Learning+Communities

=Learning Communities..=

//Daniel Wilson//

What makes a group work well?

Group behaviour and characteristics can be listed - that is a ‘Good Learning Community’ can be described. This leads to a descriptive approach to understanding a learning community, but it often doesn’t capture the dynamics, the ebb and flow of communities.

Ref: __Learning at Work__ (//D. Wilson, D. Perkins, D. Bonnet, C. Miani, & C. Unga)//

A group of people that //need// to work together to generate, share and interpret knowledge to solve //meaningful// problems’ (Wilson)
 * A Learning Community**

This is a //process perspective// of Learning communities (need, desire, engagement & process)

What accounts for the ebb and flow within Learning Communities?

(if you try to manage or solve these tensions - you fail. If you negotiate these tensions you will be successful - the group will learn)
 * Four fundamental tensions**


 * Knowing** - how to hold the tension between certainty and doubt. Too much ‘certainty' within the group, learning will be diminished. Too much doubt limits learning. Within the group you need both states simultaneously for optimal learning.


 * Trusting** - a willingness to demonstrate vulnerability and certainty within the group setting optimises learning


 * Belonging** (about identity) - the ability to simultaneously maintain individual and collective identity within the group. Need both to maxamise learning. Mediated by the use of inclusive language and results in a higher collective perspective of the group.


 * Leadership** There needs to be an understanding that this is a shared activity. The willingness to demonstrate leadership and ‘followship’

__Tools in negotiating these tensions are__ Language Routines Roles Artifacts (the objects we interact with)

If we are engaged in high quality, challenging work then the tensions will be present