{"id":596,"date":"2016-03-22T02:37:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T02:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/course.oeru.org\/sia\/?page_id=596"},"modified":"2016-03-22T02:37:22","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T02:37:22","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/course.oeru.org\/sia\/course-content\/communities-of-practice\/introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Introduction<\/span><\/h2>\n

A theme<\/a> that pervades this course is that we live in a world of connections. Although we might not always be aware of it, we share interests with others and together we have the opportunity to form a community.\n<\/p>\n

Zygmunt Bauman[1]<\/a><\/sup> has explored the characteristics of a community. He suggests:\n<\/p>\n

\nWords have meanings: some words, however, also have a ‘feel’. The word ‘community’ is one of them. It feels good: whatever the word ‘community’ may mean, it is good ‘to have a community’, ‘to be in a community’[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Etienne Wenger[3]<\/a><\/sup>[4]<\/a><\/sup> has discussed the benefits of communities of practice for learning communities. He proposes:\n<\/p>\n

\nCommunities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His definition of communities of practice has three important characteristics:\n<\/p>\n