Learning communities

Definition

Learning communitiesis a group of people who share common emotions, values or beliefs, are actively engaged in learning together from each other, and by habituation. Such communities have become the template for a cohort-based, interdisciplinary approach to higher education. This may be based on an advanced kind of educational or 'pedagogical' design. (Definition is taken from the Wikipedia:Learning community, September 2009).

See also: Communities of practice.

Philosophy of learning communities

Barbara Rogoff (1994) defines following features that community of learners posses.

1. Adults serve as leaders and facilitators for students and each other,not as authority figures.

2. Emphasis is on the process of learning(rather than just finished products)in activity-based learning situations with meaningful purposes,with emphasis on conceptual thinking including both problem finding and problem solving,integration across curriculum areas,and planned flexibility of curriculum in order to build on student contributions.

3. Inherent interest in activities is fostered along with learning responsibility for one's choices.At first newcomers see this as an attitude of emphasizing play and fun at the expense of school WORK which is not supposed to be fun.However,with the explicit curriculum aim of children becoming responsible for managing their own learning,it is necessary for the motivation to involve the children in ways that are inherent to involvement in the activity(as opposed to coming from promises or threats of candy bars,grades,stars,or scoldings).

4. Evaluation of student progress occurs through working with the child and observing.Teachers, coopers,and students attend to and reflection children's progress and need for improvement in the context of children's learning activities;grades are avoided.This is often not understood as providing detailed information on learning until much later in a cooper's development.The emphasis is on children's own improvement,rather than on comparison of children with others.Daily involvement of adults in children's processes of learning, a long with periodic reflection,provide opportunities for evaluation and planning for improvement and helps students treat each other as resources and collaborators rather than competitors.

5. Cooperative learning occurs throughout the whole program with children working in collaboration with other children and adults throughout the day in ways that are intended to promote learning to lead and support group processes as well as to make use of others as resources.At first,newcomers may not see skills in contributing to interpersonal problem-solving and group processes as relevant to "academic" learning.The success in developing a classroom community,with helpful relations among students, makes administering and taking standardized tests difficult,as children have a hard time not sharing information with their classmates.

The above-mentioned features of learning communities are taken from Rogoff, B. (1994), Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1.4,pp.220-223.

Characteristics of learning communities

According to Barab & Duffy (2000) the following characteristics of the learning communities could be singled out.

1.Common Cultural and Historical Heritage

A community has a significant history, a common cultural and historical heritage. This heritage includes shared goals, meanings, practices. New members inherit much of these goals, meanings, and practices from previous community members’ experiences in which they were hypothesized, tested, and socially agreed on. In this respect, it is also worth mentioning such term as legitimacy. It is also through this heritage that communities find legitimacy. When individuals become legitimate members of the community, they inherit this common heritage, which becomes intertwined with their identities as community members.

2.Interdependent system

Individuals are a part of something larger as they work within the context and become interconnected to the community, which is also a part of something larger, society.

It is through this legitimate participation in the greater community, and then the communities' legitimate participation in society, that communities and identities are formed. It is not only the community members who are a part of something larger, but the community itself functions within a broader societal role. The interdependent perspective prevents communities, from small families to nations, from becoming world unto themselves.

3. Reproduction cycle.

A community is constantly reproducing itself such that new members contribute, support and eventually lead the community into the future. Communities are continually replicating themselves, with new members moving from peripheral participant to core member through a process of enculturation. Legitimate peripheral participation in which the primary motivation for learning involves participating in authentic activities and creating an identity that moves an individual toward becoming more centripetal to a community.

The above-mentioned characteristics are taken from Barab, S. A., & Duffy, T. (2000). From practice fields to communities of practice. In D. H. Jonassen and S. M. Land (Eds.) Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments (pp. 37–40).

Barab & Duffy point out that a community is not simply bringing a lot of people together to work on a task. Extending the length of the task and enlarging the group are not the key variables for moving to the community concept; rather, the key is linking into society-giving the students a legitimate role (task) in society through community participation and membership. We described communities as having three components: a common cultural and historical heritage, including shared goals, understandings, and practices; individuals becoming a part of an interdependent system; and the ability to reproduce as new members work alongside more competent others.

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Learning_community&action=edit

References

Rogoff, B. (1994). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1.4, 209–229.

Barab, S. A., & Duffy, T. (2000). From practice fields to communities of practice. In D. H. Jonassen and S. M. Land (Eds.) Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments (pp. 25–56). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.