Blogging has now broadened our sources for help. Communities of practice are an excellent example of how coming together, even if you’re across the country, can help solve even the most complicated of problems. The U.S. Department of Transportation is a good example. They have dedicated a page to how a Community of Practice is helping in their effort to make roads safer and put the word out for their mission. A community of practice basically concentrates the knowledgeable to problem solve. The possibilities of a community are endless. It can be engineers coming together to solve a specific problem. It could be that one last organization that has a mission and wants to spread the word of what they are encountering. I often use the internet to fix problems. Sometimes that “Help” tab just doesn’t really help me at all. If you word your search right you can most of the time find the right group to help you. If you start your own theres usually some kind of response. The good thing about the net now is that search engines can easily network you to the world. I have solved many printer and computer problems this way. The important thing about a community of practice is that the people involved should be practicing. That’s the difference between some kind of web log and an actual community. They have to share that mission and add what they can to the effort. Commonalities in communities are people asking questions, seeking answers, sharing sources and actual discussion of the subject at hand. How many communities are you in?

Learning Theories

Wenger