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Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives)
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| List Price: | £21.99 |
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Product 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.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #87704 in Books
- Published on: 1999-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 336 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Wenger's book is stimulating, insightful, and challenging.' Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education
Customer Reviews
An essential exposition of the processes of learning
This book presents a clear and thorough exposition of learning, locating it firmly as a social process, and using the concept of the Community of Practice to describe the social structure within which learning takes place.
The basic style of the book - the precision and completeness of its arguments, the care with terminology, the extensive footnotes and bibliography - suggest its primary audience is intended to be academic. However, I recommend it as reading for anyone with an interest in understanding and promoting learning in organizations. I would argue that 90% of the effort expended on training and development in UK companies is ineffective precisely because it ignores the principles set out in this book.
I feel slightly uncomfortable with the intensity of some of the jargon. For example, a word such as 'reification', used to describe the central concept of how abstract ideas are made into something tangible, needs to be translated into something more user-friendly if it is to be used in general conversation.
Nonetheless, an essential read and reference.
