Wenger's Theory Research Articles

'It's a gamble': A phenomenological exploration of medical students' learning experiences as newcomers to clinical communities of practice.

Medical students become members of the clinical team through participation in their activities, as described by Lave and Wenger's situated learning theory. While there is research into how medical students cognitively engage in clinical learning, there is limited work on clinical experiences using a social theoretical lens such as situated learning theory. This study explored third year medical students' lived experience as newcomers to clinical teams using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Medical students completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews in 2021. Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) using Lave and Wenger's theory of situated learning was applied to understand students' experiences. Seven students discussed their variable placement experiences. Learning related to three elements: conditions for participation, modes of participation and products of participation. When certain conditions were met relating to student, clinician and activity, students learned. This drove identity and relationship formation. The findings related and led to a self-perpetuating cycle with potential to advance student learning. When the conditions for participation were not met, the cycle stopped, leading to student disengagement. Passivity in students is a result of modifiable factors in the workplace. To encourage proactivity, clinicians must enable students to move from observation to participation as their competence increases. Participation should be supervised, challenging and should contribute to patient care. Time pressures can make this difficult; one solution is to nominate a clinician to direct students and account for this in their workload or to employ a clinical fellow to assist with student training.

Collectively learning to talk about personal concerns in a peer-led youth program: A field study of a community of practice.

Youth peer-support is an increasingly established approach to youth work. Drawing on Wenger's theory of a 'community of practice', this study explored social learning processes in an Australian community-based and peer-led youth program for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Social learning was conceptualised as arising from processes of 'negotiated meaning', which Wenger described as a duality of 'participation' and 'reification'. The study was designed as a qualitative field study drawing on participant observation data from weekend workshops and 16 semi-structured interviews with young program participants. Results indicate that the program was highly conventionalised with repeated practices reifying the meaning negotiated by the participants. However, it was also open for participatory negotiation of meaning through which participants learned to recognise and share their own and others' vulnerabilities, which created a strong sense of belonging to a community of equals. The study's conception of social learning offers a novel explanation of how the youth program created and sustained alternative transformative spaces. This was done through simple, repetitive and highly conventionalised practices, brokered by peers, that allowed participants to recognise and address their own and others' vulnerabilities in new ways.

Whence legitimate peripheral participation? De-trivializing the social dynamics around Chinese students' doctoral research in the West

While research on Chinese doctoral students in Western higher education institutions has garnered growing scholarly attention, the social dynamics around these students' research writing, arguably one of the most core elements of their academic life, have remained trivialized. This study, therefore, draws upon Lave and Wenger's Legitimate Peripheral Participation theory and examines the salient features of said dynamics. Our inquiry based on Chinese tourism students in the U.S. uncovers the social activeness and inactiveness that exhibit in the negotiation and co-participation between these students as “newcomers” of a community of practice and their advisors and writing center consultants as “oldtimers”.

Rethinking the theory of communities of practice in education: Critical reflection and ethical imagination

One of the leading theories of social learning today is Wenger's theory of Communities of Practice' (CoP-theory). CoP-theory reiterates basic tenets of social learning theory yet it us set apart from other theories of social learning and education not only by centering on identity-formation but by positing four key dualities as inherent structural features of the educational process. While concurring with Wenger's 'dilemmatic' understanding of education and his open-ended, practice-based conception of identity-formation, we argue that Wenger's theory overlooks central elements that are needed in order to fully articulate the ends of the educational process, as he conceives them. We claim that further supplementation is needed to support the kind of educational processes that Wenger advocates. Referring to the work of Jack Mezirow and Charles Taylor, this supplementation concerns both critical (rational) reflection and 'ethical imagination'. Rather than threatening the coherency of the theory, we claim that these supplementations are internally derived from the ends of CoP-theory and are necessary for its very possibility. To remain in line with Wenger's dilemmatic structure of education, these supplementations are presented in the form of a duality: the tension between artistic and ethical imagination.

Success, Balance, but Never Both: Exploring Reified Forms of Success in School-Based Agricultural Education

This study utilized a case study design to explore how early career agriculture teachers in Oregon conceptualize success and work-life balance in school-based agricultural education. Wenger's (1998) theory of Communities of Practice, precisely the concept of reification, served as the framework for our study. Our population included 52 agriculture teachers who attended an early career teacher workshop and participated in a seminar on work-life balance. Overall, participants grappled with several tensions regarding notions of success, work-life balance, and the interactions between the two. Findings concluded "success" has been reified to equate the number of awards won, active FFA members, or money earned and, one can be a successful agriculture teacher, a balanced agriculture teacher, but never both. As agriculture teachers strive for success and balance, they encounter emotions of guilt, judgment, fear, and pressure. While participants acknowledged the tensions that exist between notions of success and notions of balance, any progress on achieving such balance is done in vain as no examples of balanced agriculture teachers exist, and messages about success and work-life balance are paradoxical and unsubstantiated. While this study focused on one state, it provides valuable insight into how agriculture teachers are defining and thinking about success.

Children's representation of self in social media communities

Abstract This is a study of how children represent themselves when performing participatory identities in social media communities with relevance to constructing a learning self. Data was generated by filming eight children (6–11 years of age) talking about and showing their multimodal self-representations. On their out-of-school learning journeys, the children came into presences as ‘a someone’, in social media communities. The theoretical foundation informing the study is Wenger's theory on learning as social participation. Multimodal interactional analysis was applied to move the analysis beyond transcripts of texts to include actions children take with or through multimodal mediational means. The results display significant aspects of children's learning trajectories in self representation, presented as: Input from comments, understanding the other, preparing for a performing self and taking actions. Out of these acts of participation, three different participatory identities were constructed: the user, the producer and the designer. The main results show how children through participation, widen their learning repertoire and critically reflect on space and place. This research adds to the educational field by presenting children's experiences from navigating new worlds and enacting participatory identities, which is of relevance for their ongoing construction of a learning self.

Transitions and social interaction: Making sense of self and situation through engagement with others

ABSTRACTThis short paper examines social interaction (e.g. asking colleagues for help in the lunchroom) as an informative experience, a way to understand oneself and situation. The process of coming to an understanding is frequently hidden, but may be brought to light by examining the experiences of individuals undergoing a transition – a change that requires them to redefine their sense of self and situation. Using exemplars from previous research and drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) theory of situated learning, this paper explores the importance of social interaction to information practices. The role of social interaction will be discussed, including: information seeking to become part of a community, and social interaction as a source of information and as a site for information comparison (a type of information use) to situate oneself in a new environment. The paper proposes making social interaction a focus of study to better understand how individuals use information to change perception about and situate themselves.

How Educational Theory Can Inform the Training and Practice of Plastic Surgeons.

Summary:It is important to optimize our current learning and teaching models, particularly in a climate of decreased clinical exposure. With technical advancements and clinical care now more accountable, traditional methods of skill acquisition need to be revisited. The past decade has seen changes in plastic surgery curricula. There has also been a shift toward competency-based training programs reflecting the growing emphasis on outcomes-based surgical education. This review explores the role of educational theory in promoting effective learning in practical skills teaching. Key models of educational theory are presented and their application to plastic surgery training to an expert level are highlighted. These models include (1) learning within communities of practice (Lave and Wenger’s theory); (2) the role of the zone of proximal development and importance of the availability of expert assistance (Vygotsky’s theory); (3) skill acquisition and retention (Dreyfus’ and Dreyfus’, and Fitts’ and Posner’s theories); (4) development of expertise after repeated practice and regular reinforcement (Ericsson’s theory); and (5) the assessment of competence (Miller’s triangle). Future plastic surgeons need to possess a thorough understanding of the technical and nontechnical skills required to manage patients effectively. Surgical educators are therefore compelled to develop practical training programs that can teach each of these skills in a safe, learner-centric manner. It is hoped that new approaches to surgical skills training are designed in light of our understanding of educational theory to optimize the training of the next generation of plastic surgeons.

Medical students' opportunities to participate and learn from activities at an internal medicine ward: an ethnographic study

ObjectivesTo optimise medical students’ early clerkship is a complex task since it is conducted in a context primarily organised to take care of patients. Previous studies have explored medical students’...

Ad hoc supervision of general practice registrars as a 'community of practice': analysis, interpretation and re-presentation.

General practice registrars in Australia undertake most of their vocational training in accredited general practices. They typically see patients alone from the start of their community-based training and are expected to seek timely ad hoc support from their supervisor. Such ad hoc encounters are a mechanism for ensuring patient safety, but also provide an opportunity for learning and teaching. Wenger's (Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1998) social theory of learning ('communities of practice') guided a secondary analysis of audio-recordings of ad hoc encounters. Data from one encounter is re-presented as an extended sequence to maintain congruence with the theoretical perspective and enhance vicariousness. An interpretive commentary communicates key features of Wenger's theory and highlights the researchers' interpretations. We argue that one encounter can reveal universal understandings of clinical supervision and that the process of naturalistic generalisation allows readers to transfer others' experiences to their own contexts. The paper raises significant analytic, interpretive, and representational issues. We highlight that report writing is an important, but infrequently discussed, part of research design. We discuss the challenges of supporting the learning and teaching that arises from adopting a socio-cultural lens and argue that such a perspective importantly captures the complex range of issues that work-based practitioners have to grapple with. This offers a challenge to how we research and seek to influence work-based learning and teaching in health care settings.

Innovation in Indigenous Health and Medical Education: The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network as a Community of Practice

Problem: The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of Indigenous health in medical education as well as best practice in the recruitment, retention, and graduation of Indigenous medical students. Intervention: In this article we explore the utility of Etienne Wenger's “communities of practice” (CoP) concept in providing a theoretical framework to better understand the LIME Network as a form of social infrastructure to further knowledge and innovation in this important area of health care education reform. Context: The Network operates across all medical schools in Australia and New Zealand. Outcome: Utilizing a model of evaluation of communities of practice developed by Fung-Kee-Fung et al., we seek to analyze the outcomes of the LIME Network as a CoP and assess its approach and contribution to improving the implementation of Indigenous health in the medical curriculum and the graduation of Indigenous medical students. Lessons Learned: By reflecting on the Network through a community of practice lens, this article highlights the synthesis between the LIME Network and Wenger's theory and provides a framework with which to measure Network outputs. It also posits an opportunity to better capture the impact of Network activities into the future to ensure that it remains a relevant and sustainable entity.

School administrators and university practicum supervisors as boundary brokers for initial teacher education in Chile

The study examines school administrators' perspectives on a central problem of the school-based component of initial teacher preparation: the distance between schools and universities. Data obtained through in-depth interviews and focus groups with administrators (N = 51) from 36 schools were analyzed using Wenger's (2000) theory of inter-organizational learning. Findings suggest that an expansion of the roles supervisors and school administrators have traditionally played in the practicum may help reduce this gap. As brokers for their respective institutions they can coordinate actions by gaining access to the meanings each community assigns to practices and acknowledging the competence each brings to the practicum.

Social-cognitive outcomes of teachers’ engagement in learning communities

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to seek to investigate Etienne Wenger's theory of social learning in a community of practice by modeling two simultaneous aspects of teachers’ collaborative learning: their engagement in close-knit internal groupings and engagement with colleagues that work externally to the core group. These two learning processes are related to two social-cognitive outcomes: teachers’ organizational commitment and their sense of impact.Design/methodology/approach– The study investigated a field sample of 246 individual teachers from ten Finnish primary schools. Hypotheses were developed and tested by using multiple regression and structural equation modeling.Findings– The results indicate that local engagement supports teachers’ organizational commitment. However, this form of collaborative learning behavior didnotsupport their sense of impact. Moreover, external engagement with trusted colleagues supported sense of impact butnotorganizational commitment.Research limitations/implications– The study reinforces the importance of teachers’ engagement in communities of practice. Specifically, the results suggest two specific social-cognitive outcomes related to two different learning processes situated in teachers’ community of practice. It would be highly valuable to replicate this study in various multi-level settings.Practical implications– The study highlights teachers’ engagement in communities of practice as a source of their motivational basis and their commitment. Findings recommend school leaders to facilitate internal and external learning communities.Originality/value– The study provides empirical evidence regarding the partial relationships between teachers’ local and external learning engagement and the social-cognitive outcomes of these forms of learning behaviors.

General practice training environment and its impact on preparedness

The notion of preparedness for practice is poorly defined in medical education literature. It is unclear what preparedness means and how the training environment impacts on preparedness for practice. This paper aims to explore the meaning that GP trainees and newly qualified GPs attach to the notion of preparedness, and to examine the ways in which they perceive their training environment to impact on preparedness. We used a qualitative interpretive approach and conducted 27 in-depth semi-structured interviews with 15 newly qualified GPs and 12 GP trainees at the end of their training. Two central categories describing preparedness emerged; 'confidence' and 'adaptability'. Inclusive training practices, characterised by non-hierarchical relationships between the doctors, particularly vis-à-vis trainees, were reported to be more 'progressive' and were better at preparing trainees. The way the training practice can impact on preparedness can be explained drawing on Lave and Wenger's theory of 'situated learning'. The role of the trainer was also pivotal in preparing trainees. Supervision tailored to trainees' needs, and guided decision making enhanced confidence of trainees in their ability to work independently in the future. We suggest that for GP trainees to be better prepared it is not enough to extend GP training; rather it is important that GP trainees' time is spent in inclusive training environments.

Communities of practice, a phenomenon to explain student development in community nursing

To explore practice teachers understanding of the process of professional education experienced by community nursing students. This paper analyses the concepts of situated learning and communities of practice as an underpinning theoretical framework to understand the professional education of community nurses in practice settings. The paper also highlights the strengths and limitations of the community of practice theory as applied to professional education. A qualitative grounded theory study was undertaken involving interviews with 30 community nurse practice teachers. Emerging from the data were the central components of Lave and Wenger's theory of communities of practice. The practice teachers appeared to use these components including legitimate peripheral participation, sponsorship and journeying to good effect in facilitating the development of community nurse students. The paper extends Lave and Wenger's community of practice phenomenon and identifies how communities are (re)produced over time. The development of professional practitioners over a lengthy period of time within supportive communities of practice where one person with expertise in professional education sponsors the student and takes responsibility for their journey was perceived by practice teachers to be an important and appropriate approach. An approach that was found by practice teachers to transform the student's professional identity, enabling them to undertake a complex multifaceted role using a holistic, problem solving and participative style with clients and communities. It is also an approach that was hypothesised to allow the profession itself to (re)produce in a way that supports continuity but also promotes changes in practice.

Neurorehabilitation analysed through ‘situated learning’ theory

This paper proposes a perspective of learning in the context of neurorehabilitation. Central concepts from Lave and Wenger's theory of situated learning are presented as a promising theoretical perspective to grasp the problems typically encountered by professionals and a strategy to analyse the effectiveness of rehabilitation strategies aimed at everyday activities. Empirical data from field studies and focus group interviews describing rehabilitating efforts were analysed and discussed using central concepts from the ‘theory of situated learning’. We found that professionals are challenged when including patients with severe brain injury as ‘participants’ in the ‘rehabilitation practice community’. Systematic use of the proposed learning concepts may support rehabilitation professionals to facilitate and challenge patient participation and learning during rehabilitation. Two interrelated levels of pedagogical challenges exist: (1) supporting the gain of the patient or compensation for changed learning abilities and (2) supporting the patient in learning or compensating for lost abilities.

Disrupting communities of practice? How ‘reluctant’ practitioners view early years workforce reform in England

This article reports on the views of early years practitioners in England from settings that were identified as ‘reluctant to engage’ with one of the government's key policies, the introduction of Early Years Professional Status (EYPS), to drive forwards workforce reform. Focus groups, interviews and a survey were undertaken in 2009 with 35 respondents in 15 early years settings. The article uses concepts from Wenger's situated theory of learning (1998) to locate the policy and practitioners' views of its implications in its socio-historical context with regard to early years professionalisation. The findings are considered against a conceptual framework for successful workforce reform to suggest how, by addressing areas of perceived ‘restrictive’ practice, the move to increase status and professional qualifications in early years may become more inclusive of the current workforce.

Silence or Knowing in IT-Facilitated Face-to-Face Meetings

An increasing proportion of work in organizations has shifted from repetitive, structured, individually focused activities to what is now known as knowledge work. This has been accompanied by a stronger need for collaboration and coordination as well as new information technology (IT) tools. It has changed the nature of face-to-face meetings and the ways in which IT can support them. This study investigates how shared knowledge creation (SKC) operates and is supported by IT in face-to-face meetings. Two scenarios, “Silence” and “Knowing,” are used to illustrate the extremes of the types of collaboration that can take place. The article extends Wenger's theory of communities of practice to the domain of IT-facilitated face-to-face meetings. It develops and operationalizes the community-behavior constructs of participation and documentation reification in this context. The article develops a number of hypotheses around SKC effectiveness. The hypotheses are tested in the context of new product development practices in two companies. The empirical results show that community behavior leads to higher speed of SKC and higher quality of output from SKC. The study further indicates that IT tools affect participation and documentation reification differently. IT tools are shown to only work for participation during formal meetings. The study shows the importance for a team to act as a community of practice in the SKC environment as well as the need for new IT tools and the better use of existing tools. The article concludes with implications for practice and research for IT support in face-to-face meetings.

Communities of Practice in Tourism: Working and Learning Together. An Illustrative Case Study from Northern Norway

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application of Wenger's theory of Communities of Practice (CoP) to cooperative groups of small tourism actors. Empirical data about a case study of a group of firms operating in northern Norway are presented in order to illustrate and challenge the discussion. The findings suggest that Wenger's theory can be usefully applied to describe the processes and dynamics relative to the development and management of tourism products based on the identity of the local area. The element of Wenger's theory that makes it particularly useful is its focus on social processes, knowledge and identity. The findings suggest also that the CoP framework could gain completeness from the integration of the concepts of terroir, lifestyle entrepreneurship and community entrepreneurship. In regard to the adoption of Wenger's framework as a practical tool to promote cooperation, the case study shows that the existence of formal programmes directed to cooperative groups that can be qualified as CoP can help to identify them and support the implementation of collective projects.

Managing a new collaborative entity in business organizations: Understanding organizational communities of practice effectiveness.

Companies worldwide are turning to organizational communities of practice (OCoPs) as vehicles to generate learning and enhance organizational performance. OCoPs are defined as groups of employees who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic and who strengthen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on a consistent basis. To date, OCoP research has drawn almost exclusively from the community of practice (CoP) literature, even though the organizational form of CoPs shares attributes of traditional CoPs and of organizational teams. Drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) original theory of legitimate peripheral participation, we integrate theory and research from CoPs and organizational teams to develop and empirically examine a model of OCoP effectiveness that includes constructs such as leadership, empowerment, the structure of tasks, and OCoP relevance to organizational effectiveness. Using data from 32 OCoPs in a U.S.-based multinational mining and minerals processing firm, we found that external community leaders play an important role in enhancing OCoP empowerment, particularly to the extent that task interdependence is high. Empowerment, in turn, was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We also found that OCoPs designated as "core" by the organization (e.g., working on critical issues) were more effective than those that were noncore. Task interdependence also was positively related to OCoP effectiveness. We provide scholars and practitioners with insights on how to effectively manage OCoPs in today's organizations.