Communities vs network of practice
- Image by Harold Jarche via Flickr
Been reading a lot about Communities of Practice recently and thinking I’m not quite looking at the right thing - particularly as Wenger and Lave are talking about communities within the same organisation. But one thing that has struck me in what I have been reading is this quote:
It is life itself that is the main learning event. Schools, classrooms, and training sessions still have a role to play in this vision, but they have to be in the service of the learning that happens in the world.
Some of the most useful things I’ve picked up in my life haven’t been in the classroom, but from outside it. - from teachers, colleagues and former colleagues, friends and passing acquaintances. This kind of informal learning is vital to what we do. Read more
The Guardian’s Obssessed with online networks
Great story in the Guardian yesterday from an Ofcom report into how much time people are spending in online networks.
The report says that 39 per cent of adults with internet access use social networking sites
Apparently we’re averaging five hours a month in MySpace, Facebook etc (I feel like I’m doing a lot more at the minute - my course has got me soc-netting, I’m on Facebook, I’ve got a Ning network for my student group, one with my colleagues and I’ve been invited into another for a research group…. And I’m trying to drum up support for a friend’s rude punk band on MySpace too.). Read more