Community of Practice

Abstract

The field of Instructional Technology has a long tradition of design to support learning, using both soft technology (e.g., coaching or mentoring) and hard technology (e.g., computer-assisted instruction). A new commercial communications technology is released in the marketplace, and then within a few years the scholarly journals develop a series of claims, and some preliminary data, about the potential for teaching and learning. Current enthusiasm that a community of practice (CoP) would be a compelling tool to support learning in organizations is well beyond empirical evidence and is inconsistent with related theory for nurturing CoPs. The major assumption of this chapter is that there is a historic tautology in the field of educational technology that is extremely seductive and persistent. The major thesis is: the enthusiasm for online communities seems premature in the sense that the technology is the natural vehicle for CoPs.