Communities of practice

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning. Wenger significantly expanded on this concept in his 1998 book Communities of Practice. A CoP can form around members' shared interests or goals. Through being part of a CoP, the members learn from each other and develop their identities. CoPs can engage in community practices in physical settings (for example, in a lunchroom at work, an office, a factory floor), but CoP members are not necessarily co-located. They can form a "virtual community of practice" (VCoP) when the CoP is primarily located in online spaces such as discussion boards, newsgroups, or social media. Similar to a VCoP, a "mobile community of practice" (MCoP) forms when members primarily engage in community practices via mobile phones. Communities of practice have existed for as long as people have been learning and sharing their experiences through storytelling. The idea is rooted in American pragmatism, especially C. S. Peirce's concept of the "community of inquiry", as well as John Dewey's principle of learning through occupation.