically, the purpose of the chapter is to examine how CoPs can be designed to support organic learning and how such learning can be evaluated. The authors discuss implications for future research around underlying processes and principles that might address tensions in organization-based CoPs, evaluation of learning transfer in open-ended learning contexts using a theory of change approach, and insight into links between informal learning and dimensions of a learning organization.

From a comparative intergenerational analysis, this article examines the use of ICTs in the workplace by working-age Spaniards. To do so, it uses the 2012 PIAAC survey administered to 6,055 Spaniards on the variables related to the use of ICTs in the workplace. Descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out, taking the categories of digital immigrant and digital native as the reference, and adding another variable: pre-digital immigrant. Broadly speaking, the results show that ‘pre-digital immigrants’ (who started to use ICTs late) use ICTs less at work compared to ‘digital immigrants’ (who started to use ICTs via an adaptation process that began in their early or mid-adulthood), although they use them more than ‘digital natives’ (who started to use ICTs at a very young age). Finally, we discuss the implications of the results considering today’s society, and we offer potential avenues of future research.

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El desarrollo e implantación de comunidades de práctica (CoP) online en la Administración Pública catalana es relativamente reciente. Este artículo presenta una experiencia con un objetivo triple: (1) presentar la plataforma e-Catalunya como propuesta de comunicación y de aprendizaje en red basado en CoP; (2) describir los principios que la sustentan; y (3) analizar la valoración de más de 200 participantes y moderadores, de 8 CoP, sobre su funcionamiento.Los resultados permiten afirmar que el e-Catalunya responde a las necesidades de los moderadores y participantes gracias a la integración de herramientas en un único espacio y a las posibilidades que ofrece para compartir documentos, crear conocimiento y generar aprendizaje. Asimismo, se realizan precisiones para que la plataforma goce de un mayor éxito y aceptación.