Unlike Communities of Practice (CoPs), CoAs exist in situations that are structurally more open, where actors have the possibility of bringing about change. These more open situations may, for example, correspond to collective design teams in professional environments. CoAs possess some of the characteristics of communities, such as the development of a common language and mutual learning in the course of action. However, they also possess some of the characteristics typical of more associative social relationships, such as the “voluntary” nature of association and the importance of “common goals” in directing collective activity. Some argue that this makes CoAs more “rational” groups than CoPs.
Published in Chapter:
Networks of Excellence as Virtual Communities
A. Draghici (Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania), N. Matta (University of Technology of Troyes, France), G. Molcho (Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Israel), and G. Draghici (Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 9
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-885-7.ch134
Abstract
The “Communities of Practice” concept was first used in relation to the learning process in 1991 by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991) at the Institute for Research on Learning as part of an attempt to “rethink learning.” In 1998, Wenger extended this concept and applied it to other contexts, including organizational settings (Wenger, 1998).