Using technology to transform communities of practice into knowledge-building communities

Abstract

Knowledge and learning exist as byproducts of social processes such as those that take place in communities of practice. We describe two frameworks for understanding and building online knowledge-building communities, or online communities of practice that enhance collective knowledge. First, the C4P framework is described as a way of understanding how knowledge is created and disseminated by participants in a community of practice. Second, we discuss ways in which technology provides added value for learning in these environments using the DDC (Design for Distributed Cognition) framework, and link this to the particular goals of a knowledgebuilding community. Examples from two large online communities are discussed.

Developing communities of practice within and outside higher education institutions

“…In order to illustrate the extent to which ICTs can provide opportunities for developing collaborative learning between HEIs and the local community, we will refer to e-Yethu's relationship with two Grahamstown East schools, Mary Waters Secondary School and C. M. Vellem Primary School. Hoadley and Kilner (2005) variously refer to the importance of having a clear purpose as it 'is the reason for which the members come together in the community' (p. 33); 'creates energy and produces results' (p. 34); and 'provides the meta-connection between all the other elements' (p. 33), without which 'knowledge building will founder' (p. 33). In relation to e-Yethu, there are at least three distinguishable 'threads' of purpose that can be untangled.…”

“…Conversation is defined as an information exchange between two or more parties and can be performed in person or via ICTs (Hoadley & Kilner, 2005). In the e-Yethu project, conversation is facilitated via face-to-face weekly meetings and a team mailing list.…”

“…This paper endeavours to illustrate how one collaborative effort by lecturers and students from the Computer Science and Education Departments at Rhodes University with teachers from the local community, the provincial Department of Education and a non-governmental organisation combined in a naturally unfolding online and offline community of practice to enable ICT take-up in schools in the Grahamstown District, South Africa. This discussion of what has become known as the e-Yethu project provides an example of how ICTs, underpinned by the insights of social constructivism, the notion of 'community of practice' and in particular Hoadley and Kilner's (2005) C4P Framework for Communities of Practice, can serve to help HEIs understand the extent to which ICTs can provide opportunities for developing collaborative learning between HEIs and the local community. Independently, the Education Department at Rhodes started supporting Nathaniel Nyaluza Secondary School in 1998 with pedagogical strategies for integrating ICTs into the curriculum.…”

Electronic Environments for Reading: An Annotated Bibliography of Pertinent Hardware and Software (2011)

“…An overview of social networking sites and tools is provided, and a bibliography of articles in the area of collaboration is presented, concerning the background of Social Media and collaboration. Also discussed are approaches to collaboration through social networks, including a number of expert(ise) retrieval methods (see McDonald, 2003;Marlow et al, 2006;Hoadley & Kilner, 2005), as well as issues of identity, privacy, and trust. The authors conduct bibliometric analysis of Twitter feeds by a sample of 28 academics (faculty, postdocs, or doctoral students) from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, selected through snowball sampling.…”

Impact of IT on the Role of a Community of Practice Moderator in the Coalescing Stage of Development

“…In addition, IT facilitates creating, storing, and sharing of knowledge on a continuous basis. (Lin et al p 3) In his Master's thesis "Design of a CoP", Oosting (2009) proposed a framework based around the core elements of a CoP as suggested by Hoadley and Kilner (2005).…”