Learning Connections Research Articles

On the Definition and Impact of Virtual Communities of Practice

The evolution of the Internet has made several Communities of Practice to go online and has brought into life numerous Virtual Communities of Practice. The purpose of this article is: to define and categorize Virtual Communities of Practice; to examine their social impact in general and specifically in knowledge and technology management; also, to examine the contribution of Communities of Practice to informal learning and to relate them to Connectivism and collaborative learning. Several case studies are presented to clarify the presentation. It is expected that Virtual Communities of Practice will play an important role in both learning theory and practice as well as knowledge management during the years to come.

Social Networking Theories and Tools to Support Connectivist Learning Activities

This article considers the affordances of social networking theories and tools to build new and effective e-learning practices. We argue that “connectivism” (social networking applied to learning and knowledge contexts) can lead to a reconceptualization of learning in which formal, nonformal, and informal learning can be integrated as to build potentially lifelong learning activities to be experienced in “personal learning environments.” In order to provide a guide in the design, development, and improvement both of personal learning environments and in the related learning activities, we provide a knowledge flow model highlighting the stages of learning and the related enabling conditions. The derived model is applied in a possible scenario of formal learning in order to show how the learning process can be designed according to the presented theory.