Facilitating communities of practice in today's diverse classroom

Facilitating communities of practice in today’s diverse classroom

Michael Dillon, Ed.D.Great Lakes Conference on Teaching and Learning

Central Michigan UniversityMay 9-11, 2016

What we will talk about• Diversity in “classroom” • “Empowering multicultural collegiate learning”• Communities of Practice• Your turn

What we will talk about• Diversity in “classroom” • “Empowering multicultural collegiate learning” • Communities of Practice• Your turn

What we will talk about• Diversity in “classroom” • “Empowering multicultural collegiate learning” • Communities of Practice• Your turn

What we will talk about• Diversity in “classroom” • “Empowering multicultural collegiate learning”• Communities of Practice• Your turn

Diversity in “classroom”

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014051.pdf











Diversity in “classroom”Take a look at a study that aimed to discover “what are the elements of an empowering multicultural collegiate learning community and how is it developed, facilitated, and maintained?” (Chávez, 2007)


Discovered examples of “multiculturally empowering learning communities” in which:

Each individual was able to find ways of learning congruent or natural with their own cultural ways of being and be challenged by new ways of learning.

Offered a place where individuals worked together to construct knowledge and question established norms.

Six emergent elements for empowering individual learning communities in a higher education setting

Climate of

SafetySpirit of

Risk Taking Congruenc

e

Proactivity Multiplicity Reciprocal Relationshi

ps and Roles

Diversity in “classroom”Six emergent elements for empowering individual learning communities in a higher education setting (Chávez, 2007) :

1. Climate of Safety – Creating and holding to guidelines for respectful interaction.

2. Spirit of Risk Taking – Demonstrating that discomfort does not necessarily lead to harm.

3. Congruence – between behaviors, beliefs, and dialogue.










4. Proactivity – Having the awareness, knowledge, education, skill, and taking the actions to create a multicultural learning community.

5. Multiplicity – Utilizing multiple pedagogical techniques.

6. Reciprocal Relationships and Roles – Idea and power sharing, validating each other’s ideas.










Now, on to Communities of Practice…

What is a Community of Practice? Lave & Wenger (1991), Wenger (1998)

Domain of knowledge

Shared practice

Community of people

A domain of knowledge, which defines a set of issues, a community of people who care about this domain, and a shared practice that they are developing to be effective in their domain.

(Wenger, McDermott and Snyder, 2002)

A learning “organization” model.

Typically associated with professionals, educators, etc.

We are (and students are) part of multiple CoPs

Work

Family

Community

School

DomainDomain of knowledge

Shared practice

Community of people

Domain guides what is important, the questions asked, and the means in which knowledge is organized.

When the group is committed to a shared domain of knowledge, the practice can be developed.

Connecting the goals of a group with individual goals is significant.

CommunityDomain of knowledge

Shared practice

Community of people

The practice of a CoP as a place in which learning occurs.

Practice is always a social practice.

Through social interaction that learning is transferred to other members of the community.

CommunityDomain of knowledge

Shared practice

Community of people

It is through “legitimate peripheral participation” in which newcomers have an opportunity to become included. “Peripherality provides an approximation of full participation that gives exposure to actual practice.”

Influenced by situated learning theory, in which learning is inseparable from the context in which it occurs, and the learning takes place in the doing.

Lave & Wenger (1991), Wenger (1998)

PracticeDomain of knowledge

Shared practice

Community of people

Practice involves making meaning, relationships with community members.

Practicing within a community entails learning what it means to be in that role.

Learning how to be a member of a group comes from being with other members.

Situated Learning • Situated learning contends that learning is inherently

social, influenced by the social context, the tools used in interactions, and the activity of learning. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991).

• Learning is inseparable from the context in which it occurs, and the learning takes place in the doing.

• Situated learning emphasizes the social construction of knowledge.

Diversity in “classroom”How can we foster an “empowering multicultural collegiate learning” COPs?

Your turn!

Six emergent elements for empowering individual learning communities in a higher education setting (Chávez, 2007) :



3. Congruence – between behaviors, beliefs, and dialogue. 4. Proactivity – Having the awareness, knowledge, education, skill,

and taking the actions to create a multicultural learning community.

5. Multiplicity – Utilizing multiple pedagogical techniques. 6. Reciprocal Relationships and Roles – Idea and power sharing,

validating each other’s ideas.

References• Chávez, A. F. (2007). Islands of Empowerment:

Facilitating Multicultural Learning Communities in College. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 19(3), 274-288.• Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning:

Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.• Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice, learning,

meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press, New York.• Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W.M. (2002).

Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.