1. A Community of Practice
for BCT Teachers
September 29, 2009
English Montreal School Board

2. Communities of Practice
People
Processes Products
“Communities of practice are groups of
people who share a passion for something that
they know how to do and who interact regularly
to learn how to do it better”

3. Three Elements of
Communities of Practice
 A Domain of knowledge: Common purpose and
shared issues (Identity, Value, and Membership)
 A Community of people: The ways members
interact with one another (based on Mutual
respect and Trust)
 The shared Practice: What members are
developing (A set of ideas, tools, information,
stories and documents)

4. Distinctions between CoPs
and other structures
What is the
purpose?
Who belongs? What holds them
together?
Communitie
s of Practice
To create, expand,
and exchange
knowledge, and to
develop individual
capabilities
Self-selection
based on expertise
or passion for a
topic
Passion,
commitment, and
identification with
the group and its
expertise
Communitie
s of Interest
To be informed Whoever is
interested
Access to
information and
sense of
likemindedness
Informal
Networks
To receive and
pass on
information, to
know who is who
Friends and
business
acquaintances
Mutual need and
relationships

5. Craft Knowledge
Craft knowledge is “the massive collection of
experiences and learning that those who live and
work under the roof of the schoolhouse inevitably
accrue” (Barth, 2001)
“Tragically, this craft knowledge is rarely viewed by
school people as legitimate, rigorous or useful”
Fortunately, teachers are beginning to increasingly
recognize the value of their craft knowledge

6. Craft Knowledge
and Communities of Practice
A culture of learning is established when teachers
are involved in two types of relationships
(Barth, 2006):
 Congenial: People are positive, friendly, and
supportive and show an interest in each other
 Collegial: (a) Conversations about practice take
place and teaching strategies are shared; (b)
Successful teaching and learning are celebrated

7. When do CoPs work?
Wenger (2006) states that communities of practice
work well when people:
 have craft knowledge to share,
 can easily share it with each other,
 want to share their knowledge, and
 want to learn together to improve professional
practice

8. Benefits of Communities of
Practice
Benefits for Members:
 help with challenges
 access to expertise
 meaningful support
 fun with colleagues
Benefits to Organizations:
 problem-solving
 timesaving
 knowledge sharing
 synergies across units
Source: Adapted from Wenger (2006)

9. BUILD:
Cultivating Communities of Practice
Bring people together in a potential community
Utilize their craft knowledge
Identify relevant concerns, ideas and issues
Laugh, listen and learn together
Document the knowledge developed, so it can be
shared!!!

10. Types of Participation

11. What can we start to do?
 Read a forum message
 Read a document
 Read a wiki / a blog
 Respond to a forum message
 Post a forum message
 Upload a document
 Contribute to a wiki / Write a blog

12. References
 Saint-Onge, H. & Wallace, D. (2003). Leveraging
Communities of Practice. Butterworth Heinemann.
 Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning,
Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.
 Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W.M. (2002).
Cultivating Communities of Practice. HBS press.
 Wenger E. (2006). Cultivating communities of practice: a
quick start-up guide (
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/start-up_guide_PDF.pdf)