Week 19 - Communities of Practice
Week 19 - Communities of Practice
Horn, M.B. & Staker, H. (2014). Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Activity 3: Contribution of Teacher Inquiry Topics to my Communities of Practice
Jay and Johnson’s reflective model
Descriptive
My possible Inquiry topics:
- How can I promote student agency through the use of digital tools?
- How can I use digital tools to teach Level 4 computational thinking?
The Communities of Practice (CoP) I belong to are: the intermediate team, school Professional
Learning Communities (PLC), MindLab study group and the regional Mindlab study group.
CoP’s are defined as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion
about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an
ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002, p.4). The three important elements of the
community of practice are domain (joint enterprise), community (mutual engagement) and
practice (shared repertoire) (Wenger, 2000)
Learning Communities (PLC), MindLab study group and the regional Mindlab study group.
CoP’s are defined as “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion
about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an
ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002, p.4). The three important elements of the
community of practice are domain (joint enterprise), community (mutual engagement) and
practice (shared repertoire) (Wenger, 2000)
At my MindLab CoP we discuss weekly how we can use what we have learned to help
implement change in our practice. So far, we have shared ideas and reflective comments
through face-to-face meetings on a weekly basis and via online social media. We have
developed trust and a shared respect for each other. It is easy to critically comment on each
other’s ideas and support one another’s learning through meaningful discussion. All members
of the MindLab CoP share a desire to develop professionally and change professional practice
to “better” ourselves.
implement change in our practice. So far, we have shared ideas and reflective comments
through face-to-face meetings on a weekly basis and via online social media. We have
developed trust and a shared respect for each other. It is easy to critically comment on each
other’s ideas and support one another’s learning through meaningful discussion. All members
of the MindLab CoP share a desire to develop professionally and change professional practice
to “better” ourselves.
Comparative
After feedback from my MindLab CoP, I re-phrased my inquiry questions. I changed these
questions to make them align more to making them specific, achievable, measurable and
relevant. The discussion with my Mindlab CoP turned my focus to blended learning and after
having read Horn and Staker’s article, I was assured further that blended learning would suit.
Students learn online and at their own pace where they take more control over their learning. When
my CoP group shared their feedback about my inquiry topic “How can I promote student agency
through the use of digital tools?” they commented that they like the idea of student agency
through blended learning particularly with the year level that I’m teaching, especially because
these students are fast approaching their college years. My CoP also commented that that
these students will need to recognise the value of driving this themselves and therefore the
use of providing “flipped” classroom activities were appealing. A strength flipped classroom
activities is that it is student-centred and will help shift the needs from the teacher’s to the
student’s needs, thereby encouraging student agency. The advantage of this inquiry topic would
also be that I would be able to link this inquiry with my in school PLC inquiry.
questions to make them align more to making them specific, achievable, measurable and
relevant. The discussion with my Mindlab CoP turned my focus to blended learning and after
having read Horn and Staker’s article, I was assured further that blended learning would suit.
Students learn online and at their own pace where they take more control over their learning. When
my CoP group shared their feedback about my inquiry topic “How can I promote student agency
through the use of digital tools?” they commented that they like the idea of student agency
through blended learning particularly with the year level that I’m teaching, especially because
these students are fast approaching their college years. My CoP also commented that that
these students will need to recognise the value of driving this themselves and therefore the
use of providing “flipped” classroom activities were appealing. A strength flipped classroom
activities is that it is student-centred and will help shift the needs from the teacher’s to the
student’s needs, thereby encouraging student agency. The advantage of this inquiry topic would
also be that I would be able to link this inquiry with my in school PLC inquiry.
My CoP’s view on, “How can I use digital tools to teach Level 4 computational thinking?” was
as follows: Although my CoP group agreed with Wing’s comments that "computational thinking”
was beneficial as it works towards helping humans to solving problems through computing, but
they also said that they that they couldn’t personally identify with this, because we were all not
all teaching the same year level of students and that it was not relevant to all of us.
as follows: Although my CoP group agreed with Wing’s comments that "computational thinking”
was beneficial as it works towards helping humans to solving problems through computing, but
they also said that they that they couldn’t personally identify with this, because we were all not
all teaching the same year level of students and that it was not relevant to all of us.
Reflection
On reflection, I have decided to focus on my first inquiry question as I feel that my CoP can
support me more on this. After having revisited the aspects of Blended Learning, I now feel that
I have a clearer idea of the use of its attributes. I feel more confident now need to reflect more
around how exactly to focus on the student agency aspect and how I am going to effectively
incorporate digital tools to make learning purposeful. I look forward to further discussion with my
CoP group.
support me more on this. After having revisited the aspects of Blended Learning, I now feel that
I have a clearer idea of the use of its attributes. I feel more confident now need to reflect more
around how exactly to focus on the student agency aspect and how I am going to effectively
incorporate digital tools to make learning purposeful. I look forward to further discussion with my
CoP group.
Jay, J.K. and Johnson, K.L. (2002). Capturing complexity: a typology of reflective practice for teacher
education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.
education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 73-85.
Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Introduction to communities of
practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33-35.
Horn, M.B. & Staker, H. (2014). Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
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