Presentation to Aqua-tnet working group on innovation in education - Lisbon, May 2009

1. Workpackage 5 Communities of Practice An introduction – John Bostock May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon

2. Key source - Etienne Wenger May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon

4. Domains Communities of Interest have an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. Membership implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore a shared competence that distinguishes members from other people. May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon

5. Communities In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon

6. Practice Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems, in short a shared practice. This takes time and sustained interaction. May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon

10. Part of lifelong learning From the CoP perspective, the school/college is not the privileged locus of learning. It is not a self-contained, closed world in which students acquire knowledge to be applied outside, but a part of a broader learning system. The class is not the primary learning event. It is life itself that is the main learning event. Colleges, 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. May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon http://www.flickr.com/photos/ethomsen/42671808/sizes/o/

12. Reference sources http://www.ewenger.com/ http://www.knowledgeboard.com/lib/1567 http://technorati.com/tag/communities-of-practice http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/163834.htm http://www.longtailbook.co.uk/ October 2007 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Gent

13. Example communities of practice http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearningcapital/the_jisc_cetis_sigs.pdf http://www.sarnissa.org/ http://www.aquacomgroup.com/Page_sections/Resources/ACG_Aquaculture_Community.html May 2009 Aqua-Tnet Meeting, Lisbon