Introduction
Our epistemic beliefs (psychological models) interest researchers in cognitive and social output. Focus stems from understanding the collective mind, and the paradigm shift of modern learning from rote memorisation to comprehension and meaning making. Language is developing to describe the phenomena the more discourse becomes explicit knowledge (e.g. the making of artifacts). The language that has emerged from different areas of research come together holistically to understand evolution and the progression of adaptation, change and transformation. By understanding the terminology, conceptualisation of source words allows individuals to work within the parameters of an organisation, yet have the capacity to work independently. Learning in communities (organisations) has been categorised as:
- task-based;
- practice-based; and
- knowledge-based.
Learning as social construction
Individual learning is seen to enhance group knowledge. As learning is a social act, any system adopted must consider embedding and implementing a framework for interaction and participation. Experience of participation allows the individual to help create new knowledge or meaning. The accumulation of static knowledge is a thing of the past. Individuals learn from not only the generation of artifacts, but from each other and group members should be viewed as living entities of knowledge.
Individual creativity is sparked through observation and sense-making. In this way, individuals should understand that through observation and self-regulation, they become objects of knowledge to be used by others. Through alignment with group objectives, individuals adhere to a larger meme and become memes of their own (e.g. role models). Research has revealed that the best ideas have come from group contributions, despite apparent perception of dysfunctional issues pertaining to group work. Most issues stem from differences in social and economic background rather than difficulties of cognitive levels (e.g. the focus is on what individuals represent on the outside rather than their ability to perform).
Learning embedded in community
As the term community currently defines any grouping that has a memetic function, the authors suggest anchoring the term to something more definitive stating the strength and depth of a groups' culture provides the impetus for collective learning and stable states of being.
The dysfunctional aspects of a group almost always stem from a lack of change or adaptation to environmental needs. Scattered groups (e.g. outback regions of farmland connected by technology), a strict need for conformity, or contested changes are all issues that arise from interaction. Professional development in groups requires a constant flow of new members to stay fresh and alert. A lack of activity may lead to disinterest in the society. As such, labeling is meaningless and learning is intermittent.
Groups that perpetuate through multiple generations use their own source of knowledge to create standards that evolve through practice (e.g. Freemasons). They act in some ways as a feeder for the environment and vice-versa. Collective reasoning is developed through the flow of community members and their interaction. Interaction history is made explicit through artifacts such as manuals, and guidelines. Tacit knowledge has been made explicit and new members understand what is expected of them from the start. Newcomers can learn from either static knowledge, or living knowledge expressed by members who have been inculcated by the group and have more experience.
Role assignment depends on support from the community. Function and role switching can be a community requirement and produces several kinds of results (e.g. attending to all positions as individuals work up the professional hierarchy in hotel management). New and small groups may have difficulty offering the same activities as larger organisations, thus ambiguity about objectives must be cleared as they evolve and progress through practice and experience.
Learning communities
Collective work is based on community focus. That is to say that role assignments or function vary according to the type of organisation an individual is affiliated to (e.g. nursing within a medical environment). Different activities occur at different areas of employment. Task based work at a micro level involves understanding that experience is derived from the social practice of integration and learning. From a macro level, the community is seen to develop, evolve and progress. Communities emerge from a sense of purpose and cohesion. Analysis of both areas requires the same process, but at micro level research continues with the practice of integration as a supportive function, and at macro level research is concerned with the division of labour and activity that maintains group dynamism.
Self-verification processes are vital for individuals in understanding the need for complementary and different role assignments that contribute not only to their increase in knowledge, but to increase the levels of knowledge within the group. Four attributes to sustaining a learning community are:
- membership - how do individuals find themselves in a community and what is it that attracts them to full participation and interaction?
- task features/learning goals - groups are designed to either function on finite period projects or as an ongoing activity that supports a larger meme.
- participation structures - role assignment is based on the clarity of group function (e.g. there is no ambiguity about individual function);
- reproduction and growth mechanisms - communities are able to maintain knowledge structures by creating learning systems that can be structured to stand alone (e.g. irrespective of members joining and leaving, community knowledge is retained).
Technical designs for learning communities
Three different domains of learning communities are:
- task-based - project based work or work with a finite end where self-verification processes support members as they assist each other, and is seen as more than just a simple collaboration.
- practice-based - highly defined by expression and behaviour (e.g. dance classes) where members who have an occupational unity interact through discourse and imagination to reproduce new knowledge within that domain of learning.
- knowledge-based - members of the community are involved in observation and creation of knowledge that is deliberate, formal and shared (e.g. researchers).
Task-based learning communities
Groups that have a range of diversity within individual members (e.g. multi-cultural) have more access to different and alternative perspectives that emerge during discourse and activity. A recognisable function of diversity leads members to interact or collaborate to find solutions or access to ideas that may not be available to groups with more in common. Close interpersonal relations allow for a deeper and more significant understanding.
In knowledge based communities, static knowledge is seen as the product of a learning outcome (e.g. documented minutes of a meeting). While the finished product is static, members acquire and keep new knowledge to transmit (e.g. living knowledge), or keep knowledge current through evolutionary systems (e.g. wikis).
Schools have often used group learning to propel individual learning, and identify the differences between community based learning and traditional forms. RPL in school children dictates how they are seen to behave within a group culture. Clarity of outcomes depends on an individuals desire to achieve, and assessments are known to affect the way students interact and self-regulate (e.g. to gain approval, for high marks, to learn more). Current research has revealed that school based curricula in general is bound by societal factors of learning that in no way contribute to collaboration or clarity of end result (e.g. historical data that is not contextually defined by the student). Self-verification processes are becoming more popular as learning communities such as The Globe Project, iEARN projects and Learning Circles emerge. Students and teachers are able to access in real-time knowledge that is being collated. Involvement in current affairs is more significant to the students as it relates to a visible and tangible concept. Collaboration cuts through social perception of ability (e.g. age, ethnicity) and cognitive association reflects new transferable skills. This form of classroom activity is a reflection of a micro-community (e.g do not share exactly the same attributes of a learning community). They state that the short time frame for interaction in classrooms does not enhance or facilitate more than a superficial collaboration. Classroom assessments are based on individual performance instead of a group product. Learning ends at the end of a school year, and a new teacher and additional new members may transform what is known. Knowledge gained is carried within the student to be transferred (e.g. living knowledge) or remains documented and used for evolutionary progress (e.g. static knowledge). The perspective taken is that classrooms may not be considered a very good example of a learning community as attendance is involuntary.
In order for students to grow into responsible citizens, it is suggested that curricula be modified to extend a learning system that frames a community through social and integrated activity, and allows the students to move seamlessly from schools to society.
Designing technical environments to support task-based learning communities
Social networking supports a global culture through technologically assisted communication. While this is effective in transmitting knowledge, learning communities require an objective and focus that has a clear outcome. Online learning has been facilitated through collaborative works from larger memes. Educators join communities to maintain professional links to current bodies of knowledge, enhancing lifelong learning skills, and become memes or subject matter experts.
Some online learning communities have outreach programs that feed from local and global networks. Corporations generate project-based activities that have a finite time limit, and establish hubs from which to expand their knowledge base (e.g. Learning Circles use between eight and ten schools from around the world to generate knowledge for the corporation and for the schools). This diversity highlights varied skillsets in students and teachers alike. Strategy is required to engage learners from around the globe. Smaller communities remain dependent on larger and more established organisations for structure and support. Sharing is a routine required for successful performance. Collaboration in online learning means that each individual contribution is seen as valid, and participants (irrespective of location, age or gender) can minimise traditional hierarchical boundaries which motivates individuals to help in decision-making processes. This approach is similar to that of a professional community (e.g. organisational behaviour).
Clarity of program sequence is enhanced through technologically assisted communication (e.g. email). Schools that participate accept a project topic and agree to become subject matter experts. The task is divided between students who accept responsibility for their share of the investigation. Interaction between students creates the momentum to undertake the project. RPL signals strengths that can be used to facilitate collaboration (e.g. using a students' expertise in programming to design part of the project).
Technology is the mediator for sharing and collaboration (e.g. information on starting the project, and sharing of the finished product). Once a project is completed, students can participate in the following cycle, accepting new cohorts and continue the learning process. Artifacts collected during one cycle are used as static knowledge (e.g. what has been and can be achieved) for future participants and as documentation of past work.
Online communication can be seen to enhance and facilitate local face-to-face activity. Differing and alternate world views are shared. This type of learning is viewed as an introduction to the world of business. Various aspects of online sharing leads to a sense of professionalism within an individual as they become more involved in their learning community. Knowledge comes through observation, participation and access to expertise. Language specific to the group develops meaning as participants spend more time interacting within the community. While students become accustomed to participating in more adult arenas, they are supported by sophisticated technology, expertise in specific knowledge areas and access to a working community.
Practice-based learning communities
Groups are formed on a voluntary basis and stem from the need to share working methods and knowledge that benefit group members and society in general (e.g. teachers). Levels of experience and responsibility differ between group members and dictate participation in activities. Participation is significant as the knowledge that emerges feeds future working practice. Practice-based communities share a knowledge that is constantly evolving. They undertake the responsibility of sharing their knowledge beyond group confines.
Committed organisations structure their modifications in practice for purposes of improving working conditions. New knowledge is an expected outcome of new practice. Effectiveness of applied methodology results in improved performance. Tacit knowledge becomes explicit when assistance is readily available from group expertise. The significance of information created (reified) is transferred through participation between living and static knowledge. The dynamism of knowledge comes from within the individual and how they choose to share. Generating artifacts is crucial in maintaining explicit living knowledge as tangible evidence that the group retains irrespective of key member attendance and participation.
Members are seen as conduits between environment and community. Inter-group participation sustains the practice of memetics (e.g. observing and applying knowledge to different communities) and reduces group disintegration and isolation. Group culture embodies a learning network that exists to maintain group operation. The operant conditioning factor is not seen to be the creation of new knowledge per se, but to sustain task based activities that improve and redefine the manner in which the group functions. Group dysfunction appears from a lack of inter-role responsibility (e.g. members are restricted to a single function within the group) that may enhance the progression and adaptation of the community. Some instances of evolution require a break between tradition and the new (e.g. sequestering newcomers from old timers and introducing new methods of practice and technology).
Researchers have found that the creation of new knowledge as it is sustained through reification should be seen as a 'snapshot' version of tacit knowledge. While implementation of new practice and innovation is current, the inherent diversity of group culture brings balance to static knowledge. Thus both living and static knowledge depend on full participation from members. Studies on teaching in Japan show that improved teaching practice comes from maintaining professional links to practice-based communities. Current information adds to epistemic beliefs and philosophies that encourage the teacher to look at lessons and make improvements that adapt and change with time.
The problem of school as a practice community
Dysfunction stems not so much from a lack of opportunity provided to the students, but from a lack of cohesion that links group work to real-life situations (e.g. no follow through when an online collaboration ends). Students are unable to understand the holistic experience when it is withdrawn.
Students who have the opportunity to work with various group members are exposed to expertise that involves them in the practice of learning to learn. Responsibilities include understanding a project well enough to teach it themselves. Mentoring and apprenticeship is viewed as a key aspect to group learning. Assessments include strategy, observable patterns, guidance, performance and discourse, and are used to promote group culture and identity. Riel and Polin reiterate that classrooms cannot be viewed as communities of practice as students attend school on an involuntary basis, and do not see the teaching community as a source of expertise. Furthermore, they state that traditional standardised testing and intervention is ambiguous in objective and lacks clarity of function.
Designing technical environments to support practice-based learning communities
Digital technology has connected the world in such a way that isolation from learning communities can be overcome. Global teaching projects draw from a pool of pre-service teachers who can practice with real students through online communication. The availability of knowledge is vast and continually progressing. Teaching communities use artifacts (e.g. blogs) to recommend innovative ways that have had success. Blogging is useful for the teachers to reflect on their own practice and has the advantage of sharing tacit information.
Hierarchical communities operate in a manner that teaches teachers to become leaders. Global connections allow volunteers to participate in higher learning structures. The more experience they gain through commitment to the group, the more responsibility they take on to participate at more senior levels (e.g. management or council meetings).
In working to design online learning structures, consideration must be given to the processes of learning that are encountered through digital communication. Tools are seen to facilitate activity, but caution is warranted as cultural identity must be supported to sustain progression.
Knowledge based learning communities
Observations of recurring patterns of evolutionary progress are analysed to construct new meaning. Collective knowledge is added to and increases individual levels of expertise. Groups such as these conceptualise and re-create information as it emerges (e.g. research of a phenomena). Their focus is to re-present knowledge from a different perspective by extracting and re-packaging information as it applies to a new context.
Identified differences:
- task-based learning - the reproduction of knowledge as it applies to the individual within a specified time frame;
- knowledge-based learning - similar to task-based communities, but conducted through deeper levels of analysis. Contributions are ongoing and there is no definitive end.
Designing technical environments to support knowledge-based communities
The Knowledge Forum is used as an example of designing knowledge-based communities in schools. Students are invited to participate by building their own knowledge to create a stronger learning community. However, indications of sharing knowledge does not imply that practice-based tasks will develop into knowledge-based expertise as the tools required for in-depth holistic investigations are not available to students. While the Forum is still in its infancy, online tools such as these are an indication of the potential that building knowledge-based communities generates clarity (e.g. taking water samples from local sources to identify change).
Some knowledge-based communities have created databases of best practice working policies that include facilities for social communication (e.g. discussion forum postings). Sharing is naturally occurring as interactions between experts and individuals takes place (e.g. advice requested after outlining issues faced). The theoretical provision of knowledge based communities generates insight of available strategies gathered from existing artifacts. Individual members who share personal experience open up to potential solutions derived from practice. Riel and Polin suggest that customer service is a newly tapped market where organisations can obtain a wealth of information for purposes of improved practice based on demand. Successful communities have designed the logistics of acquiring information using sophisticated systems to manage responses that come in several formats and are capable of distinguishing and validating the knowledge obtained.
Summary of topology in learning communities
Three different types of learning communities can be found within certain organisations, and this obfuscates the description and definition of groups and individuals.
Technical designs for learning organisations
Learning communities may be a component part of a larger organisation (e.g. research and development departments) that encompass the overlap of all three types. Inter-departmental sharing supports the organisation holistically. Sharing increases learning opportunities although time and work constraints may prevent immediate implementation of new ideas. Similarly, differences in goal orientation (e.g. responsibilities conducted through role) may require alternative outcomes. Performance is regarded as more meaningful than the generation of knowledge which is considered a by-product of activity (e.g. building a car).
Groups transform as novices develop experience of work as it connects to the environment. Knowledge is recycled to maintain and sustain working practice and the organisation itself. Tools that promote a culture of sharing provide the momentum to implement tasks that generate the learning cycle.
Pro activity is a result of learning organisations that have a valued and supportive culture. Extended network reach and economic demands have meant that cumulative knowledge is a required and necessary function of successful performance in organisations. Software support is vital. Development is seen as a process of engagement with the environment (e.g. as an organisation realises a need, external entities are involved in complementary functions such as software development).
The learning organisation: an example
Institutions for higher education function as potential for all three forms of learning communities. Knowledge that is generated serves as a contextualised snapshot of the profession and underlines future engagement. Group members aligned towards this objective are transformed by their beliefs gained from reflection upon tasks. Changes are apparent in behaviour.
Task based learning community
An example is of first year graduate student interaction where orientation programs are designed to create a platform where students can socialise informally. Task activity requires them to complete project work and acquire some knowledge.
Practice based learning community
A multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-generational collective that provides a wealth of individual knowledge in terms of practice and technological support. The program structure acts as a foundation for transactive memory where the primary goal is for students to apply what they have learned through effective implementation which feeds back to the learning community. Interaction supports learning histories, problems and observations, as well as frustrations.
Knowledge based learning community
Individuals in these communities are given access to past records from which to learn about previous patterns of observation. Tasks are seen as inherited responsibilities which generate further records for incoming members. By sharing information, progress can be made and artifacts remain as verification of evolutionary processes.
Technical support for the learning organisation
Current software is designed to make full use of online connectivity, and data capture and storage (e.g. cloud computing). Limitations of use are overcome through innovation as alternative perspectives are taught with the expectation that students are able to utilise knowledge and equipment to build similar models in their own practice. Popular software combines a search engine, links, forum and broadcasting facilities.
Learning designs for the future
Learning is considered a social act and as such, recognition of a paradigm shift indicates that self-verification processes are critical to understanding how groups function. Effective collective learning reveals that performance is enhanced when sharing occurs. Online networking has meant that traditional structures are circumvented by time and space (e.g. mobile learning can occur as and when an individual is free to study). Building and sustaining knowledge is a difficult process and teaching is a profession that is an evolving and progressive practice.
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