Learning from others at work: Communities of practice and informal learning
learning for adults happens on a large scale in the work environment (p. 194)
informal interactions within the workplace are good learning opportunities - knowledge is not necessarily all provided through a supervisor or with the supervisor as the first point of contact (p. 194, 199)
informal learning is not often acknowledged within organizations
Workgroup Study (4 groups examined)
" analysis of the interviews [conducted by Boud and Middleton], and social networks yielded two key findings with regard to who workers learned from. The first concerns the interaction between context and the form of the learning that occurs, and the second is the significance of informal networks for learning" (p. 195).
Group 1: one individual disseminating his learned information; a community of workers mainly of an age near retirement; little contact outside their own community; not technology suave
Group 2: specialists int their areas; sharing of collective knowledge and experience among peers; some advantaged by informal networks; 'mastery of political issues' - unit manager a key resource
Group 3: groups made up of individuals at various levels, e.g. jr. clerks, clerks, leaders; resources are available in written procedural documents, through contact with colleagues and through access to supervisors; cross training possibilities exist, hierarchical learning model
Group 4: self described 'workplace training unit'; travel possibilities opens the door for network learning; peer learning possible;
Patterns of learning: 3 significant areas of learning (p. 198)
(1) Mastery of organizational processes - e.g. learning new software systems, knowing the latest training manual additions
(2) Negotiating with political - e.g. dealing with the everyday while also keeping a clear plan/path for career advancement
(3) Dealing with the atypical - e.g. no clear guidance, strategies developed, problem solving
Quotes & Ideas to help understand Implications of Communities of Practice:
- "people have explicit contacts for learning, some of which are determined by structural relationships, others of which are created informally" (p. 200)
- "when work is structured differently, or is subject to different contingencies, then the learning potentials of the community of practice differ" (p. 200)
- groups can be strongly or more loosely coupled, i.e "they have sustained relationships over time" or "as a more recently created and more frequently reforming group, have less coherence and sharing of meaning" (p. 200)
- Drawn from Bernstien (1990), "a community of practice may be strongly framed when transmission of knowledge occurs closely between members or wekly framed when transmission of knowledge is less frequent or consistent" (p. 201)
Drawn from Engestrom (2001), horizontal / sideways learning, "problem solving occurs essentially through interactions among peers without resort to conventional knowledge hierarchy" (p. 201).
- "in large organization, the range and diversity of communities of practice in which one may legitimately participate increases with seniority, and therefore the range of opportunities for informal learning increases as do the types of learning" (p. 201,202).
Interesting Addition:
- Belinda Allen, in her yet unpublished paper from 2008 , Professional Development for Chinese National Teachers of English, provides an illustration of her interpretation of the workings of a Community or Practice - see below. Allen (2008), preferences her her graphic by explaining a community of practice as a relationship where, "people spontaneously come together under a common theme and build trust with each other. Once trust is established people are free to share tacit knowledge and begin to step through the knowledge creation scheme thereby developing a shared practice among all the community members. This shared practice (which is a form of collective intelligence) becomes internalised in each member." (Learning in a Community of Practice section, figure 1).
Learning from others at work: Communities of practice and informal learning
Workgroup Study (4 groups examined)
" analysis of the interviews [conducted by Boud and Middleton], and social networks yielded two key findings with regard to who workers learned from. The first concerns the interaction between context and the form of the learning that occurs, and the second is the significance of informal networks for learning" (p. 195).
Patterns of learning:
3 significant areas of learning (p. 198)
(1) Mastery of organizational processes - e.g. learning new software systems, knowing the latest training manual additions
(2) Negotiating with political - e.g. dealing with the everyday while also keeping a clear plan/path for career advancement
(3) Dealing with the atypical - e.g. no clear guidance, strategies developed, problem solving
Quotes & Ideas to help understand Implications of Communities of Practice:
- "people have explicit contacts for learning, some of which are determined by structural relationships, others of which are created informally" (p. 200)
- "when work is structured differently, or is subject to different contingencies, then the learning potentials of the community of practice differ" (p. 200)
- groups can be strongly or more loosely coupled, i.e "they have sustained relationships over time" or "as a more recently created and more frequently reforming group, have less coherence and sharing of meaning" (p. 200)
- Drawn from Bernstien (1990), "a community of practice may be strongly framed when transmission of knowledge occurs closely between members or wekly framed when transmission of knowledge is less frequent or consistent" (p. 201)
Drawn from Engestrom (2001), horizontal / sideways learning, "problem solving occurs essentially through interactions among peers without resort to conventional knowledge hierarchy" (p. 201).
- "in large organization, the range and diversity of communities of practice in which one may legitimately participate increases with seniority, and therefore the range of opportunities for informal learning increases as do the types of learning" (p. 201,202).
Interesting Addition:
- Belinda Allen, in her yet unpublished paper from 2008 , Professional Development for Chinese National Teachers of English, provides an illustration of her interpretation of the workings of a Community or Practice - see below. Allen (2008), preferences her her graphic by explaining a community of practice as a relationship where, "people spontaneously come together under a common theme and build trust with each other. Once trust is established people are free to share tacit knowledge and begin to step through the knowledge creation scheme thereby developing a shared practice among all the community members. This shared practice (which is a form of collective intelligence) becomes internalised in each member." (Learning in a Community of Practice section, figure 1).
Image used with permission